PARK CITY, Utah — What’s coming to this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival?
Some of the films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, which opened Jan. 22 and runs through Sunday, might end up in Madison in April. Wisconsin Film Festival programming director Jim Healy comes to Park City, Utah, every year in his official capacity as a consultant for Italy’s Torino Film Festival. He tends to see about five movies a day over a five- or six-day period.
But while he’s here, he’s also keeping an eye out for films that might fit — both in terms of content and in terms of timing — with the Wisconsin Film Festival. For example, the quirky fabulist drama “Kumiko the Treasure Hunter,” in which a Japanese woman goes to Minnesota in search of the money Steve Buscemi’s character hid in the snow at end of “Fargo,” premiered at Sundance last year. Healy was able to secure it for Madison, where it sold out two shows.
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“We’ve been able to pull new documentaries and new features out of here,” he said. “I’m always looking for something that’s unusual and fun and hopefully changes the way we look at movies a little bit, or takes things in a little new direction.”
This year’s Wisconsin Film Festival runs Thursday, April 9, through Thursday, April 16, at several University of Wisconsin-Madison campus venues, such as Union South and the UW Cinematheque as well as at Sundance Cinemas. The festival will also include three days at the Capitol Theatre on State Street from April 10 to April 12.
Healy can’t confirm if any 2015 Sundance films will play at Wisconsin’s festival. Overall, he said, nearly 60 features and short films have been confirmed for this April, and he and his programmers will likely make offers for Sundance films to come to Madison.
“When we get back we will issue some invitations, we’ll even issue some while we’re here,” he said. “It’s tight, because we’re going to need to have everything figured out before February is over.”
Being a smaller festival, Wisconsin often has to negotiate around some of the larger festivals in the country, including South by Southwest in Austin and the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Those festivals might want exclusive windows to show the film.
Either way, when the films do get to the Wisconsin Film Festival, they will be brand new to Madison audiences, Healy said.
“That’s what’s important,” he said. “We’ll show silent movies, as long as it’s something that’s fresh and exciting.”
Visit wifilmfest.org for updated news on the Wisconsin Film Festival.