2015 Films: Escape from Midwich Valley

Escape from Midwich Valley by PH Debies
France (MKE Premiere)
Running Time: 9 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 12th 2pm
Horror/ Fantasy/ Music

Back in the place of her childhood, in an oddly sinister port city, a young woman plagued with traumatic memories will discover that her destiny is even more cruel than the creatures running after her...

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Le Rayon Fantastique (Nov 2014)
Angoulême, France 

Retour à l'Anormal (Nov 2014)
La Rochelle, France 

SPASM (Oct 2014)
Montreal, Canada 

Off Courts (Sep 2014)
Trouville Sur Mer, France

2015 Films: Vultures in the Void

Vultures in the Void by Arvin Bautista
Los Angeles (MKE Premiere)
Running Time: 16 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 12th 2:00pm
Sci-Fi/ Fantasy/ Crime

A tense but darkly comic story about a four-way Mexican standoff in space, between three space pirates and a corrupt Consortium freighter pilot.

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2015 Films: Voices Heard line up!

(Milwaukee) The Milwaukee Independent Film Society (MIFS) is proud to announce a new component to our signature event, The Milwaukee Short Film Festival (MSFF).

Voices Heard! A Local Multicultural Filmmaker Showcase is a program that MSFF will co-ordinate with local filmmaker and educator, Rubin Whitmore II. Rubin will also serve as curator for Voices Heard! This program is an effort to bring awareness to our great community of local multi-cultural filmmakers.

“This will be the first program of its kind in Milwaukee. The focus is solely on local minority filmmakers and it gives those filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their work before an audience.” Says Ross Bigley, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Short Film Festival.  “This is what our film festival is about, to shine a light on emerging artists and local filmmakers” 

Celebrate their work with us on Opening Night of the Milwaukee Short Film Festival,  Friday September 11th, as these filmmakers exercise their freedom of expression and artistic voices. More information to follow.

Death After Life Directed by Rubin Whitmore II

Fight Night Legacy Directed by Hisonni Johnson

Something Under the Christmas Tree Directed by Danny Villanueva Jr

Redemption Directed by Jezse Galan

Adolescence Directed by Darren Cole

Spare Change Directed by Kenny Lawrence

D for Dezire Directed by Bonnie Janelle

Modern Romance V1 Directed by Sergio Espino

2015 Films: Elk Mound

Elk Mound by Chris Mars
Minneapolis (MKE Premiere)
Running Time: 14 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 12th 2pm
Drama / Horror

A low-on-luck man takes a house-sitting gig in a small factory town. Soon laid off, bored and lonely, a childhood love of science and naturalism is stirred by an incredible discovery. Elk Mound, the 8th film by renown visual artist Chris Mars, speaks of the confluence of unemployment, isolation, latent passions stirred, and mental illness.

Told in a the artist's signature visual style, live action is set within a unique surrealist environment built of reality, fantasy and texture.

Films by Chris Mars have screened at many of the world's most prestigious festivals and museums including Sundance, SXSW, Starz Denver, Chicago, Florida, Maryland, Jerusalem, Mauvais Genre and Montreal International Film Festivals, as well as New York's Museum of Modern Art and Halle St. Pierre in Paris. Mars's debut monograph, Tolerance was published in 2008, with its follow due for release in 2015. His paintings are continually exhibited the world over, and housed in numerous public collections.

Mars' work - regardless of medium - seeks to raise awareness and sensitivity toward society's so-called fringe members including the mentally ill, the socially or politically oppressed, the misunderstood, the misfit, the outsider. Heavily influenced by the plight of his brother Joe, who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia when the artist was a small child, Mars's work uses a refined blend of realism, fantasy, misdirect and detail to encourage dialog, hope and greater empathy toward those deemed 'different' for any number of superfluous reasons.

To learn more about the artist and his work, visit www.chrismarspublishing.com


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Director's Bio:

Christopher Edward "Chris" Mars is an American artist and musician. He was the drummer for the seminal Minneapolis alternative rock band The Replacements and later joined the informal super group Golden Smog before beginning a solo career.

2015 Films: Knock Knock

Knock Knock by The Thornton Brothers
Milwaukee (MKE Premiere)
Running Time: 11 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, September 12th 4pm
Horror

...Who's there? A man becomes unhinged as he's tormented by a mysterious, hellish racket.

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2015 Films: When does Love begin?

When does Love begin? by Francisco C. Torres
Wisconsin (MKE Premiere)
Running Time: 14 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, September 12th 4pm 
Comedy / Drama/ Romance/ LGBT/ Mature

A couple meet for a night of passionate love, but discover they are childhood friends as the audience realizes that their love for one another is created through a false pretense. The plot twists into a completely different story that describes what love can be, what it can do and redefines the concept of commitment


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2015 Films: Test

Test by Jay Lifton
New York (MKE Premiere)
Running Time: 10 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 12th 8:00pm JURIED
Absurdist/ Dark Comedy

A seemingly unremarkable man spends a day taking a bizarre test at a mysterious facility. Through his day he interacts with the odd, detached employees of the facility, guiding him from section to section, obscuring the intentions or duration of the test.

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Director's Bio:

Greek-American musician Jay Lifton has been a composer for the past 15 years, working on a wide variety of projects in the NY area; independent features like Jay DiPietro's PETER AND VANDY, Victor Levin's 5 to 7, and Marc Meyer's HOW HE FELL IN LOVE, as well as documentaries such as EGG The ARTS SHOW, and spots for IBM and American Express. TEST is his directorial debut, written after the birth of his second child, while he slept on his dad's lap.

Director’s Statement

I've been a musician since I was a child, but always loved to shoot little micro-films on whatever cheap cameras I've had around. This is my first "real" film as a director with a crew. In TEST we were looking to explore existentialist themes, mostly derived from experiences parenting my two boys. The production design was inspired by my father's long career with IBM. He started there in the 60's and often brought me to the office as a child to see the vast repository of technology living there. The 4:3 framing and general stillness seeks to achieve the feel of cold-war surveillance.