2021 Films: That's It

That's It by Kat Rodriguez

Delavan, WI (Milwaukee Premiere)
Running Time: 7 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 11 on Eventive!
Documentary

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In this documentary short film, we follow a man who cleans grass and debris from the headstones of his family. As he tries to honor their memory and stop time from erasing their physical markers, he reminisces about the past and what these uncertain times might hold for the future generations.

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Director's Bio

Kat Rodriguez is an artist living in Wisconsin. She works mostly with watercolor and acrylics as painting mediums. Her desire to tell a family story during the 2020 pandemic led her to work beyond the canvas to create a documentary short film titled ‘That’s It’. The film follows her grandpa’s activities as he clears grass and debris from family headstones. The idea of a memory and one person’s ability to selflessly honor ancestors was a driving force for her wanting to create the short film. Rodriguez holds a bachelor’s degree in studio arts from UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts and continued education in production art with MATC.

Director Statement

This project was outside of my creative space and I’m glad I pushed myself to complete it. Making this documentary short film was a great experience not only in learning how to tell a story through a new medium, but also in connecting with my grandpa and taking a walk in his shoes for an afternoon. I enjoyed learning more about our family and listening to the stories he told of the people who had passed but with his help are not forgotten.

2021 Films: I've Been Afraid

I've Been Afraid by Cecelia Condit
Milwaukee, WI 
Running Time: 7 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 11 on Eventive!
Experimental/ Music Video/Women

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"I've Been Afraid" is about the fear of aggression, and those paralyzing forces that allow the body to accept violence.

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Director's Bio

Condit has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, American Film Institute, National Endowment for the Arts, Mary L. Nohl Foundation, and the Wisconsin Arts Council. Her work has shown internationally in festivals, museums, and alternative spaces and is represented in collections including the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the Centre Georges Pompidou Musee National d' Art Moderne, Paris, France, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, among others.

Condit studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, received a B.F.A. in sculpture from the Philadelphia College of Art, and M.F.A. in photography from Tyler School of Art of Temple University. At present, she is professor emerita in the Department of Film, Video, Animation and New Genres at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Formerly, she was a professor and director of the graduate program in film.

Director Statement

In the psychological landscape of contemporary fairy tales, my videos and songs put a subversive spin on the traditional mythology of women in film and the psychology of sexuality and violence. Exploring the dark side of female subjectivity, my “feminist fairy tales” focus on friendships, the natural world, and the fragility of existence.

2021 Films: Midnight Rose

Midnight Rose by Vanessa M. H. Powers

Minnesota (Milwaukee Premiere)
Running Time: 8 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 11 on Eventive!
Superhero/ Drama/ Women

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A young superheroine must make a great sacrifice to protect her secret identity when a caring educator takes note of her mysterious injuries and becomes suspicious.

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Director's Bio

Vanessa M. H. Powers is a director, filmmaker, cosplayer, wife, french bulldog owner, and coffee enthusiast. She can often be found trying to be in too many places at once. Currently, she is directing a short film and music video with her production company the Oxford Comma Film Cooperative. She is also gearing up for another season of directing with St. Matthew Community Theatre in Columbia Heights. In addition, she does video freelance and works as a part-time barista. In her (clearly abundant) free time, she can be found trying to be a human - spending time with her supportive family, friends, and snort-tastic bulldogs.

2021 Films: Trapped

Trapped by Jethro Tai

Hong Kong (Milwaukee Premiere)
Running Time: 2 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 11 on Eventive!
Animation/Drama/Western/Action

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Forced at gunpoint, a cowboy digs up treasure for a group of bandits. He must find a way to escape... before he ceases to be useful.

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Director's Bio

Jethro Tai is a first-year student filmmaker/ animator studying Character Animation at California Institute of the Arts.

Director Statement

I am passionate about filmmaking and animation. Animated films give me the freedom to do both. I also hope I can translate what I love about live-action films into my animated films. Fundamentally, they're not that different.

2021 Films: The Dirty South

The Dirty South by Avery Rost

Green Lake , WI (Milwaukee Premiere)
Running Time: 5 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 11 on Eventive!
Sports/ Documentary

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Grit. Humidity. Charm. Sunshine.

Welcome to The Dirty South.

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Director's Bio:

Avery Rost began his "career" in film back when he was 12. He made videos of his friends racing dirtbikes and other action sports, filming them with a GoPro. This continued for a while until he was able to attain an internship with a media production company based out of Southern California. Upon returning home, Avery has been writing and preparing various short films for production.

2021 Films: Two Minutes on High

Two Minutes on High by Amber Rose McNeill
Milwaukee, WI (Milwaukee Premiere)
Running Time: 3 minutes
Screening Time: Saturday, Sept 11 on Eventive!
LGBTQ+/Feminist Cinema/Social Commentary

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"Two Minutes on High” challenges the deeply ingrained concepts of normative sexuality and traditional gender roles via a metaphoric exploration of the four phases of the sexual response cycle: desire, arousal, climax and resolution.

Desire and arousal take a more commercialized approach, commenting on the heteronormative sexual programming that is heavily reinforced by the consumption of mainstream cinema and online pornography; the two predominant mediums via which we frequently observe sex.

Climax and resolution explore the impact that power dynamics and gender roles have on the expression of sexuality and sexual practices within western culture. The introduction of sounds and images that bend and break these norms encourage the viewer to reconsider the effects that social conditioning and media consumption play in our perceptions and behavior surrounding sexuality and gender.

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Director's Bio

Amber Rose McNeill is an Australian filmmaker based in Wisconsin whose work centers around gender roles, sexuality, abnormal psychology and violence. Her films frequently examine social attitudes towards these themes within media and culture through the use of satire, absurdism and experimental techniques. By utilizing found and existing footage Amber Rose is able to create transformative pieces of art that require the viewer to examine their existing beliefs and social behaviors, particularly as they pertain to the consumption of media and social norms.

Director Statement

I wanted to create a film that exposes the narrow view of sex that is cultivated by the categorization of sexual desires in the online digital world but then sprawled out to explore the nuances that exist within real life sexual behaviors. Through structuring the film around the four phases of the sexual response cycle: desire, arousal, climax, and resolution, I was able to break through the heteronormative sexual programming that we all consume in the form of pornography and cinema to take a more explorative look at the ways in which power dynamics and gender roles influence our expressions of sexuality and sexual practices. The film ultimately asks the viewer to reconsider the impact that this toxic and skewed sexual programming has on our attitudes and behaviors towards sex in both conceptual and practical applications.

2021 Films: Earful

Earful by T.C. De Witt
Milwaukee , WI (Milwaukee Premiere)
Running Time: Saturday, Sept 11 on Eventive!
Screening Time: TBA
Comedy

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A woman, with the help of her two friends, is ready to tell off her boss.

[REDACTED] combined their Milwaukee and LA talents to film Earful in January 2020, only months before COVID shut the world down. It was produced at the famous Cole's French Dip, in Los Angeles, which has been featured in dozens of Hollywood films and shows, including Forrest Gump and Mad Men. The concept for Earful was inspired by a friend of TC.'s who worked in a rather hostile environment. After a night of encouragement, she finally (almost) stood up for herself. Upon telling the tale, T.C. was given a blessing to make the situation into a short film. [REDACTED] believes in empowering those who feel beaten down by the world, and we hope this humor look at a serious issue amuses and uplifts those who can relate.

Director's Bio:

T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. While beginning his career on the stage as a playwright and stand-up, he eventually moved into screenwriting and film & television production and has been thriving for nearly a decade. His films have screened at numerous festivals around the world garnering many accolades both in the States and internationally. In May 2017, "Screen:Righter" a film he wrote and directed, screened at Festival de Cannes, France. He regularly offers his skills to several YouTube partners, Production studios in Los Angeles and the Midwest, and released his first feature "The Princess Knight" last year and is releasing his second feature "Sunset" next year.