Milwaukee Spotlight Student Film Fest

Recorded Oct. 2, 2008.
Today we focus on the Milwaukee Spotlight Student Film Fest now in its fourth year. Directors of the film fest Dominic Inouye and James Carlson discuss the success of the fest. After that we will be joined by two very talented young directors. Sam Shapson is the director of "Epiphany" and this year's entry "Old Bug". Mike Cheslik is the director of "Blink" and is currently working on a feature film titled "Swedish."

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Brian Standing

Recorded Sept. 8, 2008.
"Pedalphiles" follows the adventures of S.C.A.B. (Skids Creating Apocalyptic Bicycles), a roving gang of bicyclist- artist- philosophers hell-bent on ridding the world of automobiles.

"War Is Sell" dissects the strategies of war propagandists: soldiers armed not with guns, but with words, pictures and commercial advertising techniques in their battle to win hearts and minds.

At the Dane County Farmer's Market on Capitol Square, tradition dictates everyone walks around the square in the same, counter-clockwise, direction."Counter-Revolution" examines what happens when a group of radicals rose up, and demanded, "Why if we walked the other direction?"

Godzilla is the most terrifying creature on the planet. But what happens when Godzilla meets a giant robot Godzilla?"Mecha-Godzilla vs. Megalo-Godzilla" was written, directed, scored and animated by a four-year old wunderkind.

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Scott Rivera

Recorded Sept. 8, 2008.
"Exact Change" follows twenty-five Milwaukee high school students along a civil rights bus tour through Atlanta, Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham, and Memphis. The story shows how a first-hand look at the struggle for civil rights impacts the students, and how the experience changes their attitudes and approaches toward race relations.

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Jim Carrier

Recorded Sept. 8, 2008.
"Faces in the Water" vividly tells the stories carved on the Civil Rights Memorial, Maya Lin's elegant monument to the martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement. With the sculpture as backdrop, the film documents the sacrifices, tragedies and triumphs of the human rights revolution that transformed the South and the nation. It was made for the Southern Poverty Law Center about the Maya Lin Civil Rights Memorial.

"Midnight in Montgomery" is an uncompleted film about Hank Williams fans who go to Montgomery to celebrate Hank's death (and sing very very bad Hank karaoke) every New Year's Eve - the night he died 50-some years ago. They go to the grave at midnight, have a drink with Hank, and sing his songs.

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Seth Hedrington and Nick Holle

Recorded Aug. 28, 2008.
When Joe Zopp's out-of-touch parents squander the proceeds of his finest invention, he skips town, vowing never to return. Seven years later, while leading a life of anonymity, Zopp runs into an old classmate who tells him that everyone back in his hometown thinks he's dead, forcing him to return to unravel the mystery of his own death.

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Brent Notbohm

Recorded Aug. 28, 2008.
It's Christmas time in Madison. The students have gone home, and a snow-covered State Street is vacant. Michael, an emotionally damaged war correspondent, returns to his college town in search of solace and his lost idealism. While Michael is out on the town with his old friend, Ben, they meet a political science graduate student named Ash who still thinks he can change the world. The three hold frank discussions on the violence in Iraq over pool at the Plaza and beers at Mickey's. Interspersed with striking shots of Bascom Hill, the Memorial Union Terrace, and State Street, Madison's wintry stillness contrasts the desert chaos that psychologically haunts Michael; heightening the distance between where he is and where he has been. This film had a run at the Sundance Theatre here in Madison.

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Tashai Lovington and Robert Lughai

Recorded Aug. 28, 2008.
Witness if you will Gallus Domesticus… the backyard chicken. A mere few pounds of feather, bone, and muscle; a creature regarded by many as a rather humorous, though not so intelligent agent of food production. And yet, make note of a most singular phenomenon now taking shape across suburb and city. From backyard eggs to the family's new favorite pet, the urban chicken is forging a fresh place in the pecking order of human importance. Mad City Chickens deftly weaves multiple stories and contextual issues on city chickens and their keepers in a non-linear fashion that one rarely sees in a documentary. From leading experts to urban newbies, experience the humor and heart of what's fast becoming an international backyard chicken movement.

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Andy Beversdorf

Recorded June 24, 2008.
In 2005, the state of Wisconsin became the laughing stock of the nation as it debated a proposal to legalize the shooting of cats. "Here, Kitty, Kitty" scratches beneath the media blitz to reveal a surprisingly nuanced tale involving ruthless cat-lovers, unapologetic cat-drowners, slandered scientists, death threats, and deposed politicians. Watch and find out who is left standing when all the hissing and clawing subsides.

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Amrys O. Williams

Recorded Apr. 8, 2008.
Host Charles Monroe-Kane discusses "I Have a Sister" with filmmaker Amrys O. Williams. This short film tells the story of how an adverse reaction to the DPT vaccine left the filmmaker's younger sister with brain damage.

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