9DCU0300HD_Directors_Cut_Studio_Transcript

 
 Featuring the Wisconsin Film Festival.  And for many of you film buffs out there, this is like Christmas, your birthday, and your first kiss all rolled into one.  We've got the director right here, Meg Hamel.  Meg, are you pumped or what? Getting ready for the festival.  First kiss, this is our 12th year as a festival, how many first kisses can you have? Just one, but just the general idea, the emotions.  You remember your first kiss? I like to think of it as welcoming back old friends.  Year after year, kind of bringing people back and sort of seeing our old friends again at the festival.  There you go.  That does sound very exciting.  Now give us an overview of the festival.  It's the 12th year, give me an overview of what the Wisconsin Film Festival is.  This is one of the festivals that takes place in the state, because there are a lot of film festivals now growing around Wisconsin.  But this one is in Madison and it's presented by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, so that's one of the things that makes it different.  We'll talk a lot over the course of the next hour about other ways in which this festival is a little bit different from other ones.  Like its awesomeness.  Well, lots of festivals have their own kind of awesomeness.  But this one is presented by the university and so it has a very different kind of objective, because a lot of it's educational, as well as the fun parts that come with seeing movies.  And it's been growing for 12 years, and one of the fun parts that we're looking forward to this year is that it's actually expanding from the tiny little four-day festival that it's been for a very long time to a fifth day, so we're actually showing films on Wednesday for the very first time.  Wow, Wednesday films.  Everybody's like, "Ooh!" So how do you choose, in general, what's the process? I mean, there are a lot of movies out there.  First, how many movies are there that you have at your festival? Well, at this particular festival this year, we'll have 192. 

 192? And that's a tiny, tiny sliver of all the movies that have been made in the course of the last couple of years.  How do you get it down to 192? Yeah, it's a long search.  So I spend all year looking for films.  I have a year-round job putting the festival together and a big chunk of that is spending the year watching movies.  So I scout films from all over the world, I pay attention to directors that I like, or cinematographers, or actors, or other people whose films I admire and see what their latest film is and try to bring back that work to Madison.  Also just pay attention to what other festivals are showing.  Things that have made news at other events around the world.  And then pull together a very deliberate, hand-picked group of films just for this festival, just for this audience, that are only going to play together in this combination here in Madison during this one weekend.  It's also about the combinations.  I like that.  You have the coolest job ever.  Yeah, I do.  It's great.  Well, we not only are going to show a lot of clips in this hour, we're also going to, our very own Bob Trondson went out and made some documentaries about the Wisconsin Film Festival, we're going to check one out now that I really like because it shows the community, and kind of the getting together like you mentioned of the Wisconsin Film Festival.  We around here have been calling this the "Atlanta-Madison Connection Clip. " So let's roll that clip.  After the films, the most important aspect of the Wisconsin Film Festival are the fans themselves.  And they come from all over.  They come from Milwaukee, Chicago, Atlanta.  Yes, even Atlanta.  * So this is Alex Aulisi and, Alex, can you tell us about the Atlanta/Madison Cultural Exchange. 

 Absolutely, I'm happy to.  A number of years ago, a friend of mine decided she wanted to come to Madison for the Wisconsin Film Festival.  Jessica.  Tell me about how you guys pick the movies inter-continentally.  Inter-continentally.  I think that's intra-continental because we're on the same continent.  Okay.  ( both laugh ) I pick up my guide with the Isthmus on Thursday.  And so she's looking at it online, I'm looking at it on paper, 'cause I need a pen, you know? But I read the descriptions of all the films and I star the ones I like.  Then it's the game of, what am I willing to give up, because this conflicts with this.  Now once I've got my schedule done, and Jess has her schedule done, we convene via phone.  Kind of like they're boxers, that's what I'm imagining, boxers in a ring, they come out fighting, come in the middle.  I think this year we might try Skype because then we have video, which is even better.  So when you yell at each other, you can yell at each other a lot easier.  ( laughs ) Jessica refused to go see the movie about knitting with me.  "Handmade Nation. " I love that movie.  Yes, I am a big geek, I'll admit it.  So, I'm Jessica, I fly in.  Tell us about how the weekend flies.  Oh, it's a little bit of insanity. 

 We generally go to the Old Fashioned for cheese curds because Jessica's a huge cheese curds fan, and then we start our movies Thursday evening through Sunday at about 9:00.  How many movies are we talking now? Well, we generally buy tickets for 16 movies and four days.  Our party time is in the theater.  And you were an ambassador of Madison --, what do you go to Atlanta for? Well, Dragon Con.  Dragon Con, okay.  The largest pop culture convention in the United States.  I think once again the geek-ness is coming out even stronger now.  Do you have a Dragon Con tattoo? I do not.  Okay.  Although, I have considered it.  ( both laugh ) What do you get out of it, what do you get out of the exchange and the festival? I've gone to film fest every year with the exception of the first year.  And for me, it was always a solitary thing.  And then when Jessica decided to start coming, I really wanted to make sure that our experience was the best it could be.  I mean, we really wanted to see great movies and we really wanted to do it together.  We're both huge film buffs.  And we solidified our friendship through our love of the Wisconsin Film Festival, which I think is really pretty cool.  * That's Bob Trondson from Director's Cut on the Wisconsin Film Festival.  That makes me want to go to the film festival, of course I do.  Let's back up for a second.  What is a film festival, how is a film festival different than just me going to see "Avatar"? Yeah, a film festival is really a collection of movies that have been specifically chosen to come together to play over, in our case, a five-day weekend.  There are a lot of festivals that can range 12 days long, or longer. 

 And what's different about it is that at a festival there will be lots of different kinds of movies playing all at the same time.  And there is a group of people, or an individual, that has very specifically chosen that film to play.  A lot of times when you go to the commercial movie theater the films you see have been slated to play there by corporate headquarters, that is just trying to push that film through that theater.  And so, what a festival does is it gives that community a very specific, carefully-chosen, curated cross section of films.  And if you do a good job you're vetting for them, because, I'm a really busy guy and I love alternative films.  And so, I get to trust a festival to vet some really cool stuff for me, because you've already gone through that.  Yeah, almost everything in the festival is there, at least at the Wisconsin Film Festival, is there because I've specifically, I have actually specifically seen it, chosen it, and gone through the work to book it and bring it to Madison.  I have people who help me with that, and there's also a lot of films that have been made in the state that actually get selected by a jury, that we'll talk about later.  But the whole point of the festival is to see films that have been very carefully chosen for this particular community.  I think of the community as the entire state.  But this festival may share films in common with other festivals around the country, but the particular combination that's here is unique to Wisconsin.  Talk about that clip we just watched from that woman and her friend in Atlanta.  Alex.  Yeah, what's interesting about that clip is, I know, for example, before the day the film festival line-up came out in the Isthmus, my friend had a party and my wife and I went over there and there were eight people there, and they all had laptops out and they were doing research and trying to decide their films.  And it is a community event, the film festival, which is very different than going to, again, just to see "Avatar" because it's this movie you want to see.  Why do people love, you may know this more than anyone, why do people love film festivals? These people love the film festival.  I actually am probably the worst person, I don't make that happen.  My job is to put on the event, I take care of the logistics, I choose the films and I take care of a lot of the details.  As I like to say, I flick the lights on and off inside the theater.  But it's the audience that brings that sort of passion.  It's Alex and her friends in Atlanta and other people around the city and around the state that come to the festival. 

 They're the ones that really bring that sort of passion and for everybody it's different.  There are people who attend the festival that like to do so because they like being with their friends and it's a better way for them to get together as friends.  I also know people who like to come to the film festival by themselves.  They can leave their family at home, have a solo weekend.  It's like a little vacation all on their own, where they don't have to compromise, they don't have to pay attention. . .  Eat as much popcorn as they want.  They can do whatever they want, right.  Sounds awesome.  Also, it's about the films.  We're going to show some clips from different films.  And the first one, which I've only seen now the clip and the trailer of this film, it's called "Children of Invention. " Tell us a little bit about it, we'll see the clip, it really makes me want to go see it.  Tell me about that film.  This is a film, "Children of Invention" has played at a lot of festivals around this country and, in fact, around the world.  So this is a film that I think is a great example of the kinds of American independent filmmaking that is happening that shines the most at the festivals.  Films like this don't always get picked up for distribution to come to the commercial movie theater later.  You may only be able to come see films like this at the festival.  And what festivals are really trying to do is represent the entire rest of the iceberg of filmmaking.  When you go to the commercial movie theater, you'll see a tiny sliver of all the films that were ever made in the last couple years. 

 And so what festivals are trying to do is say, there's a whole lot more out there.  And films like "Children of Invention" really shine because they're beautifully written, beautifully filmed, put together, and are films that, a lot of people who go to see them really find a much more direct personal and intimate connection with.  Well, let's see a clip from "Children of Invention. " ( door thudding ) Raymond, it's closed.  Let's go home now.  We have to walk around until it opens in the morning.  I don't want to be in Boston anymore.  Do you want a million dollars or not? I do, but I don't want to be in Boston anymore! Raymond? What? If we had a million dollars, why did we sell the house? Because Mom put it there for an emergency.  And now it's an emergency.  You said Grandma put it in there.  Yeah, Grandma put it there.  Was it Mom or Grandma? What? You don't believe me? We should've stayed at home.  We don't have a choice, Mom's gone.  She's not gone, stop saying that! She is gone.  I don't believe you that there's a million dollars and I don't believe you that Mom's gone.  Shut up, you don't know anything.  Give me some money.  I don't have any money.  I'm going to call Dad.  Stop saying you're going to call Dad! He can drive down from Providence and come pick us up.  He can't, we're on our own. 

 He can, you just don't want him to.  Dad lives in Hong Kong.  He just tells you he lives in Providence so you won't get upset.  That's why we have to go to Great-Grandpa's house to call, and that's why we won't see him until he comes back to the US.  He's going to come back for my birthday.  That's because he has a conference here.  Mom left just like Dad left and now we have to take care of ourselves.  ( crying ) Dad does live in Providence.  Aw, that breaks my heart, I've only seen two minutes of it.  Well, why did you pick that particular film? I mean, I picked this film because I love it.  It's a great story, and these two actors are fantastic.  Yeah, geez.  But the film itself fits into a small series of films that we have at the festival that really talk about the Asian-American landscape.  And so this is one of the aspects of the Wisconsin Film Festival that's a little different.  Because we're a project of the University of Wisconsin, we pair up with different campus programs every year, slightly different combination and choose films with them.  So, we have a handful of films in the festival that we do in conjunction with the Asian-American Studies program, and there are a bunch of other series we have in the festival as well.  We have films from Brazil, we have films from Africa, films from South Asia.  And so this was a film that was sort of jointly programmed, that's the word we use to reflect a film that's chosen for the festival.  It was jointly programmed by me, 'cause I think it's a dynamite motion picture, and also then by the Asian-American Studies program because it's a way to talk about the Asian-American experience.  Wow, that's so interesting.  I was thinking about the label "independent film," because these are in general, when people think of film festivals they think, we're going to see independent films. 

 But that label is kind of weird to me, what does that really mean, but at the same time, you do choose independent films mostly, right? Well, I don't choose films because they're independent.  No, no.  Because that's true, over the years it's become a label more than a definition or description.  What I'm looking for are films, I mean, across the board I'm trying to find all different kinds of films for the festival.  We show documentary films, experimental films, short films, so films that are just of shorter length, and when do you get a chance to see those outside of Director's Cut , right? It's hard to do.  But I'm also looking for films that tell different kinds of stories.  And tell the stories in different ways.  So some of the films we have in the festival are huge blockbusters that might have been made by studios in other countries, for example.  Right, right.  It's not independent, but it's going to be really hard to find that film here in the United States.  So it's less that independence is the defining characteristic.  What often succeeds the most as a festival film here is the story where, there's clearly a vision followed through by the people that created the film.  The producers, the directors, the actors, where everybody's on board creating this one particular story.  And that can often be the defining characteristic between that and Hollywood studio films where people get hired to make somebody else's story into a film.  That's a big difference.  So in a lot of cases when we're looking at films for the festival, I'm dealing directly with the director.  That's interesting, right.  Who might have scripted the film, cast it.  Not his PR agent.  That's right.  We're going to see another clip now which is "Eggshell Land," which is obviously not made by a Hollywood film. 

 This is a clip from the documentary "Eggshell Land. " My grandma and grandpa are, like, famous, like really famous.  There's a lot of publicity surrounding it, which is great, because my dad loves it.  In the newspaper, the headlines, "It's Egg-citing," just this really corny play on words that they do all the time.  Just kind of funny.  They've been on the Today Show, they've been in the newspaper, they've been on Channel 3 and stuff.  * ( applause ) That was Montel as an egghead! ( laughter ) Please welcome Ronald and Betty to the show.  ( applause ) Right now, on "Extreme Cuisine. " If you usually crack your eggs like this, stop.  There's someone in Ohio who needs them whole.  This is "Early Today. " In Lyndhurst people flocked to one yard for an eggshell extravaganza.  Take a look at this.  Every year, one couple decorates their yard. . .  Most of the local stations come out every year and do a piece on it or two.  If you're looking for something to do this Easter weekend, how about a trip to Eggshell Land.  Eggshell Land.  Eggshell Land.  Eggshell Land. 

 Channel 3's Katherine Boyd has eggs-clusive details.  Especially the news media.  They do the corny, the Eggman.  There's a guy out there in Lyndhurst who cannot be beat.  Ron Manolio is the Eggs-pert.  He's all that he's cracked up to be.  Mr.  Manolio does not put all of his eggs in one basket.  You've heard about walking on eggshells, haven't you? Walking on eggshells.  Walking on eggshells.  Walking on eggshells.  A bunch of shell shock.  Eggs-austing.  And a word once spoken is like an eggshell broken.  You're eggs-agerating.  That's what my dad lives for.  It's something that he does that makes him feel good.  So he wants to tell everybody and anybody that'll come and listen.  You do not see a documentary about eggshells every day.  How many, do you have ratios in mind, like, that's a documentary.  And a lot of films are documentaries, then you have full-length feature films, short films. 

 Do you have a ratio in your mind when you're, three weeks from now and the film festival's over, you're like, okay.  No, I think probably, now that you suggest that, I think that would probably be the disastrous way to go.  Then don't do it that way.  Trying to choose films in order to meet a certain quota, I think would probably end up being kind of a disaster.  So what I have is just sort of this gut sense as I'm putting the festival program together, of certain corners of the cinema world that I want to try to hit.  But there's definitely no quota that I'm trying to meet.  Just Meg magic.  Well, it's not me, again, it's the audience.  I'm looking for films that I think are going to both meet people's expectations, in the case of "Eggshell Land," which I think is an incredibly charming documentary about the Manolio family in Ohio, who every year at Easter time, decorate their lawn with colored eggshells that illustrate certain patterns.  It's a story that is just, it's like who we are as people.  It's just a neighborhood, somewhere else, but a neighborhood, and a guy who really likes to put on a good show.  And so there are films like that that I like to choose for the festival because they make you smile.  It's fascinating to see this entire family pitch in and create this project.  But there are other kinds of films that I choose because I really want to push people's boundaries a little bit more.  So not just meet their expectations but really help expand their idea of what filmmaking is and what motion pictures can be.  And I think people, partially expect that at a film festival.  I do, I think if I'm going to see a Hollywood film at the 3D animated thing, I'm going to get spoon fed and I expect it and that's what I'm going for, complete escape.  But sometimes at a film festival I take a chance.  And then you're taking a chance, and that can be really interesting experience, even if I don't like it necessarily, it's been a very different experience.  The other thing I think happens at your festival, and I don't go to a lot of other film festivals, I don't know if this is true, is that people go in groups.  I know my friends go and buy tickets in blocks and go in groups, and I think the filmmaking experience normally is like a date, or one person going. 

 What is it about your film festival or film festivals in general that make it conducive for people to want to go in groups and be with that film.  What happens there? You know, Charles, I actually think that's, I think people do that because that is what feels right.  That movie going is actually meant to be more social.  And actually I sort of feel like the way we've come to go to movies is actually what's more artificial.  So festivals just feel normal.  You talk to people in line, you hang out with folks that you never met before.  You might be in a crowded movie theater and so you're sitting next to somebody who's going to ask you to hold their seat, and of course you say, yes, I would be happy to do that.  And you make conversation with people.  A lot of people attend the Wisconsin Film Festival and talk about how much they like chatting with strangers that they meet in line.  So interesting.  I don't know why more people just don't do this in their regular life, because this is what feels normal.  Again, it's not because I've decreed that this is what's going to happen at the Wisconsin Film Festival.  You will talk to your friend next door you don't know! I'm not in control of that.  But it's how people feel more comfortable.  And it's nice, you've created an atmosphere.  And I want to show another clip, this is again from Bob Trondson from Director's Cut and this is showing that you guys have a TV commercial, and this is showing how it's a collaboration made.  Let's roll that clip.  * The Wisconsin Film Festival is built on partnerships, and it could be argued that no partnership is as important or as strong as the relationship between the Wisconsin Film Festival and the University of Wisconsin.  The UW provides everything from theaters and technical advice to, in this case, promotion.  * So this is Brittany and Erik, it's a lovely Sunday afternoon and we are stuck in this room doing what, exactly? Well, we are working on the Wisconsin Film Festival TV spot.  * We're going to make a 30-second TV commercial that announces the festival, lets people know what the dates are, how to get tickets. 

 * I'm a junior.  Junior at? The University of Wisconsin-Madison, and yes, I'm a Comm Arts and Journalism double major.  At the end of the semester last year we had a show of all the student work, and I saw animation that Brittany did and I really liked it.  This year the graphic style of the festival is kind of this -- animation.  When I saw Brittany's animation, I thought there was a good fit there.  Does this give you an opportunity to do things that you would not normally have a chance to do? Definitely.  Erik and Nate, who has been helping us from Planet Propaganda, have been really good resources for me.  Really supportive of the work I've been doing.  I know where I'm going with the project, but it's really nice to have them behind me saying, "This looks good, let's improve on it. " That's been really great to just have them with me for the whole ride.  I think the partnership between the university and the film festival has been a huge benefit to students.  This is definitely something that I'm going to be able to show people, and say, "With the help of Erik and Nate I created this, and I'm really proud of it," so, yeah.  It's been a really cool experience actually.  One of the unique parts of the Wisconsin Film Festival, the part of the students.  Another unique part of your film festival, I think, and maybe it's a stereotype I have, and others have, of film festivals, is this red carpet thing, and all this VIP access, and all the schmoozing.  You don't do that.  I don't think, there might be a carpet that happens to be red going in, but you don't really do the red carpet thing.  Is it a Midwestern thing, is it a Madison thing? Because you're trying to create a culture, right? I think there's just a lot of things that all contribute to the same result.  Part of it is, it's not my style, so I would have a hard time trying to pull that off.  And a lot of film festivals actually, what they try to do is mimic, they try to be Hollywood.  Well, here in Madison and here in the state of Wisconsin, we have a lot to be proud of. 

 We don't have to be anybody else, we can just be ourselves.  And ourselves means showing incredible motion pictures without also having a lot of those other glamour trappings.  But mostly, because this is an event completely put on, the collaboration between the University of Wisconsin and our businesses that help sponsor the festival, it remains an educational event.  I mean, it is a project of the University of Wisconsin, and so what we're trying to do, really, is just expose people to a wider range of motion pictures, and not build up this exclusive culture of, only access to some films for some people.  Which I respect, but then, the other problem you run into if you're making it educational, and that I worry about sometimes, it's like wine tasting.  It has an elite, film festivals have an elite feel to me, and I was wondering how you try to overcome that for certain members of the population in Madison or Wisconsin that aren't as educated or don't fit into the stereotype to make it less exclusionary.  Well, it doesn't have to be elite.  The only way that you get to that pretentious or elite status is by imposing that upon your event.  With the festival, tickets are cheap so it's relatively accessible to most people.  There's no special access that some people get and other people don't.  It's really just about putting on a good show and having a lot of movies to choose from, also.  Everything's equal.  All movies have the same kind of access.  Yeah, that's cool.  And so, what we do here at the festival is run as many as ten theaters, this year we'll have eight running theaters.  So there's just a ton of choices, so there are just lots of options for everybody.  And as long as you don't willingly, manually put some sort of VIP access or some other kind of obstacle in people's way, then it will be open to everybody.  Great, let's see another clip.  This is a great film, a clip from "The Thorn in the Heart. " ( speaking French ) ( screams ) ( screams ) ( speaking French ) That movie looks absolutely fantastic and I also want to comment, there's the screener thing written across the top there, when you go to see it at the film festival, that will not be on there, it's just my copy.  That film, "Thorn in the Heart," was also featured, I was looking it up, at the South by Southwest Festival, it was at the Cannes Film Festival. 

 Does that bug you? Like you didn't get it first, or you don't get the premiere of it, or you don't care about any of that? You just want a good movie.  I just want a good movie.  I just want to bring really delightful movies here.  The fact that it might have played in Austin, Texas or in Cannes, France, doesn't meant that our audience here gets to see it.  That's a good point.  So this is a documentary by Michel Gandri, who's a French filmmaker who is known for doing fictional films.  And this is a documentary that he made about his aunt Suzette.  And so this is another kind of fun thing about festivals, is that you get to see, in this case, a different side to a filmmaker who's known for doing quite extraordinary fantastical films.  He has a very creative kind of style that he uses for his regular films.  And so to see a documentary that he creates about his own family is a really interesting side to this.  Wherever he is, he still as an Aunt Suzette like everybody else, that's really nice.  We're going to see another clip, but actually we're not going to see another clip because what I want to do next is, I thought it would be fun to actually experience the film festival.  We're going to show an entire film.  Would you set it up for us, we're going to watch a whole film.  Well, this is a film called "Sub-Prime. " It's a little three-minute film by a Wisconsin filmmaker named Mike Winkleman, whose animations had been in the festival before.  And so one of the things I like is also being able to see the style of a particularly animator change over the course of the years.  And so I get to see him try new things.  And this is something that we get to include in the festival and share with our audience.  Break out the popcorn, we're going to watch an entire film.  This is "Sub-Prime. 

" * ( animation zooms ) ( sound of trees growing, boards creaking ) ( man humming ) ( house clatters ) ( house pieces zooming into place ) ( house clatter s) ( upbeat techno music ) * ( trees popping up ) ( music grows quiet ) Well, there you go, an entire movie.  I love it, we just watched an entire movie, I love it.  That was a Wisconsin film.  Yeah.  One of the things I liked, there's lots of things to talk about in that film, but that was, you feature Wisconsin filmmakers.  How many do you do and how do you go about doing that? This is the other half of the festival that's really important, and one half that we talked about was bring films from around the world, like "The Thorn in the Heart," Michel's film.  But the other half that's really important is showing films that are made right here.  There are a lot of Wisconsin filmmakers who, regrettably, have fewer opportunities to get their work seen.  And nothing to do with quality, it just is because it's a huge world, and not enough screens, really, to show locally made films.  That's the quote of the day, it's a huge world and not enough screens.  There should be more screens.  And so, one of the things festivals do is make it a priority to give local filmmakers a platform.  And this is not unique to the Wisconsin Film Festival, festivals around the world do this for people in their own community.  And so this is a top priority for us.  So each year many films that have Wisconsin ties get submitted to the festival.  And we have, every year we have a jury that looks at those films, and it's the jury that actually decides which of the Wisconsin films make it into the festival.  And so that's a little bit different because, then, some of these films e a surprise for me because I'm not the one actually choosing them.  How fun.  And so it's the delightful part for me to be able to then see which films were selected by the jury.  Not only do you do Wisconsin filmmakers, you're a part of the UW so you also do student films.  That's right. 

 Which, from my understanding, they're the first to sell out, that's the most popular.  People love, kids love watching the student films, right? It's really important to be able to support those students who are making films, whether they've made films within a college classroom or whether they're making films on their own.  But it's true that the Wisconsin Film Festival has its own submission process and its own competition for Wisconsin films made either by students in the state or by Wisconsin residents that might be going to school elsewhere.  There you go.  There's one we're going to show a clip from, it's from a Milwaukee student.  We're actually not going to show a clip, this is Bob Trondson, this is another clip from Dao Chang, she's a young filmmaker, and this is a great clip about how she made this film.  * Being an independent filmmakers is hard work.  No other calling demands harnessing so many different tools.  Writing, producing, directing.  The look of the film, the sound of the film, the list goes on and on.  But when you finish your piece and you get it into a festival like the Wisconsin Film Festival, there's nothing like it.  The crowds, the audience, the energy.  It makes all the hard work worth it.  * I guess I was looking for evidence that I had a happy family.  It's funny.  Dao Chang, Joe Zaucko, and Meg Strobel, all from Milwaukee, created a documentary called "My Way Home. " The film is about Dao returning to her homeland in Laos.  Her goal, to connect with the memory of her mother, who died in a refugee camp in Thailand when Dao was still a baby.  Yes, this was one of the hardest things I've ever done, it was always a struggle between me as the filmmaker and me as the subject.  Because me as the filmmaker is a completely different person than me as the subject.  So I just needed to find a way to put them together. 

 * ( speaking Hmong ) I don't speak Hmong, and a lot of the filming was in Hmong.  So it was interesting to not always know exactly what footage you got.  ( speaking Hmong ) And Dao, did you always know, obviously, because you can speak the language, did you know, we got some really good stuff? The team would always just look towards me and they'd always give me that look like, "Are we done? Did we get it?" I'd be like, "Yeah, we got it. " So you're sitting at home, you're reading a book, taking a shower, whatever, and you hear that you're in the Wisconsin Film Festival.  What was the reaction? I screamed, not that loud, because I'm not a loud person, but I did because I was really excited, yeah.  Do you think that the Wisconsin Film Festival is part of the journey of becoming a filmmaker as well, because it's not just about creating it, it's about that next step, too, of getting it to people.  Seeing it with an audience is a lot different.  And there were moments with our 280 hours of footage where we were like, "I really like this moment but I can't really understand why, or why I'm drawn to it. " And then when you see it with an audience, you'll just get a soft sigh, or you'll feel the audience reacting, and you're like, "Oh, we made a great choice. " What do you hope the audience reaction will be at the festival? What do you hope they take away from it? The -- a film that's just very personal, about Dao's story.  I think, I hope, it will be a positive experience for people, open some eyes.  I don't know, I hope that people who watch this would, like, reflect on their selves and their own history and hopefully it motivates them to go out and seek these answers.  Everyone has their own history and their own story.  That was Dao Chang and she's actually going to be a guest on Director's Cut on May 13th, Thursday, May 13th at 9:00, check it out.  "My Way Home," definitely one of my favorite films of the year and of course I get to watch it because it's on the show.  She's won the special jury prize, right? The Wisconsin special jury prize? There are eight films this year, three student-made films and five regular what we call "Wisconsin's Own" films.  Eight films total were given what we now call the "Golden Badger" for Wisconsin filmmaking.  We used to just call it "special jury award" and. . .  I like "Golden Badger. 

" I thought, I wanted something that would make people smile when we said it out loud.  Do they get a. . . ? No, there's an award.  There's a plaque, but it is not an actual badger that is gold.  We'll talk about that later.  So how is that, how is the Golden Badger chosen and how does that work? Well, this is what the jury does.  So we have two juries, and one of the things they do is actually choose which of all the submitted films are going to play in the festival and there's over 50 films with Wisconsin connections that are playing in the festival.  But then they also single out certain ones for recognition and those are the eight films that win the Golden Badger.  Could be a different number every year.  Again, I don't like the quota idea, so it's just whatever films that the juries think have particular merit, have accomplished something technically and artistically to get that extra recognition.  I was very touched by that movie when I saw it, and it's like, you know it's an hour-long film about a young Hmong girl going back home.  And you're, like, you don't see that, that's the kind of thing you don't really get to see.  It's nice that that opportunity's there.  And one thing that Meg Strobel, who is the producer in that clip, talked about, is where the festival fits into it.  Of course, the film, the movie, they did all the hard work, they made the movie, that's the great part.  The festival is just the glue that sticks a bunch of films together.  But what Meg talked about was the idea of watching this now in front of a live audience.  You can make the most wonderful film in the world, but unless it's shown to an audience, it doesn't exist.  It has to be seen in order to exist. 

 And so there are fewer opportunities for filmmakers to actually be able to see their work alongside with the live audience.  So when she talked about the sigh, or the reaction of the audience, this is something a lot of filmmakers really treasure, this opportunity that they only get at festivals.  I bet, I bet.  To see, when do they laugh, when does the audience react? Are they quiet during that scene or do they cheer? And so that's a really fun part of the festival for me, is being able to see that process take place with filmmakers.  I'm going to take a complete 90 degree turn here, we're going to show another clip, this is from a documentary called "Waking Sleeping Beauty. " That is a little baby cub, and he is just the cutest thing.  And this guy is going to grow up to be 750 pounds.  ( both laugh ) Ever since Frank's death, Jeffrey was lobbying for Frank's job as president of the company.  But Roy wouldn't have anything to do with it.  He already felt uncomfortable with the amount of press Jeffrey was getting.  I was out fought on these movies, I was selling the films.  The more successful they were, the more attention came to me, the more I was able to get attention for the films.  ( crew chattering ) At the time, I think many people felt, am I doing this for me and my own career? I think Michael became very competitive with me at some point in this.  He was uncomfortable with the amount of attention and the recognition that I was getting for it.  I think Roy was extremely uptight about it.  ( singing "Hakuna Matata" ) We heard one day that Jeffrey was going to come in with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal that was going to follow us around to show how the movie got made.  And Jeffrey performed for the journalist and we created what looked like a slice of how the movie actually got made.  And in that article, Jeffrey was proclaimed "the guy who is saving Disney animation. " That was kind of a last straw kind of a thing for me.  I was just incensed by that.  Another clip from the Wisconsin Film Festival. 

 Do you like all the films? Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.  Like all 192 films, you like them all? Yeah, that's why they're in the festival, because I like 'em.  I like these and I like a whole lot more that didn't even make it into the festival.  This is, the film that we just saw, "Waking Sleeping Beauty," is another film, though, that actually has a Wisconsin connection.  The executive producer of this film, Peter Schneider, is from Madison.  His folks still live here.  And Peter's actually going to be at the festival because he's going to be presenting this film.  He used to work at Disney.  He was head of Disney studios for many years, during the time that this film covers, the sort of resurgence of Disney's animation studios.  And so what I enjoy about this film is not just a slice of film history, looking at one of the most successful movie brands ever, but the fact that one of the guys who was instrumental in actually creating the films, like "Lion King" and "Little Mermaid," that is featured within this particular documentary, he's from Madison.  And so he's coming back and he's going to be here for the screening.  And you do have speakers afterwards and do different things, that makes it interesting, to have the directors there.  I found that really cool.  I have a personal question for you if you don't mind me asking, a personal question.  Obviously, you're into film, this is something that's part of your life and you wouldn't have gotten this job, you wouldn't have tried to get this job and do this if you didn't love it.  Obviously you work more than 40 hours a week and this encompasses your existence.  I respect that.  How many years have you been the director? This is my 10th year with the festival, and my fifth year as festival director.  Do you find that watching 192 films a year and being in the business of films and all this stuff, does it take some of the love of films away for you, or does it make you love it even more? You love it even more.  Because instead of the movies simply just being about the end result of what it feels like during that hour and 40 minutes when you sit there as the viewer, and just watch the final product, it's so much more fascinating when you know more about it.  Not just how movies are made in general, like how do you shoot a film, but actually when you get to know who the people are. 

 It's all about the people.  I'm the same as you, I do this for a living and I interview these directors, and now I'm like, "Independent Wisconsin films are the greatest films ever!" because I think these people are awesome.  Yeah, doing this over and over year after year doesn't make me like it less.  I like it a lot more because I get to know more of the people who make the films, of course, with the festival I know more of the people in the audience who are actually coming, literally the people who show up to see these movies.  And that just drives me to want to do this more and more and more, yeah.  So we should do a couple festivals a year, you won't be too tired.  It would be wonderful, I wish I could, yeah.  Set up another clip for us, this is the film "Bomber," which looks completely awesome, so why don't you tell us a couple seconds about that one and we'll show a clip.  So, "Bomber" is a film from England, and this is a film that I really like because it's just, to me it represents the classic kind of festival film.  It's understated, it's not flashy, and yet it has the most charming, tender story.  The three actors in it are wonderful.  When I first saw this film I was delighted because Benjamin Whitrow, who plays the father in "Bomber," I first fell in love with when he played the father in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" that was on BBC years ago.  And so, I think he's a tremendous actor and so I have gotten to know the filmmakers who have been putting this together.  And so this is a little slice from across the Atlantic of a film that, I don't know what its commercial prospects are, that's not my job.  I don't know how to assess whether a film could ever do well commercially here in the United States.  But I certainly know from a festival point of view that this is exactly the kind of film that I personally really enjoy showing.  Well, let's show a slice.  They're going to make us a sandwich, we'll take it with us.  Did they understand you? I think so.  Young lad in the kitchen spoke a bit of English.  I do hope he's going to feel better soon. 

 What, the lad in the kitchen? Ross.  Oh, oh.  He's taken quite a knock, you know.  Being a bit of a sissy, if you ask me.  No one's asking you and that's not very nice.  He's hysterical.  He's a sensitive boy.  Yes, well, we know where he gets that from.  Meaning? No wonder Ledger's dumped him.  You don't know what you're talking about.  Oh, of course she has.  Women want someone who's reliable, tough, and strong.  Not someone who's always harping on about their feelings.  It's the sign of a poofter.  How would you know what a woman wants? Did I ever harp on about my emotions to you? No.  Exactly.  You never did.  Well, there you go.  I mean, completely lost control.  Mm.  I wouldn't throw a temper like that. 

 Oh, really? No.  What about the time I bought the dishwasher? We didn't need it.  You didn't need it, you had me.  I liked doing the dishes.  Of course you did.  You were never there.  I don't remember losing my temper.  I do.  We couldn't afford it.  You went through the roof.  I did not.  You did.  ( waitress speaks German ) Thank you, danke schoen.  Young man in the kitchen says this is their local specialty.  It's supposed to be very good.  Would you like to try some? Mm, delightful.  Sure you won't have some? It's a wonder you don't get fat.  Oh, just want to sit there and watch the movie.  Needless to say, there are some personal issues that they work through during the course of the film.  Yes, I hope they come to a resolution in the end.  The Wisconsin Film Festival, what kind of economic impact does it have on Wisconsin or in Madison? It's huge, it must have a big impact. 

 It's actually, the festival is actually a fairly small project.  It's a tiny little project put on by the university.  We have a staff of two and rely on a huge number of volunteers.  Maybe it just impacts my life.  So, it's large because so many people enjoy coming.  And we are able to connect with so many filmmakers.  I think that its impact has a lot less to do with an economic baseline and more of a cultural one of just being able to bring stories from around the world and to find other ways of introducing people to films, so that's what I think is important.  I understand why the mall movie theater's going to show "Avatar" for 13 weeks in a row and won't show this film, "Bomber. " I get that.  I understand that.  What I have a hard time understanding is why we can't, and occasionally we can do this more, but why we can't rent all these movies.  Why, since it's so easy to see the Hollywood spoon-fed stuff, which again, I don't mind, sometimes it's fun having an escape to do that.  Why isn't it easier to rent, I just don't understand why we can't see these films more often.  Why are they almost impossible to see? It is getting easier and easier.  As each year passes, there are more way to do it.  There are more films that become available on DVD, there are other tools, we can now stream things over the internet that come a little faster, we can watch things on our television sets a little easier.  There's more on-demand options.  But one of the things that still matters, I think, is that with all of these new systems available, sure, you have 100 times more choices of what movies you could watch tonight than you would have had five years ago.  But what still matters is the idea of bringing people out into the community.  And that's why festivals still exist.  This festival's not going away any time soon. 

 Netflix is not going to replace the Wisconsin Film Festival.  Right, because even if, even if you could see every single one of these films from the privacy of your own home on television, you'd miss something really important, which is the idea of watching them with your friends and neighbors in a crowded movie theater.  And when movies are funny, you'll laugh a lot harder.  It's weird to watch a comedy alone, isn't it? I didn't think about that, or cry alone, if it's really sad.  Like, who do I look at and elbow? One of the fun parts about the festival, we have four films by a South Korean filmmaker named --, who is one of my personal favorite filmmakers.  So he has a new film out called "Mother" that we're going to show at the end of the festival.  And I just decided, 'cause I get to do this as the festival director, I decided to bring his three earlier films back to the festival.  Great.  So what I mean is, there's a film called "The Host," which he directed, which came out a couple of years ago, so a lot of people watching the show may have seen "The Host" already.  And they might have seen it on DVD, they might have seen it on television.  But one of the thrills of the festival is being able to show a funny, scary film like "The Host," which is not new to people, as I said.  It came out a couple of years ago and it's very popular.  But to show it at the big Orpheum theater on State St.  in Madison, late at night, 10:00 at night on Thursday, when there will be a whole lot of other people in the theater.  When you watch a funny movie or a scary movie, or even better, a funny, scary movie, together with a big audience, that's when people fall in love with the movies.  They don't fall in love with watching DVDs at home, that's a convenience.  The Jean Claude Van Damme film, from last year.  JCVD.  I watched it with a bunch of people.  I loved it because it was there, it was great.  Well, we're running out of time. 

 I really, really am excited for the film festival and a lot of people are.  We're going to show a little montage of some films so people get more of a flavor of the Wisconsin film festival.  Thank you very much for joining us today.  Thank you, Charles.  ( speaking foreign language ) ( singing in foreign language ) * ( speaking foreign language ) Tell me, some place you know about? I joined the Church of Scientology.  Good.  I'm already a level 5 tekron warrior.  Hi, baby.  I'm Carly, what's your name? Um, I'm Michael.  And what can I do for you this morning, Michael? This will just take a minute.  What will take just a minute? My next errand.  What is your next errand, that is my actual question.  * Ah, this just keeps getting better and better.  * ( speaking foreign language ) God, those films look amazing, sumo film in Israel, I love it.  Meg, thank you very much for joining us today.  Thank you, Charles.  And thank you all very much for watching Director's Cut.  For more information on the Wisconsin Film Festival, please go to wpt.  org/directorscut.  And while you're there, send us an email because we love hearing from you.  We leave you now with one more behind-the-scenes report from Bob Trondson, which sums up the essence of the Wisconsin Film Festival. 

 I'm Charles Monroe-Kane, and for everyone here at Director's Cut, thank you very much for joining us.  Check the gate.  * So, when you think about going to a film, you think about going with a buddy, a partner, or even going by yourself.  But unless you're a gaggle of middle school girls, you don't normally think of going to a movie as a group event.  But not these fans.  These fans of the festival, they love film.  And they love to talk about film.  And for them, the Wisconsin Film Festival is an exercise in group dynamics.  * How does one "movie group"? Well, first you have to be really enthusiastic about the films.  It started out as a get-together, support group for recently divorced people back in the late 70s.  Started on a Wednesday, we went out to dinner.  Over the hump.  You go to the movies on all the doldrum days of Sunday afternoon, and we potluck at somebody's house, and then hopefully you talk about it all evening over your food and drink.  There are certain weeks when the movie that we have seen in the movie group doesn't get as much attention as the food at the potluck.  You are in for life once you get in, but it is a select group.  There's a blood oath, I assume.  Oh yeah, and I'm sworn to secrecy, so we can't talk about that.  If I want to get in but I happen to think that the number one actor in the world for talent is someone like the Rock, would I be not. . . ? How was bringing the festival into the movie group, was it just an organic thing? It was not at all a formalized thing, it was just, various of us started straggling to the film festival. 

 I personally go to maybe six, seven movies.  We did, I think, ten one year.  Once we saw twelve, that's too many.  We go to 12 to 14 movies throughout the weekend in a row.  I have this image of your group of women, walk out of the place, the limo shows up, the doors open, and you're whisked away to the next one.  I only wish.  Do you find a big difference between the "normal films" and the film festival films? Do you find that a lot different? Oh, yeah, huge difference.  It's a different level of enthusiasm, though, because everything in regular films is pretty well Hollywood-ized.  But you go to the film festival and it's just all these incredibly creative minds.  I say to people, they say, how do you pick a movie and I say, well, it doesn't matter.  If you get a movie you don't like you've got six more.  And one of the nicest things is, when they have the people there who are the writers, the directors, the cinematographers.  And you can actually see the people and it makes it so much more meaningful, and ask them questions.  So it has that whole aura of great excitement.  ( applause ) To me, the highlight of the entire film festival, is Meg Hamel.  Whenever she's introducing a movie, I want to see that movie.  She has been very keen on movies ever since she had a wall full of VHS tapes.  So I make out my list of tickets based on Meg's recommendations and I just lay the guilt trip on her.  "Meg, tell me what I should see. " Some of my friends who live other places, I think, envy us for having such a good film festival.  It's not only seeing the movies, it's seeing the same people at the movies, it's talking to people you've never met before in line about movies that you've seen. 

 Traditions are very important to people.  And for us, that's the film festival.  And there's so much going wrong in the world that the film festival's really helpful.  All these people with all these creative minds, you think, surely there will be good answers coming out.  *