4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
dir: Cristian Mungiu
Romania 2007 | 113 min | Romanian, with English subtitles

opens 25.Apr : 2008 : Madison
Orpheum Theatre : check listings
This film should have been in the the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival, but it wasn’t available for our dates. Continuing the world-class style of other recent Romanian films like The Death of Mr. Lazaresceau, 12:08 East of Bucharest, and everything that played at Madison’s own Romanian Film Festival, 4 Months is “a ferocious, unsentimental, often brilliantly directed film about a young woman who helps a friend secure an abortion” (Manohla Dargis, New York Times). Winner of international film prizes at Cannes, Palm Springs, San Sebastián, Sofia, Stockholm, Vancouver, and more.
4months3weeksand2days.com | watch trailer

from the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival | winner, Jury Prize
Madison
dir: Brent Notbohm
USA 2008 | 90 min

opens 25.April : 2008 : Madison
Sundance 608 Cinema : check listings
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. American Players Theatre fans will be happy to see a cast of APT favorites such as James DeVita, Brian Mani, Sarah Day, and Gerry Neugent, as well as the acting debut of DeVita’s daughter, Sophia. Writer/director Brent Notbohm teaches media studies at UW-Superior. Winner, Jury Prize, 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival.
mirrorcinema.com | watch trailer

from the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival
Loose Cannons
dir: Andy Schlactenhaufen
USA 2008 | 97 min

opens 16.May : 2008 : Madison
Orpheum Theatre : check listings
Filmed on the UW campus and around central Madison, Loose Cannons is the story of the fictional student-run Campus Security team, their former glory now tainted as they struggle to prove their worth. The three remaining members have to balance fighting bad guys with not getting flunked, as they have to keep the class president off their backs, crack the evil Huntley’s extortion racket, and find out who killed Muley, the school mascot. Director Andy Schlachtenhaufen and pretty much everyone who worked on or is in the film are former or current UW-Madison students.
loosecannonsthemovie.com | watch trailer