Wildwood Film Fest is the Slamdance of Wisconsin
By Joshua Grover-David Patterson
For The Post-Crescent If the Wisconsin Film Festival is the Sundance
of Wisconsin, then Wildwood is certainly its Slamdance.
The Slamdance Film Festival was started in 1995 as an alternative
to the more-famous Sundance Film Festival. Taking place simultaneously
with its
semi-namesake,
Slamdance originated as a way for people who didn’t get into Sundance
to showcase their films.
Wildwood was created for similar reasons.
“
Tom (Thorne) and Craig (Knitt) have been friends since childhood and I came into
the picture when I acted in a film Craig wrote and directed about seven years
ago called ‘The Hunt,’” said Jason Buss, one of the three cofounders
of Wildwood. “In short, the fest came into being because Craig couldn’t
find a fest to play the film. The fact that (we knew) everyone would
like the movie if they could see it, combined with the fact that
we live in the
fastest
growing area of the state made us think the fest (was) an idea whose
time had come.”
The first Wildwood Film Festival took place in 2002 at The Historic
West Theater in Green Bay. In addition to “The Hunt,” the first festival featured
eight other films, including an entry from Rob Schrab, who recently wrote the
Steven Spielberg-produced “Monster House.”
Since that first year, the festival has moved to Appleton, and
the number of film sessions has risen from one to three. Much
like Slamdance,
attendance
has
increased each year.
When asked how the films are selected, Buss said, “Factors involved
in the lineup choices include but are not limited to the (number)
of films received
and the screen time available. Of course, quality is the top
decision maker. We try to raise the level of quality every year and I think
we have done
that again.”
The Wildwood Film Festival focuses on Wisconsin filmmakers.
According to the entry form, “The Wildwood Film Festival
is a non-profit event designed to showcase emerging independent
films/filmmakers from Wisconsin. The primary
creative personnel, such as director, producer, (or) screenwriter,
should have Wisconsin ties.”
Because of this rule, most of the films shown were made in
Wisconsin. But some of this year’s entries were created
in such far-flung locales as Tennessee, California and
Sydney, Australia.
The one made in Sydney was my film: “Meaningful Touches.” To re-coin
a phrase, I’m not just the journalist covering Wildwood, I’m
also a participant.
This is my second time in the festival. The first time
was in 2004, with a short film I co-wrote titled “The Paper Castle.” It
was well-received both at Wildwood and throughout the
world, eventually playing in 24 film
festivals. It won one of its 11 awards at Wildwood.
Since its inception, Wildwood has primarily shown short
films. While a short film is usually defined an anything
with a
running time of
60 minutes
or
less, most films screened at Wildwood run for less
than 30 minutes.
Short films live an odd little existence, inasmuch
as they are almost as hard to create as a feature,
but are
rarely
seen outside
of the
festival circuit.
So why bother to make them?
Answers are as varied as the directors, writers
and actors involved in creating them, but there
are a
few common
themes.
Personally, I wrote “Meaningful Touches” for a couple of reasons.
The first was because I thought it was an interesting idea – a man walks
into a medical clinic that isn’t really
a medical clinic. Why is he there in the
first place? And more importantly, why does
he seem ashamed
to be there?
Lance Miller and Donald P. Unverrich had
a similar reason for making their film – they
were intrigued by a particular premise. They co-wrote and co-directed “Moviebonics,” a
movie that features a couple that speaks
only in movie quotations.
“
Not only are we filmmakers, we are also film buffs who spend a lot of time quoting
movies to each other,” they said in an e-mail interview. “We noticed
after several years of doing so that it wasn’t just us that were using
movie quotes in our day-to-day language. It’s
everywhere, and the idea was born.”
My other reason for writing “Meaningful Touches” was less about ideas
and more about logistics. Since I write movies but don’t direct or produce
them, I have to convince other people to make them. I wrote the script because
it was short, quirky and easy to shoot – perfect
low-budget filmmaker bait.
The most frequent motive given for
making a short film was to use it
as a way to
convince people
to finance
another film, or
to use
the
short as
a
marketing
tool to make a feature version of
their short film.
Bob Pondillo wrote and directed “My Name is Wallace” partly for this
reason. The film is based on a character created and played by his friend David
Lawrence. “We think we’ve got a feature film here and we’d
like to use this short effort as a sort of a calling card ... or demo,” Pondillo
said. His film has already won
nine awards, and will be featured
on a compilation DVD available
for rental at Hastings Book Store
locations around the country.
Daniel Bernhardt, a Hollywood actor
whose credits include “Nature Unleashed:
Tornado,” and “The Matrix Reloaded,” wrote and directed “Fetch,” a
film about a down-on-his-luck private detective, because he wanted to try something
different. “I’ve been an actor for 10 years,” he said. “I’ve
always wanted to direct.” Like Pondillo, he has further plans for his project. “My
goal is to turn Fetch into a
TV show or a feature film.”
In a world where the movie theater
experience is filled primarily
with sequels, remakes,
too-long-too-boring dramas
and unsubtle (and often
unfunny) comedies,
the Wildwood Film Festival
presents its viewers with a unique viewing
experience. Unless
you attend
a
lot
of film
festivals,
chances
are good that the movies
you’ll
see at Wildwood are movies that you’ll
never get a chance to see anywhere
else.
And who knows – perhaps one day you’ll find yourself in a movie theater,
see a name go by on the screen, and think – “Oh yes, I remember!
I saw that person’s
film at Wildwood!”
As for the future of The
Wildwood Film Festival,
Jason Buss said, “Who
knows what the future holds? Great things I’m
sure.”
Joshua Grover-David Patterson
can be reached at pcfeatures@postcrescent.com.