The 2011 Flyway Film Festival, running October 20-23, 2011 in Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin, has announced its lineup. From the official press release:
Today, the Flyway Film Festival officially announced the official selections for the 2011 Flyway Film Festival. The Festival will run from Thursday, October 20 to Sunday, October 23 in Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center and the Widespot Performing Arts Center. Now in its fourth year, the Festival is rapidly becoming recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new local, regional, and international cinema and providing the movie-loving public with access to critically acclaimed filmmakers and film industry professionals from around the world.
The 2011 Flyway Film Festival will screen over 40 feature films and shorts, representing 10 countries. This year, the Festival received more than 800 submissions from filmmakers around the world, more than double the number of 2010 entries.
“We are grateful that we continue to receive tremendous support from the community for our programming and fundraising efforts, as well as marketing capital,” said Executive Director Rick Vaicius, referring to the Festival’s receipt of a Joint Effort Marketing (JEM) Grant from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. “Being able to broaden our exposure to a more diverse audience will be a great value to not only the Festival but also to our local tourism.”
Collaborator (DViant Films/Vortex Words Pictures) will kick off the Festival on October 21 at the Widespot Performing Arts Center in Stockholm. The film is directed by respected actor Martin Donovan (Showtime’s Weeds) from his original screenplay. Donovan also stars in the film, portraying a once-successful playwright, Robert Longfellow, who is taken hostage by an [ex-con] neighbor while on a routine visit to his childhood home. Two-time Emmy-nominee David Morse plays Gus (the neighbor); a man Robert has avoided since he was a boy. The film also stars Olivia Williams, Katherine Helmond and Eileen Ryan play supporting roles. As the drama unfolds, social status, celebrity and the threat of violence converge, leaving the playwright simultaneously shattered and inspired.
The documentary Dirty Work will close the Festival on October 23 at the Widespot Performing Arts Center. The film is directed by Deb Wallwork (C. Beck), grand prize winner of the 2010 Independent Lens Short Film Award, and a self-described “unapologetic liberal from the steppes of the Northern Plains, the vast American heartland, flyover country”. The film follows a year in the life of a community-supported organic farm, Elsie’s Farm; a little field of vegetables that just might change the world. It’s a film about getting your hands dirty, doing work you love, and planting the seeds of the future in continuity with the past.
In addition, the Festival will host an exclusive Friday late night screening of Czech director Tony Laue’s black comedy Aussig on October 21 at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center. The story revolves around the relationship between two new lecturers at a local university—a Russian and an American. Tension starts when the two men are forced to live together in one small dorm room. The two men could not be more unlike. They quickly develop a dislike for each other. They conflict over everything from ketchup to women. It is as if another Cold War has broken out with the battleground being their little tiny dorm room.
Opening Night Film:
- Collaborator, Martin Donovan (Canada)
- With Madtown, Mike Scholtz (USA); Wisconsin, Paul Iannacchio (USA)
Closing Night Film:
- Dirty Work, Deb Wallwork (USA)
- With Sidewalk Sonata, Nick Klausen (USA)
Friday Late-Night Screening:
- Aussig, Tony Laue (Czech Republic)
- Enter the Circus, Izabela Barszcz; Le Diable en Personne, Philippe Lupien and Vincent Ethier (Canada); and Strumpet, Wolfgang Lehmkuhl (USA)
Wisconsin/Minnesota Showcase:
- Dirty Work, Deb Wallwork (USA)
- Sawdust City, David Nordstrom (USA)
- Thicker Than Water, Bradley Rappa (USA)
- Madtown, Mike Scholtz (USA)
- Sidewalk Sonata, Nick Klausen (USA)
- For My Kids, Anna Wise (USA)
- Strumpet, Wolfgang Lehmkuhl (USA)
- Breakfast for Dinner, Sean Voysey Olson (USA)
- Photos and Drawings, Jon Maichel Thomas (USA)
- Tunnels of Love, Brett Harding (USA)
Documentaries:
- Tony & Janina’s American Wedding, Ruth Leitman (USA)
- With For My Kids, Anna Wise (USA)
- Adventures in Plymptoons!, Alexia Anestasio (USA)
- With Guard Dog Global Jam, Bill Plympton (USA)
- Beauty Day, Jay Cheel (Canada)
- How To Start Your Own Country, Jody Shapiro (Canada)
- With Odysseus’ Gambit, Alex Lora (USA)
- Thicker Than Water, Bradley Rappa (USA)
- More To Live For, Noah Hutton (USA)
- A Second Knock At The Door, Christopher Grimes (USA)
- With Breakfast for Dinner, Sean Voysey Olson (USA)
- Solex Ahoy, Elisabeth Esselink (Netherlands)
Narratives:
- Duckhunter, Egidio Veronesi (Italy)
- Sawdust City, David Nordstrom (USA)
- 22 Mei, Koen Mortier (Belgium)
- Before Your Eyes, Miraz Bezar (Turkey)
- Radio Free Albemuth, John Alan Simon (USA)
- Homecoming, Sean Hackett (USA)
- With Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest, Perry Chen, Kevin Sean Michaels and Bill Plympton (USA)
- King of Devil’s Island, Marius Holst (Norway)
- Silver Tongues, Simon Arthur (USA)
- With Us, Alex Lora (USA)
- Seven Minutes in Heaven, Omri Givon (Israel)
- With Photos and Drawings, Jon Maichel Thomas (USA)
- Tunnels of Love, Brett Harding (USA)
- Flyway Curated Shorts Programming
- The Small Assassin, Chris Charles (USA), Cerise, John Trigonis (USA), Terrebonne, Jeremy Craig (USA), Alone, Ethan Seneker (USA), Gosia’s Witch, Dominika Waclawiak (USA), and The Winter Frog, Slony Sow (France)
- L.A. Comedy Shorts Programming I & II
