MOVIES

Shorts, art-minded movies set for Milwaukee Film Festival

Chris Foran
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Yarn," following the exploits of four women creating art with yarn, is part of the Art & Artists program at the 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival.

The 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival's arts-minded and short-film programs explore everything from high fashion to space travel to some pretty off-kilter ways of looking at the world.

The lineup for this year's Art & Artists program, sponsored by the Journal Sentinel's Art City and the Milwaukee Art Museum, includes:

"Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict," a profile of the wealthy collector whose passion for modern art helped the world see the works of Pollock, Dali, Kandinsky and more.

"Women He's Undressed," a documentary about the life, work and dramas of Oscar-winning costume designer Orry-Kelly, directed by Gillian Armstrong.

"A Space Program," a filmed performance of Tom Sachs' art installation "Space Program 2.0: Mars," sending two young women astronauts to Mars in search of answers — shown from creation to presentation.

"YARN," an exploration of cutting-edge works by four female artists in a medium not generally thought of as cutting-edge — yarn.

"Mr. Gaga," a look at the groundbreaking work of choreographer Ohad Naharin, artistic director of the Israel-based Batsheva Dance Company.

"Jodie Mack: Let Your Light Shine," a program of five short works by experimental filmmaker Mack.

The festival's shorts program, labeled Shorter Is Better, is sponsored by the Journal Sentinel's Tap Milwaukee. Themed programs include:

"The Best Damn (Expletive) Midnight Program Ever. (Expletive)," a collection of late-night-minded (in tone and temperament) short films.

"Date Night," short films exploring love in all its forms.

"Let's Get Animated," new animation — not talking kids' content here — from stop-motion to computer-generated.

"Out of This World," short films "for those who prefer to expect the unexpected," the festival says.

"Sports Shorts. Shorts About Sports," sports-minded films including "Alive & Kicking: The Soccer Grannies of South Africa."

"Stories We Tell," a collection of narrative-minded shorts.

"Stranger Than Fiction," documentary shorts.

"Surprise, Surprise!", an ensemble of boundary-pushing short films.

The 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival runs from Sept. 22 through Oct. 6. For information and tickets, go to mkefilm.org.