3 movies to see every day of the 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival
No matter what day(s) you make it to the Milwaukee Film Festival these next two weeks, there's something intriguing to find on the big screen.
Rejoice, Milwaukee film fans, for the two best weeks of the movie-going year are here.
OK, so technically the first day of the highly anticipated 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival took place Thursday night with the start line screening of “Sally” followed by the opening night block party right outside the Oriental. But any true film festival fanatic knows the REAL festival madness doesn’t really begin until Day 2 and beyond, when you have a full day and multiple screens of movies to choose from and your spreadsheet of watching plans becomes a chaotic mess of circles, highlighter marks, zig-zagging lines, arrows contradicting other arrows and maybe some hand-drawn exclamation marks and question squiggles just for fun. If it doesn’t look like you’re Charlie Day on “It’s Always Sunny” discovering there is no Carol in HR, you’re not Milwaukee Film Festival-ing right.
If that all sounds mightily stressful, well, I’m here to help.
I’ve done Three to See picks for each day of the festival in the past – and I’m doing them in the present too, except now I’m giving you all my picks for every day right at the start so you can plan your attack a little earlier. (And for picks still playing from days past, scroll to the bottom of this piece.) These are my selections for the most interesting, exciting and anticipated films on the slate this year – from the horrific hilarity of the Hooligante category, to the always deeply insightful docs, to the indie gems that’ll make my top ten list at the end of the year, to the indescribable and undefinable. And these are just the ones that made my personal cut – for even more great movies, check out the festival’s full lineup and schedule at their website. Join on this cinematic adventure across the globe, through surreal universes and, yes, into a bunch of closed Pizza Huts.
So, with no further ado, here are my three to see across two weeks of the 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival. And here’s to seeing you all at the movies!
Day 14: Wednesday, May 7
Quietly one of the most lauded films in the 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival slate – earning LGBTQ film fest awards across the globe as well as prizes from the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival – “All Shall Be Well” follows a woman coping with her emotions and dealing with encroaching in-laws after her wife unexpectedly passes away. All shall indeed be well if you check out this remarkably tender family drama.
“All Shall Be Well” will show Wednesday, May 7 at 1 p.m. at the Oriental.
“The Best Damn F*#@ing Midnight Program Ever. Shit.”
Stay up late one last time with the 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival with this annual shorts assembly of all things outrageous – from out-there comedy to nerve-racking horror and just … weirdness. I mean, look at these shorts titles: “Earwax.” “RAT!” “Kombucha!” Just those names alone scream strange. And just when you think it couldn’t get any stranger – BOOM! – Cate Blanchett shows up.
“The Best Damn F*#@ing Midnight Program Ever. Shit.” will show Wednesday, May 7 at 10 p.m. at the Oriental.
Documentarian Reid Davenport – a past MFF alum for “I Didn’t See You There” – continues to shine a light on disabled people’s complex stories and experiences with “Life After,” taking a deep dive into the life of Elizabeth Bouvia from her divisive “right to die” lawsuit in 1983 to investigating what happened in the aftermath of the condescending media spotlight. The thoughtful and thought-provoking doc earned a Special Jury Award at this winter’s Sundance Film Festival, so even if the festival’s coming to a close, you can still catch one of its true story highlights before it all calls “Cut!”
“Life After” will show Wednesday, May 7 at 7 p.m. at the Oriental.
Day 15: Thursday, May 8
“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life”
The Milwaukee Film Festival comes to a close with the rarest of cinematic treasures: the romantic comedy. Yes, it’s true: They still exist. They’re unfortunately an endangered species - but it’ll be back on the big screen at least here in Brew City with “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,” an indie take on the classic romance author as a young aspiring writer heads to a Austen-themed workshop and finds herself in an Austen-ian romantic dilemma of her own. The charmer should be the perfect light-hearted way to wrap up a heavy two-week diet of cinema.
“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” will show Thursday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Oriental.
“Undercover”
“Anora” may have won Best Picture here, but at the Spanish version of the Oscars – the Goyas – this undercover cop thriller claimed top prize amongst its 13 nominations. It also scored Best Actress for Carolina Yuste, who plays the agent who gets in too deep with a violent separatist movement menacing the country for almost a half-century. For fans of Netflix’s “Narcos” and other tense crime dramas, go “Undercover” during your final film fest day plans.
“Undercover” will show Thursday, May 8 at noon at the Oriental.
“Magic Farm”
At this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival, you can save the best for last – or at least certainly the buzziest for last – with “Magic Farm.” The dark indie dramedy – starring Chloe Sevigny, Alex Wolff and Simon Rex (requisite “Red Rocket” plug!) as Vice-esque content creators trying to chase a story all the way to the wrong country and try to make the most of it by creating a viral craze – received strong reviews out of its premieres at both Sundance and Berlin, and got picked up for distribution by Mubi hot off its “The Substance” success. So with an indie resume like that, “Magic Farm” could end your festival with a big screen bang.
“Magic Farm” will show Thursday, May 8 at 6 p.m. at the Downer.
Past picks still playing
Looking for the next “Ghostlight,” a seemingly modest Milwaukee Film Festival standout from last year that was a secret emotional atomic bomb, so much so it made my top ten of 2024? Feel your way over to “Familiar Touch,” a similarly soft-spoken yet powerful indie drama about an elderly woman dealing with the complicated emotions and realities of moving into assisted living. The tiny indie has been a surprise powerhouse, receiving glowing reviews and even awards recognition from the Indie Spirits and the Venice Film Festival. Keep in touch with “Familiar Touch” these next two weeks (and probably keep in touch with some Kleenex when you go too.)
“Familiar Touch” will show Thursday, May 8 at 12:45 p.m. at the Downer.
A hyperbazillion docs later, is there anything left to say about The Beatles? Apparently yes, according to critics who’ve gotten their eyes and ears on “One to One,” which zeroes in on John and Yoko’s explosive and unfairly infamous relationship during 1972’s One to One charity concert. The doc’s gotten strong write-ups, finding new truths in these cultural icons, which shouldn’t be too big of a surprise since it’s from Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald (“One Day in September,” “Touching the Void”). “One to One” should tide Beatles fans over quite nicely while they wait for all four Beatles biopics coming out in April 2028. (Wait, wut?)
“One to One: John and Yoko” will show Thursday, May 8 at 12:30 p.m. at the Oriental.
Oscar-winning director Errol Morris is one of documentary’s most important and towering figures, changing the documentary world with movies like “Gates of Heaven,” “The Thin Blue Line” and “The Fog of War.” (To say nothing of his true artistic genius: those Chipotle ads, obviously.) So yes, when he has a new movie out, it’s worth paying close attention and snagging a seat – especially when it’s “Separated,” an all-too-timely documentary about family separations and America’s cruelty at the border.
“Separated” will show Thursday, May 8 at 3 p.m. at the Oriental.
(*Victor Garber on “30 Rock” voice*) WOOOOL! Yes, in the best thing to happen to wool since Chris Evans wore that sweater in “Knives Out,” "this sweet documentary follows a Norwegian married couple as they attempt to take on their family’s beloved sheep farm. Come for the precious, adorable lamb footage; stay for the even more precious and adorable family bonds. Or should that be BAAAAAH-nds?
“Woolly” will show Wednesday, May 7 at 1:30 p.m. at the Oriental.
Danielle Deadwyler is currently on what we in the business call “a heater,” getting oh-so-close to Oscar nominations in “Till” and “The Piano Lesson,” starring in hits like “Carry-On” and “The Harder They Fall,” and even elevating middling movies like “The Woman in the Yard.” She takes center stage in this intriguing Hooligante option courtesy of Canada, playing a woman trying to hold on to her family’s farmland during a dystopian global food shortage, bringing deadly scavengers to their doorstep. With movies like “Riceboy Sleeps” and “I Like Movies,” Canadian films at MFF have also been on a heater – and this one has Deadwyler wielding a big ol’ gun, so label me seated.
“40 Acres” will show Wednesday, May 7 at 8:30 p.m. at the Oriental.
“25 Cats From Qatar”
I’m allergic to cats, but thankfully that won’t be a problem at this rare globe-trekking Cream City Cinema selection, telling the true story of a local Milwaukee cat cafe owner who aims to help Doha’s feral cat problems by trying to organize the rescue flight of two dozen felines out of the Middle East to the Midwest. The festival always gives fans of both film and four-legged friends something to cozy up to – and this one should perfectly fit that bill. And no, I will NOT say “more like purr-fectly” – I’ve already done that kind of animal-themed pun this article.
“25 Cats From Qatar” will show Wednesday, May 7 at 4 p.m. at the Oriental.
“Free Leonard Peltier”
An all-star crew of documentarians – a duo of awards nominees with David France (“How to Survive a Plague” and “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson”) and Jesse Short Bull (“Lakota Nation vs. United States”) – takes on a ripped-from-the-headlines story, profiling the controversial Native American activist Leonard Peltier as well as the movement pushing for his freedom, one that found success recently with a pardon from President Biden. A center of national debate becomes the center of a compelling documentary in this Day 10 pick.
“Free Leonard Peltier” will show Thursday, May 8 at 3:30 p.m. at the Oriental.
As I noted in my original film festival rundown, Raoul Peck is quietly one of our finest chroniclers of history, between his Oscar-nominated doc “I Am Not Your Negro” and his lauded work with “Sometimes in April” and “Lumumba.” He continues to build on that impressive legacy with his latest project, “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” profiling a South African photographer whose work opened the world’s eyes to apartheid – then and even still now, with even more photographs being found in the past decade.
“Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” will show Wednesday, May 7 at 12:30 p.m. at the Oriental.