Beloit International Film Festival opens Friday
The Beloit International Film Festival brings the world to the southern Wisconsin community every winter, and the 2019 edition is no exception.
In its 14th year, the Beloit film festival, which runs from Feb. 22 to March 3, has a definite Wisconsin flavor, but it also brings movies and movie-makers from all over the globe, from Norway to Singapore to Hungary.
More than 100 movies are on tap for this year’s festival, showing in seven venues around Beloit. Fifty-eight of the movies were directed by women.
Most of the titles are independent productions, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see some familiar faces.
Jeff Daniels wrote and stars in “Guest Artist,” a drama set in a small Michigan town and directed by former “thirtysomething” and “The West Wing” star Timothy Busfield; it’s showing at 5 p.m. March 3 at Bushel & Peck’s, 328 State St. (a March 2 screening is already sold out). It’ll be one of the movie’s first screenings anywhere; it had its world premiere Feb. 9 at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
And one of the festival’s short-film entries, “One Small Step,” is one of this year’s five nominees for the Academy Award for best animated short film. The movie, about a girl whose dream of becoming an astronaut are propelled by her father’s love, is showing four times during the Beloit festival.
Unless noted otherwise, tickets for screenings at the 14th Beloit International Film Festival are $10 at the door, $5 for students. Advance tickets, available online through Feb. 21, are $9.
For complete details, ticket availability and a schedule, go to beloitfilmfest.org.
Here are four more highlights to keep an eye or two out for:
“The Kid”: The annual silent-film showcase is one of the film festival’s top draws. And this year’s is a pip: Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 melodrama/ comedy about his Little Tramp bonding with a scrappy orphan, played by Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester, to fans of TV’s “The Addams Family”). Chaplin rewrote the rules for comedy, movies and entertainment with this classic, though it rarely gets a big-screen airing — but it’s getting one in the Beloit Memorial High School Auditorium, 1225 Fourth St., at 7 p.m. March 2. (Musical accompaniment will be from the Beloit Memorial Jazz Orchestra.) Tickets are $20, $5 for students.
“Godspell”: The 1970s’ other hit religious rock-centric musical gets the sing-along treatment in a screening of the 1973 movie version, starring Victor Garber (better known for playing sterner characters in stuff from TV’s “Alias” to “Legally Blonde”) as Jesus. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at Schubert’s Luxury 10 Theatre, 2799 Cranston Road.
“Mary Poppins”: The 1964 original with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. Free admission. 2:30 p.m. March 3 at Schubert’s Luxury 10 Theatre.