another season of visionary film

It’s hard to narrow down Milwaukee’s hidden gems. Some feel the city is the chewy center between gritty Chicago and crunchy Madison. So it should come as no surprise that our very own UWM houses not only a nationally recognized film department, but a damn good theater as well.

Never been there? Not surprising– it’s a bit off the beaten path.

Trek on over to UWM’s campus and into the Union building on Maryland Avenue. Go straight, climb up four flights of stairs and walk down a long hallway. At the end, you’ll be rewarded with UWM’s Union Theatre.

“It’s unfortunate there isn’t a lot of foot traffic, or any restaurants nearby,” says Ross Nugent, a UWM graduate student in film studies and the theater’s current program manager. “You really have to go out of your way to check it out.”

Nugent finished his undergraduate studies in film in his native Pittsburgh and worked as exhibition coordinator at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, one of the nation’s oldest film houses. He says that UWM’s Union Theatre is “very singular in the country and considered one of the better house cinemas in the nation.”

Since 2001 (when Jonathan Jackson, Milwaukee Film’s current Executive/Artistic Director was at the helm), the Union Theatre has slowly and steadily built a program schedule worthy of national interest, incorporating a dizzying array of genres. In one nine-month circuit, they screen documentaries, silent films, classic films, Turkish, Spanish, Latin American, African, contemporary, environmental, transgendered films and then some — and all at the same place.

On special occasions, local, national and international directors and filmmakers visit the theater to host discussions and talks about their work.

It’s no wonder the theater was given the Director’s Award, a distinction bestowed on one department in the student union annually.

Nugent promises this year’s lineup will deliver the tried and true but a few surprises as well.

Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers makes it’s Milwaukee premiere on September 10. The film has been described as an avant-garde portrait of the urban detritus of the American landscape, and utilizes a visual style that mimics a worn VHS video. Karine is known for his experimental films and is most widely recognized for his work on the film Kids. That same weekend marks UWM’s Campus Kickoff, but you don’t have to be a student to enjoy the Union Theatre’s  “Monster Films” series, featuring a bevy of recent releases and remakes in the gruesome.

A two-part series celebrating the centennial of director Akira Kurosawa’s birth runs Sept. 24-29 with the films Ran (a newly restored 35mm print), Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo. Part two runs from Oct. 29-Nov. 3 and includes Seven Samurai and Sanjuro.

This year the theater also hosts the inaugural Nordic Film Festival, funded by the Scandinavian studies program in UWM’s College of Letters and Science. The department received funding to promote interest in the region by highlighting some well-known Scandinavian films.

In the spring, the Education Department will be funding a Middle East and North African film series in a once-a-week format.

Visiting filmmakers will include Anna Biller showing her film VIVA on Sept. 17-19. An alumnus of UWM’s film department, Stephanie Barber, will stop by in early November to show a few of her shorts, films and video. Thomas Comerford will present two of his films, Indian Boundary Line and Land/Marked/Marquette in early December.

The theater’s programming has seen renewed interest in the classics as well, so check the schedule often to see if one of your old favorites made the list.

For more information on the Union Theatre’s 2010-11 lineup, click here.