Alone in the Dark

New York Movie, Edward Hopper

When the 2009 Milwaukee Film Festival ends no one will have seen the same movie. Each of us will have our own experiences and interpretations of the more than 160 films screening in the festival.

This makes me wonder, how in the world can a festival be programmed to satisfy an entire city's population?

Maybe more importantly, with so many movies screening that you have never heard of before, how in the world can you decide which ones to see?

The answers are not as elusive as you may think. At the Milwaukee Film Festival we pride ourselves on the quality line-up of films we present at the festival. We travel the world scouting possible film selections, conduct arduous research in our office throughout the year and view countless hours of films as a staff to pick out several hundred titles, most of them already award winners, that are all worthy of festival selection. But we don't stop there.

Since May of this year, over 30 film lovers have been in our office viewing films on a weekly basis to sort through and select only the best possible films for our festival. This process makes us capable of not only screening award-winning films, but also films that can satisfy a diverse audience of movie goers.

As for deciding which films to see, well, check out the new section of our website, Team Picks, which will be updated daily throughout the end of the film festival with the favorites of several staff and Program Committee members.

See you at the movies!