Milwaukee Film’s second annual Dialogues Documentary Festival aims to spark conversations on the widest range of topics imaginable.
But it’s also about helping moviegoers escape, according to Milwaukee Film artistic director Cara Ogburn.
“This year, we … tried to turn down the dial a little bit on ‘hard’ topics, topics that are maybe inundating us in the news all day, every day, and turn up the dial a little on … fun and joy,” she said.
The full lineup for the documentary festival, screening Sept. 18-21 at the Oriental and Downer theaters, was released Sept. 3. The program includes 31 movies and three programs of documentary shorts. For a look at the full lineup, go to mkefilm.org/ddf.
The documentary “Boy George & Culture Club” gets the inside story on the 1980s band’s highs and lows.
Movies on the festival’s opening night include “Boy George & Culture Club,” a documentary on the 1980s hitmakers with the band members themselves charting the highs and lows, showing at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Oriental.
Those kinds of documentaries really connected with audiences at the Milwaukee Film Festival this spring, Ogburn said.
“It was a lens that we went into this year wanting, knowing what kind of response to the films at the Milwaukee Film Festival was,” she said.
“For the Milwaukee Film Festival, the documentaries felt, even when they were possibly challenging topics, they weren’t overtly political but they were more interested in exploring something without recreating divisiveness.”
Film festival goers also are interested in panels and filmmaker talkbacks after screenings. Although planning is still in the works for this year’s festival, Ogburn predicted about 40% of the movies will have some talkback/conversation component.
Finding venues for post-movie conversations is still a work in progress. One of the most-used locations during this spring’s Milwaukee Film Festival, Triple Taproom & Kitchen on North Avenue near the Oriental, closed its doors in August.
In addition to connecting documentaries with engaged audiences, festivals are a key way for the movies to get seen at all. Unlike feature films, documentaries don’t have as many theatrical opportunities as most feature films do.
“Film festivals really feel like a critical piece of theatrical (release) for documentaries,” Ogburn said. “That’s on us to keep providing that.”
New titles unveiled for 2025 Dialogues Documentary Festival
Other highlights on the 2025 Dialogues Documentary Festival schedule unveiled Sept. 3:
“Shuffle”: The grand jury award winner of the 2025 SXSW Film Festival follows three people trying to survive as they work their way through the fraud-ridden substance-abuse treatment industry. Showing at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 19, Oriental.
“Stolen Kingdom”: This documentary explores the “underground community” at Walt Disney World, revealing a history of scandal and crime at the happiest place on earth. 8:30 p.m. Sept. 20, Oriental.
Black farmers strive to reclaim their agricultural heritage in “Farming While Black.”
“Farming While Black”: Filmmakers chronicle efforts by Black farmers to reclaim their agricultural heritage after a century of discrimination and dispossession. 11:30 a.m. Sept. 20, Oriental.
“An Unquiet Mind”: Portraits of three people living with obsessive-compulsive disorder reveal the humanity behind the misunderstood condition. 3:30 p.m. Sept. 21, Oriental.
“We Are Pat”: Julia Sweeney’s androgynous character Pat, who appeared in a dozen sketches on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1990s, was the punchline of every scene — specifically, the rest of the characters tried to guess Pat’s gender. The character — and those punchlines — carry a different meaning today, as unpacked by this documentary about nonconformity and being seen. 5:30 p.m. Sept. 20, Oriental.
Hege and Odin in “Folktales.”
“Folktales”: Filmmakers tag along as three teenagers enroll in a “folk high school” in northern Norway, where the curriculum swaps technology and social media for sled dogs and frozen tundra. 2:30 p.m. Sept. 19, Downer.
An Israeli American family’s efforts to retrieve their daughter after she was kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack are the focus of “Holding Liat.”
“Holding Liat”: The movie follows the efforts of an Israeli American family to fight for release of their daughter taken hostage by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18, Oriental.
Individual tickets go on sale Sept. 3 for Milwaukee Film members and Sept. 4 for the general public. Tickets for individual movies are $15, $13 for Milwaukee Film members, at mkefilm.org/ddf.
Passes and ticket packages for the festival also are available: all-access passes are $65 ($50 for Milwaukee Film members), ticket six-packs at $80 ($65 for members) and 10-packs for $120 ($100 for members).
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Boy George, OCD among topics at Milwaukee Film documentary festival
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