Jafar Panahi

In “Riceboy Sleeps,” Choi Seung-yoon plays a single mother striving to give her son a better life.

MFF 2023: Festival Highlights

Never read your reviews, goes the old adage. But maybe it’s not so easy for an actor to ignore a bad notice while being heckled by his own director during their movie’s hometown premiere. “Boo!,” bellowed Mike Cheslik from the right aisle of the Oriental Theatre’s main auditorium, which was packed April 28 for the […]

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MFF Review: “Closed Curtain”

Many movies at this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival, which closed October 10, were epic in scope, but the very best film, “Closed Curtain,” tapered into smaller and smaller space until filmgoers were locked inside the mind of a single individual—the director, Jafar Panahi. After releasing five allegories critical of his home country of Iran, Panahi

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Introducing the 2013 Milwaukee Film Festival

Sapphire represents September birthdays and fifth anniversaries, and while both meanings apply to this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival, the real link is emblematic—like the blue gem, the festival is defined by its sense of constancy. There’s a reason why the festival’s fifth installment feels like its tenth: Since many of the behind-the-scenes players cut their

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