Mills Folly Microcinema is a monthly experimental film series at Arts + Literature Laboratory at 111 South Livingston Street in Madison, Wisconsin.
Since 2018, the Mills Folly Microcinema mission has consisted of the following goals.
Showcase experimental films from the national film festival and microcinema circuit.
Current filmmakers whose work has screened at Mills Folly Microcinema include Soda Jerk, Deborah Stratman, Ephraim Asili, Camilo Restrepo, Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby, Rajee Samarasinghe, Michael Robinson, Suneil Sanzgiri, Eva Giolo, Carl Elsaesser, Stephen Broomer, and Dani & Sheliah ReStack.
Visiting filmmakers and curators, either in-person or virtually, have included Kym McDaniel, Cecilia Condit, Kevin Obsatz, Ariel Teal, Eric Thiese, Courtney Stephens, and Paige Taul.
Facilitate programming exchanges with regional microcinemas.
Mills Folly’s first microcinema programming exchange was with Spectral Microcinema in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Spectral programmer and filmmaker Kevin Obsatz curated a program titled Inland Cinema, presented at Mills Folly on October 26, 2022. James Kreul returned the favor with a program of films by Madison filmmakers at Spectral Microcinema on November 10, 2022.
More exchanges are planned with Spectral Microcinema and Cactus Club in Milwaukee.
Provide screen time for local filmmakers at “Project Projection” screenings.
We’ve received consistently positive coverage including at Tone Madison and on WORT-FM. In the March 2023 Madison Magazine, Jeff Olozia wrote, “Fans of the avant-garde flock to this monthly series at Arts + Literature Laboratory [. . .] Unlike some of the city’s larger venues, [Mills Folly] has a homespun, communal feel akin to crowding into a hip friend’s living room for a movie night.”
Stay tuned for a series of blog posts surveying the first five years of Mills Folly Microcinema programming. Program notes for upcoming Mills Folly screenings will appear in the blog as well.
Meanwhile, go to https://artlitlab.org/millsfolly for upcoming events and an archive of past screenings.