Under Construction
As I mention on the About page, I contributed over 60 film related articles and reviews to Isthmus, Madison’s alternative weekly, before it temporarily ceased print publication in 2020.
Most of my Isthmus contributions since 2012 are easily accessible at https://isthmus.com/topics/james-kreul/. Of those reviews and articles, here are a few that reflect my interest in drawing attention to independent, international, and experimental cinema in Madison.
- “Simple and Profound: Cinematheque revisits a towering figure of Iranian Cinema” (Abbas Kiarostami), September 19, 2019.
- “Distinguished Visitor: Filmmaking pioneer and Oscar nominee Charles Burnett to visit Madison,” September 14, 2017.
- “Mesmerizing collages: Sixty Six features 12 masterful experimental films by Lewis Klahr,” December 15, 2016.
- “Films for Dreamers: Micro-Wave Cinema Series continues with collective:unconscious,” October 6, 2016.
- “Artisan animation: Rooftop Cinema showcases filmmakers’ visions,” June 9, 2016.
- “Bollywood in Fitchburg: Indian blockbusters at Star provide a glimse into South Asian pop culture,” November 7, 2013.
- “UW Cinematheque features Japanese works from Studio Ghibli that take cartoons to a new level,” February 14, 2013.
Filmmaker Interviews
- “Kick-ass experimenter: Vanessa Renwick has projector, will travel,” October 22, 2015.
- “Experimental visionary: Jennifer Reeder makes unconventional teen films,” April 9, 2015.
- “Guy Maddin: The most accessible film avant-gardist,” February 20, 2014.
Madison Film Market / Film Culture
I made a few attempts to take a larger view of what was going on in Madison’s film market and film culture (two distinct concepts). Some of these suffer from unfortunate headlines or subtitles. Some passages haven’t dated very well. But some have said things that were on the nose and resonate even more now that the only commercial theaters in Madison are on the outskirts of town. I’ll return to this topic in future blog posts.
- “Hold the ALL CAPS!: The theater formerly known as Sundance may not change that much,” May 25, 2017.
- The state of Madison Cinema: Foreign-language films are booming, but you have to hunt for them,” December 22, 2016.
- “Why is downtown Madison film culture disappearing?,” November 15, 2012.
This 2012 article has some issues, and it’s the one with the most unfortunate headline in relation to the content of the piece. It is also the one that I will have to reckon with the most when re-visiting this topic.
Earlier contributions
My initial contributions started in 2000, after my term as the UW-Cinematheque project assistant ended. These initial articles and reviews are harder to find online because they were on the earlier version of the Isthmus website, The Daily Page (thedailypage.com now redirects to isthmus.com, which has a limited archive).
I was able to find hard copies of some of these articles in my personal archives, and I will post them here and discuss them in blog posts.
For now, I will post the one that I’m very happy that I found: a 2001 tour of drive-in theaters close to Madison. (I’m going to re-scan these two pages soon to make the last paragraph and some other spots more readable.)
