Milwaukee Film Festival draws record numbers for 2019

MILWAUKEE -- Organizers of the Milwaukee Film Festival announced on Tuesday, Nov. 5 record attendance for the 15-day Festival.

Officials say 87,618 fans took part in films, forums, education screenings, and special events. This marks a 12 percent increase in attendance over the 2018 Festival. Attendance figures include 8,440 students who took part in education screenings at the Oriental Theatre.

Film audiences voted at every screening to determine the winners of three awards, and documentaries about iconic female subjects took home two of the honors. “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” (dir. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) received the Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award for Best Feature, while “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins” (dir. Janice Engel) won honors and a $2,500 prize for the Women in Film Audience Award, presented by Live Wire Productions.

“Tree #3” (dir. Omer Ben-Shacher), which was featured in the “Kids Shorts: Size Medium” presentation, received the Selig Audience Award for Best Short.

As part of its Best of Fest series, Milwaukee Film will be showing “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” this Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 5-6, at the historic Oriental Theatre. Showtimes and tickets are available at mkefilm.org.