American Movie

NOTE: The 10/14 screening will take place in the Bartos Screening Room.

Dir. Chris Smith. 1999, 107 mins, 35mm. A sleeper hit when it came out in 1999, American Movie has aged into an American classic. A story of scrappy, cheapo, small-town filmmaking in the era just before the digital revolution, Smith’s breakthrough documentary is hilarious and poignant, sad and strangely exhilarating. Inspired by the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead, movie-mad Milwaukee man Mark Borchardt had tried for years to make a feature, but lacked the money, resources, and, let’s say, “professionalism” to make it happen. In a questionable business move, and with the help of his sweet, mustachioed sidekick Mike Shank, Mark decides to finish and peddle his short film Coven as a lead-up to his dream picture, Northwestern. It would be an understatement to say that things don’t go according to plan, but Mark and Mike press forward, patron saints of cinematic folly. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, and the 2016 winner of the Cinema Eye Honors Legacy Award. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for MoMI members at the Senior/Student level and above. Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.