WEYAUWEGA – Actress Angelica Page will be at the Weyauwega International Film Festival that begins next week on Wednesday, Nov. 11. She is the daughter of actors Rip Torn and Geraldine Page. Her feature film debut was in Nobody’s Fool with Paul Newman. She’s also starred in The Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis and The Contender with Gary Oldman and Jeff Bridges.
Another film Page has acted in was written and directed by Kathy Fehl and Ian Teal, the dynamic duo that launched the film festival and Wega Arts and brought the Gerold Opera House back to life. It is titled, Mint Julep, and stars Page, David Morse and James Gandolfini. It is one of the featured films this year.
The film’s logline is: “A lonely, sticky fingered waitress is looking to leave town while her complacent insurance salesman husband gets taken for a ride by a Southern viper.” Fehl calls it a dark comedy.
Before relocating to Wisconsin, the two were running a theater on East 4th Street in New York and writing one-act plays. They knew Page, Morse and Gandolfini from the theater scene and Fehl said they were all friends. When the time came to make Mint Julep, they agreed to play a part.
During making of Mint Julep, Fehl and Teal were stretched out between New York, Wisconsin and North Carolina. The film was shot in North Carolina over 21 days spread over two summers. Meanwhile, Teal returned to the Waupaca area to help his parents fix up a house they bought. It was the spring of 1993. Later after filming, all of the nonlinear editing would be done in this house and Fehl and Teal eventually settled in Wisconsin while patching the film together.
Other than some time in Nebraska as a child, Fehl has lived in California and New York. Moving to Wisconsin never occurred to her. “I thought as a writer, I need to be distanced from the hubbub and the distractions to get anything done. It was already the digital age with email and so forth so there is absolutely no reason I need to be where the action is as a writer,” said Fehl.
Mint Julep was first screened in New York in 2010. Film critic Dan Sallitt said it was one of the top ten films of the year. It was streaming on Amazon for a spell and on Letterbox has many good reviews.
The film will return to the big screen on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 8 p.m. at the Gerold Opera House.
WEYAUWEGA – Like previous years, the 16th annual festival will have various themes and also a line-up of Wisconsin related films, some international films, along with appearances and presentations from actors and filmmakers. All films will be screened over four days in Weyauwega from November 11 to 14 at the historic Gerold Opera House.
Wednesday, Nov. 11: Nice Mix
Upon entering the Gerold Opera House, there is a gallery off to the side. John Jost was guest filmmaker at the film festival two years ago. During his stay, he walked around Weyauwega and filmed houses. That’s it. He just filmed people’s houses. Why? Nobody knows. He assembled the footage and sent it to this year’s film festival and it will play in the gallery in a continuous loop.
The afternoon starts off with two foreign films, a Green Bay Packer fan film and the evening concludes with a film by Dan Sallitt, What Can’t Be Mentioned, which is premiering at the New York Film Festival just before screening in Weyauwega.
Thursday, Nov.12: Geraldine Page Day
Geraldine was an Academy Award winning and Tony Award nominated actress and is considered one of the greatest American actresses of all time. Geraldine’s daughter, Angelica Page, has written a book about her mother, Bountiful, and she will present two films starring Geraldine, Sweet Bird of Youth and A Trip to the Bountiful. Also the film, Mint Julep, will be screened, which stars WIFF Festival Directors Ian Teal and Kathy Fehl along with Angelica Page.
Friday, Nov. 13: Houdini Day
The festival will present an evening of everything about Harry Houdini starting with highlights from his Hollywood films, a discussion with renowned Houdini expert John Cox, a screening of the 1953 film HOUDINI starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, and a live séance attempting to contact Harry Houdini himself with a special appearance by actress Angelica Page.
Before the Houdini segment, four short films will be screened, along with Other Houses, a story about a woman that must choose between the American Dream or living a creative life back in Bulgaria.
Saturday Nov. 14: All Wisconsin
This day will be of films having a Wisconsin connection (14 short films). Also there will be a tribute to the Wildwood Film Festival, a prominent part of the Appleton arts and culture scene for nineteen years. Organizers of Wildwood will be present to talk about the festival and recorded interviews will be shown.
This day is the world theatrical premiere of the Wisconsin film, Through Eyes of Grace, which was shot in Sheboygan. The cast and crew will be at the festival.
The closing night film is The Big Cheese, a documentary that celebrates cheese and cheese mongers from the USA who enter an international cheese monger competition. With the cheese connection, Teal calls it an “honorary Wisconsin film.”
The Gerold features a full bar and menu from the Wega Bistro at the Gerold. The showtimes and schedule can be reviewed at https://wegafilm25.eventive.org/schedule.
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