MILWAUKEE — Pizza Sutra, a group of Milwaukee filmmakers, got it's start a few years ago when some friends decided to start making YouTube video reviews of frozen pizzas. But the group's interest and talent for making videos has now landed them a spot at Filmapalooza in Washington D.C. in March.
"Having others see what we do and appreciate it and actually award us for it, that blows my mind," said Craig Kaczmarek who is an actor and co-writer with Pizza Sutra.
That recognition came from winning this year's rendition of the 48 hour Film Project in Milwaukee. The 48 Hour Film Project is an annual, worldwide competition with winners coming out of various cities. Each team is given a theme, a character and a line of dialogue they have to incorporate into a short film made in just 48 hours.
"That's from beginning to end. You write the movie, you film it, you edit it and you actually submit it in 48 hours," said Pizza Sutra Team Leader Jennell Jenney.
Each city's winner is showcased at Filmapalooza and the top films from that then go to Cannes Film Festival.
This years theme for the 48 hour competition was Mystery/Noir. While that's quite different from the theme of Pizza Sutra's frozen pizza reviews, they made sure to add in their own quirkiness to the seven minute film "The Lonely Ones."
"Our story is about two detectives that come across a murder scene and the murder happens to be of a best friend for hire. The movie just kind of unravels that a bit in a very silly, but somewhat serious way," Jenney said.
Now the team of ten hopes to attend Filmapalooza, but there's a catch. The festival only provides one ticket for each winning team, and each ticket is about $300. That doesn't even include travel expenses and a place to stay in D.C.
So, they started a GoFundMe and hope the community will help them represent Milwaukee at the nation's capital.
"For me, personally, it means everything really," said Pizza Sutra Director and Co-writer Sergio Espino about the importance of going to the film festival as a team. "It's always been about the entire team."
