The Sheboygan Film Festival is underway this weekend in downtown Sheboygan, with 130 films set to screen at venues throughout the city over four days.
Sheboygan resident Tryg Jacobson said he came for last year's festival, and is already looking forward to what this year's festival has to offer.
"There's substantially more films than there were last year, well over 100 films in all sorts of categories. And I can't wait to see them," said Jacobson.
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Opening night event on Thursday features the Wisconsin premiere of "Chili Finger."
This award-winning black comedy about a woman who finds a human finger in her chili in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, features well-known actors including John Goodman, Judy Greer, Sean Astin, and Bryan Cranston.
"To the people of Sheboygan, and Milwaukee, and Southeastern Wisconsin… we made this movie for you. Like, Chili Finger really belongs to you," said Edd Benda, one of two co-directors of the film "Chili Finger."
Other co-director, Stephen Helstad, who was born and raised in Wisconsin, says the movie has a special connection to Sheboygan.
"Hopefully, the people of Sheboygan are proud that their city is mentioned in the movie and not terrified and mortified," said Helstad. "We're big supporters of independent cinema, and think, you know, what the Sheboygan Film Festival is doing. It's really cool and it's very humbling to be part of."
"There's always the fun sentiment that is, 'I want to see it again!' And I really hope we leave people with that," said Benda.
Over the next four days, films will be screened at multiple venues throughout downtown Sheboygan, including Mini Mocha Play Cafe, where children's films will be shown.
Stephanie Reaken, the owner of Mini Mocha, said the festival gives people a chance to explore downtown on foot.
"The film festival tries to do it that you're able to walk to the different venues that you need to go to, said Reaken.
Reaken partnered with Sheboygan Film Festival last year, and decided to work with the organization again.
"I loved that they wanted to incorporate children's films. A lot of film festivals don't have that children aspect, and I thought it was great that they were trying to include our children's museum, library, and myself to pull in those families to have more of the children's films," said Reaken.
Zack Kruse, the festival's programming director, said diversity is another focus this year, with about half of the films coming from outside the U.S.
"Sheboygan has a really dense Spanish-speaking community, and a really dense Hmong community. We've been really careful to make sure that we're including those folks and their voices and their stories in our programming, because movie are for everybody," said Kruse.
Jacobson said he's also excited to experience that international perspective at this year's festival.
"I believe in the art. I believe in the sense of international community, and how wonderful it is to see many countries around the world represented here in Sheboygan," said Jacobson. "What are some of the issues and the things they want to talk about, and we get to see them right here in Sheboygan, Wisconsin!"
Besides films, the festival also features workshops, director Q-and-As, and open writing sessions.
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