Mills Folly Microcinema presents Project Projection Spring 2026, a program of locally produced film and video, Wednesday, April 29, at 7:00pm. Free admission, donations encouraged. RSVP here.
Join us for an evening of experimental films, short documentaries, music videos, and animation produced by filmmakers who reside in Madison and Dane County. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Program running time: approximately 80 minutes. A Q&A session with the filmmakers in attendance will follow the screening.
The order of the films will be provided in the program notes at the screening.
Ascent | Mariel McEwan | 2012 | 9.5 minutes
Perhaps... the persistent spirit of Woman endeavors to free herself from repression. Perhaps… she struggles from confinement to freedom, from darkness to the light of renewal. Perhaps… Persephone struggles upwards, bringing Spring. The video was shot at Fossil Falls on the east side of the Sierras mountains in the Mojave desert of California. I grew up in this area and often climbed up (and down) this canyon. The shape of the rocks and the holes inspired the movement. The movement, atmosphere and mood inspired the original music which was created after the film was edited. The dancer was a practitioner of the Japanese dance art of Butoh.
When I decided to transfer from a dance historian and a costume designer I was able to attend the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Afterwards I worked in the film industry creating documentaries and bonus material for DVDs and CDs. In my own work I specialized in Dance Camera videos and submitted them to International Dance Camera Venues. I taught Dance Camera at St. Mary’s in Moraga, Ca. along with Jia Wu.
Finding the Spirit in the Wood | Gretta Wing Miller | 2024 | 10 minutes
Finding the Spirit in the Wood is the story of the first multinational wood sculpture symposium to be held in America's heartland. The lovely 11 acre San Damiano Park, the ancestral Ho-Chunk land on the shores of Lake Monona in DeJope (the Ho-Chunk name for the Monona area), hosted artists from South America, Africa, India, and Central Europe for a week-long collaborative celebration of artistry and culture. The film captures the indigenous culture of the Ho-chunk Nation, the progress of each of the eleven sculptures, and commemoration of the artistic legacy of Harry Whitehorse.
I have been a film & video editor and instructor since 1978, working mostly on documentary television series and specials, and independent projects. I have taught film editing at Hunter College (CUNY), Final Cut Pro tutorials, and Digital Filmmaking in the College for Kids program through the UW-Madison Education Outreach. As Downtown Dailies, we create documentary and advocacy video on local and regional issues for non-profits and independent artists.
Aversion | Sherif Newegy | 2026 | 5 minutes
A wrestling match between body and mind.Stolen words unwind the filmmaker, while the filmmaker unwinds the space using the camera. The skin numbs and loses circulation until it turns into purple static. Sherif is an Egyptian filmmaker residing in Wisconsin.
Apeirophobia | Augustus Schrader | 2026 | 1 minute
A 1-minute film exploring the creative process as a fractal, which loops back in on itself and repeats itself into infinity. I am a psychology student who has been making amateur films in my free time ever since I was a kid. I do it simply for the love of filmmaking.
Masks All the Way Down | Aaron Granat and Litza Bixler | 2025 | 11 minutes
The rough-and-tumble world of politics is brought to visceral life in a dance film that explores the performed self, social masks and whether there is an ‘authentic’ self beneath them.
Inspired by ‘The Green Table’ (Kurt Jooss) and set in a smoky, hyper-masculine gentleman’s club; dancers move into and out of tableaux; they gesture emphatically; they fight and they fall as they argue and ultimately refuse to budge. A woman occasionally appears at the edge of frame, dancing soulfully in the margins. But no matter how hard she tries, she cannot break in or through. epitomizes microbudget filmmaking with a budget totaling less than one thousand USD. The film was shot in a historic parlor on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. All of the performers were undergraduate-level students from the Dance Department. The film demonstrates that despite modest means, artistic devotion and resourcefulness can produce high-quality results.
Science Fiction by Whispering Campaign | Debra Zarne | 2024 | 5 minutes
A journey through the complexity, stresses, beauty and joy of the contemporary world via a music waveform and visual narrative. Christopher Wellin is the founder of the band Whispering Campaign and the composer and guitarist in this instrumental track entitled "Science Fiction." This music video illustrates Chris's vision of the post-Modern condition in which people live today, transitioning through and adapting to a broad array of places, realities and environments--but there's a coexistence in our experience of these places and possibilities. Director/editor Debra Zarne conveys our collectively navigating the complexity, discordance, harshness and alienation of urban and futuristic environments, while still finding beauty, warmth, rejuvenation and hope in natural landscapes, light and color.
Peace House | Heidi Johnson | 2026 | 4 minutes
"If you want peace, work for justice." ... "Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."
Five Nights at Freddy's: The Mangle Project (excerpt) | Keasion Griffin | 2026 | 11 minutes
The video shows the first night where every character sees or hears a paranormal being that involves Freddy Fazbears pizzeria.
When I was 11, I started making movies and as the years went on, I have improved and had more fun with my projects. I am excited to show this.
House Fly | Steve Chappell | 2024 | 3.5 minutes
House Fly is a movie that just sort of unfolded on its own. Started one day when I was sitting in that room, in the film, staring at the pictures on the wall. Pictures that I see all of the time, every day. Gears started to turn in my head… What do they say to each other when no one is here? If only I were a fly on the wall. Then I would know.
The House We Grew Up In | Tim Geurkink | 2024 | 9 minutes
1988 - 2009 - going through my dad's first video camera and his digital camera. These are memories to share with some music behind it.
Raccoons and the Angel | Liz Sexe | 2026 | 4 minutes
A family of Raccoons enters into the frame, but slowly. Through a trail camera, the invasion of raccoons is documented over a year within the artist's back yard. Additional footage juxtaposes this timeframe. What can happen in a year? What remains the same? Liz Sexe is an interdisciplinary artist whose work centers around movement and installation/immersive environments. Within the area of footage, Sexe likes to experiment with post production methods in editing.
ABOUT MILLS FOLLY MICROCINEMA
Mills Folly Microcinema showcases nationally recognized experimental film and video art from the festival and microcinema circuit. We network with regional filmmakers and organizations to bring filmmakers and guest programmers to Madison for screenings. And we incubate local experimental filmmaking by providing screen time at Project Projection events.
