Movies to check out at the 2023 Cultures & Communities Festival in Milwaukee

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
The 1936 Newark Eagles cheer on their teammates, shown in "The League," a history of Negro Leagues baseball.
The 1936 Newark Eagles cheer on their teammates, shown in "The League," a history of Negro Leagues baseball.

The movie lineup for the 2023 Cultures & Communities Festival ranges from documentaries about the Negro Leagues and poet Nikki Giovanni to dramas about life and love in a diverse world.

Milwaukee Film unveiled the festival's full movie lineup Monday; the fifth annual Cultures & Communities Festival runs Oct. 5-12, with most of the movies showing at the Oriental Theatre.

The festival's opening-night movie is "The League," a documentary about the life and legacy of baseball's Negro Leagues. It's showing at the Oriental at 7 p.m. Oct. 5.

Other movies to look for at this year's Cultures & Communities Festival:

  • "The Space Race," a documentary on the lives of the United States' first Black astronauts, 7 p.m. Oct. 6.

  • "Fremont," a drama about an Afghan translator adjusting to life in America while working at a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco, 2:30 p.m. Oct. 7.

  • "Going to Space: The Nikki Giovanni Project," a look at the life of the celebrated poet, at 6 p.m. Oct. 8.

  • "Fancy Dance," in which a woman and her niece on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma try to find the girl's missing mother, 7 p.m. Oct. 9.

  • "Hummingbirds," a drama about two girls coming of age in a small Texas town, 7 p.m. Oct. 12.

A woman and her niece set out to find the girl's missing mother in "Fancy Dance."
A woman and her niece set out to find the girl's missing mother in "Fancy Dance."

Tickets to festival screenings at the Oriental are $12; $10 for seniors 60 and older, and for students and educators; $9 for Milwaukee Film members; and $6 for kids 12 and younger.

In addition, this year's festival has two free pop-up screenings: a collection of short films on violence prevention showing at Epikos Church — Sherman Park, 3737 N. Sherman Blvd., at 6 p.m. Oct. 6; and "Dos Tipos de Cuidado," a 1953 drama starring Mexican screen legend and ranchera singer Pedro Infante, at 6 p.m. Oct. 11 at Latino Arts, 1028 S. Ninth St.

While movies are a central piece of the Cultures & Communities Festival, the 2023 edition also has a robust ensemble of in-person programs, with more than 40 performances, parties and events around the city.

For details and tickets, go to mkefilm.org/ccf.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Movies to see at the 2023 Cultures & Communities Festival in Milwaukee