All About The Door County Film Fest (Hour 1)

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A guy who wears a bathing suit in the shower.

Pete Schwabba.

Just

occasionally, it's not an everyday thing.

Like you've never done that.

Hey, welcome to Nightlight, ladies and gentlemen.

I am Pete Schwabba.

It is great to have you here tonight.

Happy Monday.

It is finally Monday, as I like to say.

We get to talk about some of the things that are on our minds and the things that make us happy or in some cases upset.

But we'll sort it all out.

We will get you headed home here tonight and Snug in your house with hopefully some good thoughts taking you home tonight Joining me to now tonight to produce the show is mr. Aaron Zombers.

Hey buddy.

Hey Pete.

How's it going?

Really?

Well, how are you?

How is Madison treating you tonight?

It's treating me.

Well, you know, it's a lot warmer again.

We talked about this last time on Friday It's warming up in Madison, you know, we're in the 30s, which is crazy

You know I like I like to wear my winter layers though, so I'm a little bummed out in a way

You got but here's the thing like you can rock the shorts look in winter because you got those Fun socks that go up high and then you got the shorts like you're one of the few guys.

I think they could pull off Like wearing shorts in winter.

It's still not freeze yourself to death.

That is possible because yeah, I do I do always wear knee-high socks

Where what is that from?

Is that just something you got kind of hooked on when you were younger and now it feels right?

No, it's actually a medical I wear compression socks because otherwise my blood pools in my feet and I might pass out Oh dear

I Think I just violated hippolos there Aaron and I'm truly sorry for that.

Well, I mean I could have just said I didn't want to talk about it, but no that's fine

That's true.

So you're really

the bad guy here.

That's what I'm, that's what I'm taking.

Yeah, I violated my own rights by telling everybody about my medical problems.

I think you're doing just fine, buddy.

It's good to have you here again.

Always fun to work with Aaron Zomers.

We are going to talk about a lot of different stuff.

There's a lot going on in the news today just by way of entertainment and current events and all kinds of stuff.

We're going to get to all that.

We're going to talk about the Super Bowl halftime show.

Do you realize, do you, okay.

This is interesting, like I woke up today and nobody is talking about the actual game, the actual Super Bowl.

They're all talking about the halftime show, the numbers, all that kind of stuff.

Nobody gives a damn about the game and rightfully so, it was kind of a dud.

Yeah, I'm actually a little disappointed because it wasn't more of a dud.

Like the first half just sucked and then they actually started scoring some points and I was really disappointed.

I was hoping that I was about to witness the first Super Bowl to not have a single touchdown and instead it was just lame.

And I love movies that are either the best of the best or just awful.

I have no room for mediocrity and I felt the same way about the game.

You know, I would I would tend to agree with you except I think the game was not even mediocre I thought I think it was really dull and then like you said there was a little window when there was like Oh, the Patriots gonna do something.

Nope.

They throw a pick and it goes right back to so I would put this in not Stinkville, but it was a dud Not not as bad as a really terrible movie so to speak but pretty bad.

At least it's in have the infamous black eyed peas halftime show

You know, I can't even remember that halftime show.

What happened?

I wish I couldn't remember it It was clear that either all the members of the band I mean like Compared to usher when he's been in the Super Bowl halftime show sure amazing singing and breath control and still dancing the black-eyed peas They're kind of just standing there pumping their fists not really dancing and singing horrifically off-key I don't know if they couldn't hear themselves or they just can't sing or what but it was very bad

I'll have to Google that because to me like my all-time favorite Super Bowl halftime show was U2 right after 9-11 They had that big banner of all the names They didn't get all the way through it and people criticized them for that But it's like it was a nice gesture and they did streets have no name and beautiful day and it was just a spectacle and I I It was so strange at the time of 9-11.

It was all kind of a dream like I hadn't really processed it until the Super Bowl

Was just kind of like oh, this is part of our lives.

I hadn't really thought it through But during that Super Bowl halftime show, I I literally lost it.

I was bawling my eyes out I thought that was great.

I thought springsteen's show was great I liked usher loved Bruno Mars loved Prince And what did you think of last night's show?

I really liked it.

I thought and yeah, I know a little bit of Spanish, but not much I don't think you'd need to because the storytelling

was set up really well between the camera, the locations.

I mean, he was obviously going through his favorite things about Puerto Rico.

And the ending was very powerful, with everybody coming together, all those different flags of America, not just North America, not just the United States, all of America united.

I thought it was very cool.

I thought it was great.

I don't know his music.

I didn't really, until the Grammys, I kind of watched that a little bit just because I knew he was gonna be the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl, but I don't know Bad Bunny's music.

I thought it was fine.

I thought it was fun.

I thought it was like upbeat, kind of everybody dancing.

You're right, it wasn't hard to follow.

I kind of was like, okay, are these actually people getting married or is this a staged wedding?

Either way, it's about love.

I can roll with that.

But you're right, at the end it was cool.

It was cool when he gave a Grammy to a younger version of himself, which I thought that was great.

And then how about all the cameos?

You got Jessica Alba, Pedro Pascal, Lady Gaga performed, Ricky Martin, who doesn't even look, he looks like he's gotten younger somehow.

It's annoying.

But it was great.

I thought all that was great.

I thought the performances were fun.

Again, this is really interesting because I just read this, a friend of mine shared this on Facebook from media, I believe, and it said, the Super Bowl is not meant to bring the whole country together.

It's not meant to divide us.

It's meant as kind of window dressing, background entertainment for the game, but we've built it into this thing where all of a sudden it has to matter, it has to unite us, or God forbid it divides us because there was

an alternative show that we all know about the Turning Point USA show.

But I thought that was a great point.

It's like, when did we put all this social awareness on a Super Bowl halftime show?

What's supposed to just be a fun performance?

Yeah, that is very interesting.

And you compare it to a lot of the past ones.

A lot of them have ended up taking on meaning.

Like you mentioned, you too, obviously that was made at a very particular time.

It kind of needed to have meaning to bring people

together.

But like Rihanna's show from a couple of years ago.

It was just a good show.

It didn't make any statements, at least I don't think it did, except, hey, look, I'm pregnant.

The weird thing is, I don't know why people get so upset.

Well, I think I know why, but when they pick Bad Bunny, or when they pick Chemdrick last year, or whomever.

So what go refill your drink, right?

This isn't for you this year.

Okay, you don't like this kind of music I never really heard bad bunnies music before that I'm not gonna go and start posting on social media and and and you know start my own Super Bowl show.

It's like I don't understand where the vitriol comes from toward toward that It's just supposed to be a fun and if it's if one particular year.

It's not for you Okay, big deal most of the Super Bowl halftime shows

Like I said, I'm U2, Springsteen, loved Prince, Bruno Mars, the rest, I don't care about.

Put whatever on there.

I'm just hoping to see a good game.

So yeah, I don't know.

It was, I don't know if you saw this, Zomers.

It was the most watched halftime show ever.

I did not see that.

That's

cool.

Yeah, it beat Kendrick Lamar was number one.

He had like 133 and a half million viewers last year.

This year's show surpassed that by anywhere from

almost maybe 10 million, but at least 3 million.

They're still getting the actual numbers.

And that's with a Turning Point USA show that had like anywhere from 4 to 6 million viewers, I guess.

I did not see that show, but that was all in the news too.

And I know Kid Rock, I did see part of the Kid Rock performance that was pretty rough.

Yeah, I went back and watched that one afterwards just as a point of comparison.

It was pre-recorded.

It was obviously going to be at a smaller scale and that's okay.

Not everything can have the same

you know, spectacle as a Super Bowl halftime show.

But when your headliner does one-and-a-half songs and one of them he doesn't even pretend to lip-sync to, eh.

And people paid?

Did they pay to get in or was it a free event?

That I don't know.

Okay.

But either way, come prepared.

Do your do your job.

Whatever.

I'm not a kid rock fan.

I don't.

But I thought it was cool.

I thought, you know, it didn't really appear to take any viewers away from the actual Super Bowl because they set a record.

And I thought the show was fun.

You know, again, I don't know the music, but I really like the message of it.

The unity.

Love is stronger than hate.

All that stuff.

And I thought it was a spectacle.

I thought there was a lot going on.

They had the sets.

It was funny watching those people walk out there dressed as bushes.

I kind of got a kick out of that.

I found out why.

Do you know why they did that?

Well, I assumed

it was just easier to get

them out there.

Partly, yeah.

It's because they have a limit on how many props they're allowed to bring out there.

And so they're like, well, we need more.

Let's just have people dress up as grass.

That worked.

It was fine.

It was great.

Good job, Bad Bunny.

Bad job, Super Bowl.

Give me two better teams.

That's what I could use.

That was really a dog of the game.

But again, we're not really talking about it.

We're all talking about the halftime show because it's everywhere you look in the news.

Hey, without further ado, folks, we got a lot to get to still, Zomers.

Let's do the nightlight question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

OK, question.

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

OK, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Questions.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is national pizza day.

Let's go.

Everybody's favorite food.

So tonight's question is, what do you like on your pizza?

What don't you like on your pizza?

Let us know because this will bring us together, folks.

Our love of pizza, halftime shows and side halftime shows.

Together, we need to come together.

Let's come together through pizza.

What is your favorite topping on a pizza?

And what do you least like as a topping on a pizza?

Let me know at 855-752-4842, 855-755-CIVIC.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app, or if you're watching the radio on the stream, drop us a stream comment.

If you're watching on YouTube, Facebook, or X, let us know.

Do you have a...

You're a pizza guy's armors, right?

You can't sit there and tell me you're not a pizza guy.

I would not pretend.

No, I am definitely a pizza guy

What do you like in your pizza, buddy?

You know, I only really have one hard no and that's banana peppers I just something about them.

I just don't like banana peppers like at all But my favorite kind of pizza.

I think it's got to be Hawaiian I know that's a controversial pick some people really don't like pineapple on pizza, but I don't know it works for me

It's kind of controversial, but people love it

The people that love it are very passionate about it.

I respect that.

I'm going to say my favorite is a garlic, probably not a typical favorite, but I love fresh garlic on a pizza and not every place offers it.

That's true.

So when I find a place that does fresh garlic on a pizza, I'm all over it.

I would say probably the thing I don't like and I don't even hate it is pineapple.

I've tasted it.

It actually works better than I thought it would before I tasted it, but.

I could do without it, I guess.

But let us know, what is your favorite pizza topping?

What is your least favorite pizza topping?

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2?

8-5-5-7-5-Civic?

We've got lots to get to.

We've got, Zommer saw a great movie over the weekend.

I saw a great movie over the weekend that I did not expect to like as much as I did.

I went with my wife.

I'll tell you about that after the break.

I'll also tell you who tonight's guests are on Nightlight.

We have a jam-packed show, lots of fun.

Dave on the stream leading us off with the text response that says,

pepperoni, and he hates mushrooms and olives.

I could almost steal that answer, but I'm gonna stick with my garlic.

All right, we are coming back.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba, Aaron Zahmer's riding shotgun.

Let's do this, folks.

Let's

go.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.

Welcome back I would like to extend my thanks to Well to all of you everyone who's listening right now.

I really want to say thank you.

I want to say thank you to Aaron Zomers I'm gonna be honest.

I'm gonna come clean here.

I was in a very bad mood today Zomers I got up.

I went to the doctor.

I had this lingering cough I can't seem to shake so I want to make sure it wasn't like a virus or whatever so I get up

And on my way back, I get coffee, or I make coffee at home, and I realized about 15 minutes ago, I drank decaf this morning.

And I'm not caffeine addicted, but I do need my little jolt in the morning.

Never got that today.

And I realized when I went up to make coffee tonight, I'm like, God, I need more coffee.

This has been brutal today.

I have this little marker on the bottom that shows me what the decaf is.

I was drinking decaf this morning.

Well, that'll do it.

Really irritated myself.

So thank you, everybody.

But I feel good.

I feel we're talking about some fun stuff here.

Halftime shows.

We're going to talk Olympics and get a medal count.

The USA has one.

I think at least two medals will get to that.

We have a great question tonight.

What is your favorite topping on a pizza?

What is your least favorite topping on a pizza?

Let's unite.

Over a pizza folks and a pizza question be part of the show you can always chime in Whatever you're thinking throughout the course of the show the phone lines and text line is always open 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Jim on the stream says I couldn't understand a single word not even Lady Gaga But I still thought that bad bunny show was epic.

That's kind of how I felt Jim I knew there's a lot going on.

I appreciated the production that went into it

Right.

And then by the end, like we were talking about Zomers and I were talking about, I kind of knew what was going on.

And just, it was a great message.

Silver, how do you say that person's name, Zomers?

I don't know.

Silver, Heimat maybe?

Heimat?

Okay.

Let's just, let's just call this person Silver.

Silver.

That's a great name.

Pepperoni, Silver said.

Silver, I'm totally with you.

I like pepperoni with my fresh garlic on my pizza.

That's how I, that's how I roll.

So we've got a few things going on here, folks.

We have to get to the Olympics.

Did you watch any of the Olympics,

Zomers?

I did.

I've been watching some of the various skiing things.

I watched a little bit of the biathlon or as the announcers called it, the biathlon with all the athletes.

That's one of my pet peeves when people add syllables to words like that.

But, you know, just mute it and watch.

Right.

Watch the luge, all that good stuff.

I haven't seen any of those fun things yet.

I got all excited because my wife and I went to see Anaconda on Saturday.

And I, you know, we have a discount theater here in Marinette.

You wouldn't think Marinette Wisconsin is big enough for a discount theater.

We have one.

It's awesome.

It's called the Mariner.

So we went to see Anaconda and I really enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

I thought I was going to kind of get a kick out of it because it was just fun.

It's Jack Black.

It's Paul Rudd.

and really enjoyed it but we went home or on the way home we got food and we're like let's go home and watch the olympics curling sorry can't get into that

yes

it's great food we get home and we watch people sweeping

i will say i like curling better than golf to watch on the olympics but that's a little bar

that's the hope for

me

i would say eat as far as

In terms of athletic ability, probably similar, right?

Like you don't have to be a mountain of muscle to play either sport.

You don't really have to be able to hit a curveball or throw throw a ball 50 yards.

They're very basic, easy sports conceptually.

Right.

It's just more agree with you.

The fine tuning.

I'm sure the what separates the elite from the average curler is probably there's probably a lot that we don't know.

I'm,

listen, it's obviously, it's a competitive sport.

It's hard to get into the Olympics regardless of sport or what kind of athlete you are.

But if a tip of my hat to all of our curlers out there, I'm sure there's something about it that I don't know.

There's a skill, whatever.

Having said that, I am very good at sweeping my floor at home.

And if they gave out medals for that, I might be in the running.

But we've got two medals so far, Zombers.

We've got Breezy Johnson, one for the Women's Downhill event.

I think she got a silver.

I think so.

Women's Downhill?

Yeah, I think it was a silver, which our texture can relate to, who likes pepperoni on the pizza.

And then we've got the US Women's Figure Skating Team, defended their title in the team event.

That's kind of exciting.

From 2022, they took gold Zombers.

That's the penultimate.

The penultimate, but it's gold?

It's gold, right?

No, they won gold.

US Figure Skating Team also won gold in the team event beating Japan and defending their title from 2022.

So the penultimate just means like... Oh, right, right, right.

Yeah.

So, no, it's not a separate award or anything like that.

You win the penult... You win the ultimate pen.

But Breezy Johnson won the downhill event.

Lindsay Vaughn.

Yeah, that's 13

seconds in oh my god.

It's just like and she tore her ACL and was still competing and You're like oh man you wanted to win and then something like that happened that it's like are you kidding me?

That was awful

So we'll keep you

posted

yeah unheard of to come back from that injury and go back to the Olympics and Then yeah injured again horrifically

How do you think she like it must be like for that muscle or that whatever the ACL is is it a muscle?

Is it a nerve?

I don't even know

Ligament, right?

Yeah, some kind of

appreciate ligament.

So You must just be able to kind of fake your way through something when it comes to skiing.

I know you can't do it running or anything like that, but Very sorry for Lindsay Bond.

That's too bad.

I think Germany is leading right now with the metal count I think they have four unless this has been updated, but we will keep you posted on the Olympics folks It's exciting stuff and many more great events to come our question of the night is what is your favorite pizza topping?

It is national pizza day

So let us know, and you can also tell us your least favorite if you are so inclined.

When we come back, we have three gentlemen from the Door County Film Festival.

We've got Mike Siegel, host of the TravelTale podcast, and a comedian coming up at 6.35.

And Rich LaCassio on hour number three, folks, we're doing it all tonight.

We're coming right back.

It's Beach Wabba and

Nightlife.

Welcome

back ladies and gentlemen.

It is a Monday night in the state of Wisconsin and we are broadcasting statewide because why wouldn't we?

Hope you're having a great day.

It is Monday and we are talking about the things in life that make us happy like movies.

We've got some a little pro wrestling talk later in the show.

We'll talk to my pal Mike Siegel and get his thoughts about the Super Bowl and the halftime show and all kinds of stuff.

And we're talking pizza.

Our question of the night is, how do you like your pizza in terms of toppings?

What is your favorite pizza topping?

What is your least favorite pizza topping?

Let's come together and be unified in our talk of pizza.

Aaron Zommer's riding shotgun tonight, working the board.

And now folks, we've got, this is fun.

I love film festivals.

And there's one right here in my own backyard, or I should say across the bay directly, just about from where I live, and it's the Door County Film Festival.

And it is my pleasure to welcome three of the creative brains behind this year's festival, Kirk Krauss, Chris Opper, and Antonio Polk.

Gentlemen.

Good evening.

Welcome.

How are you?

Hey,

man.

How you doing?

Doing very

well.

Thanks for having us on.

You guys kind of have the we were talking a little bit during the break and you all seem a little bit fatigued like the Festival is finally here and you're on fumes, but it's a beautiful thing.

Would that be accurate?

Chris

opera last time you were here you made reference in our exchange about how bad the audio was I don't even remember that what happened

So we ran our headphones through this little device.

That's the only way I could get two microphones or headphones hooked

up.

Okay.

And I kicked the while I was moving around, I must have kicked the coordinate unplugged and the battery died halfway through the show.

And

all of a sudden we just couldn't hear you.

And you could hear us, so we look like two yahoos trying to what's going on.

He got a little antsy in this process.

So it made for good entertainment.

Well, it sounds great tonight.

I'm glad you guys are here.

Before we get to the nuts and bolts of the film festival, I have to ask you the very important question of what are your favorite pizza toppings?

Let's start with Kurt.

I'm a big pepperoni and pineapple guy.

Paparone, is here that

Zomers?

You know, I'm glad that I'm not the only one here who likes

pineapple

and

pizza.

It's

more and more

popular.

What don't you like, Kurt?

What don't you like on a pizza?

Anything that's fishy, like anchovies.

Some people did get the anchovies, they never got behind that.

Yeah, or cod.

You ever have cod on a pizza?

I didn't even know that was a thing.

Antonio

you're a Chicago guy.

I don't

know

that necessarily I'm not trying to pigeonhole you into a certain type of pizza, but how do you roll?

I roll with it with the sausage and And the mushrooms and it's ironic because these guys love Pineapple and that's your next question is what's my least favorite

and

guess what it's pineapple

Same.

Yeah.

Same, buddy.

The

concept is kind of messes with

a

whole understanding of pizza.

So do you have a favorite Chicago pizza, Antonio?

There's a place called Pizzeria Uno, which has an extremely outrageous deep dish pizza going.

It's good

stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If it's sausage and...

And sometimes pepperoni, you can miss pepperoni

in

there sometimes in a little mushroom.

And in a deep dish fashion, man, it's all you can ask for in a deep dish pizza, bro.

I'm with you.

Chris, what about you?

I

don't really care what's there, but you throw some artichokes on there, and I'm happy.

Really?

OK.

I love artichokes.

I love, you know what?

I have never, not never, I have not had artichokes on a pizza in ages.

I like that too, and I forgot about it.

Yeah,

I forgot it was a thing.

Janio's Pizza.

No, no.

JoJo's, sorry.

I was in the wrong town for a second thing.

People will remember Janio's from Appleton, but no, JoJo's up in Sister Bay.

They always had artichokes on their sausage pizza, and I loved it.

Oh, that's so great.

Do you guys, I know Kurt is in Sturgeon Bay, but to any of the rest of you guys, Antonio or Chris, do you guys live in Door County now?

I don't know, in our last interview, I think I mentioned that, and I don't know if you recall this, not obviously, but I'm kind of, I don't know if you want to call the bike home store.

I'm in Chicago, and I live in two places, actually.

I live

in

Chicago, and I live in Sturgeon Bay, so I'm bouncing

back and

forth.

Yeah, yeah.

Nice.

That's a pretty good existence.

What about you, Chris?

Full-time fish creek.

Nice.

So Fish Creek, Sturgeon Bay, Sturgeon Bay, Chicago.

You guys are crushing it.

That's

fantastic.

And actually, I'm at part time in Joliet now too, Pete.

That's right.

Hey, tell us about your gig.

What are you doing there?

Oh, it's great.

I'm at the University of St.

Francis.

I'm getting my master's in talent development.

And I work with some incredible college students.

I love my division, my department.

And yeah, it's...

Really kind of being thrown into a whole different world.

I was like 15 years removed from a college campus and then to come back and it's like it's kind of like a 21 Jump Street, you know when they go back into the high school Undercover it's just kind of like the whole world has changed.

Have you had a yoga

party yet?

Not yet, but I'm not ruling it out before graduation.

Absolutely.

And do a documentary on it so they can play it at the Dirk County Film Festival.

All

right, so let's talk about

that.

That's right.

All right, so let's jump into some film festival talk guys.

I love kind of the evolution of this film festival.

Chris, let's start with you because you were one of the original founders

to the best

of my knowledge.

Give us a little bit of background on the Durr County Film Festival and how it came to be.

So Joel occurs a bit on Space Camp Coffee Shop in Sister Bay.

And the old one, he had one, he had closed it down for a while, he's in a different space now.

But back then, it was the small little place he could fit, like maybe 30 people in the room.

And they had a film night, and they showed some films from Milwaukee Film Festival.

So he liked it, and I said, I'd like to do that more often.

And I just kind of blurted out, well, I've...

I've always wanted to start a film festival.

And when you say that out loud, you become the director of a film festival.

From that moment on, we just started talking about, OK, well, let's start gathering movies and whatnot.

And we liked it.

So we did it again the next year and then kept moving.

It sounds like it was called the Door County Mini.

festival or film or something

like that

movie night mini movie night that's right yeah and then it kind of went into the short film festival and now it's a full-blown film festival so I mean where do you see it going from here like is are you hoping to keep growing it is to the point where I mean who knows is the sky the limit or are you happy with the way the size of it right now

We're pretty happy now.

This is kind of where we were heading, but like you never know how things are gonna evolve and you know We we just we were getting last five four five years.

We've been getting more feature films submitted

Yeah,

and we were actually called the short film festival So I thought well the features want to want to elbow their way in let's let's do this and we dropped the short

And so now, yeah, this year we have three feature films.

I like that.

That feels pretty

good.

My guests, by the way, are Kirk Kraus, Chris Opper, and Antonio Polk.

They are the creative minds behind this year's Door County Film Festival, and all three of them are swell guys who have been on the show before.

Kirk, I know you got involved next.

How did you get involved with this?

Is it just through submitting your films, and then you took more of a managerial role?

How did that work out?

Yeah, I think early on...

So Chris is actually a friend of my dad's.

They were working together.

And as I was pursuing filmmaking, my dad said, you got to meet this guy.

He's new to the area.

And so we started attending the festival just as fans of film.

And then in 2020,

three confessions of a sailor actually premiered at the Door County Film Festival.

By 2024, there was an artist in town named Rebecca Carlton, who had brought a bunch of filmmakers together from all over Door County.

That's actually where we met Antonio.

That's where I met Aaron Fisher, who's our tech and live stream, camera, audio engineer tonight.

And it was amazing because I've been up here for a time and

We kind of knew of some of the other film people up here, but we weren't aware of how many of us were actually here.

And so we all just became friends and started working on projects together.

But it was at that meeting that Chris invited me to come work on the festival.

And I've loved it since.

It's been great.

Antonio, was it the same thing for you like you were making films?

I know you're a very active filmmaker too.

How did you get involved?

Yeah, it was in that same ballpark as Kurt mentioned.

We were like, you know, Aaron invited me to this gathering that this young lady was having as far as filmmakers are concerned.

That's why I met Kurt, I met Chris there and such.

And also I had a

film that I submitted to the Dora County Film Festival last year called Detained.

And I was at the, I was at the Y one day getting my swim going and I happened to run into Kurt and I'm like, hey, that guy looks familiar.

I was telling my wife was with me and I was like, that guy looks familiar.

He, you know, when Kurt smiles, it kind of, you know, light the whole room up, you know, so I kind of remembered him by a smile.

I said, hey,

I want you to guy who was at the gathering last week of the filmmakers and he said, yeah, and we started talking.

I told him I was working on films and so on and so forth.

And next thing I know, he ended up in one of my films.

I cast him in one of my films, Angel and the Rye, which is soon to be released.

And we kind of, you know, and at another meeting, he talked about, Kurt and Chris talked about that they, you know, were looking for some other

people to probably jump in and help out with the film festival and such.

So I found myself volunteering to do so and here I am today.

Fantastic.

Well, you guys seem like you make a really good team.

We're going to talk about some of the films coming up at this year's Door County Film Festival.

We'll probably get to that after a break.

But tell us about your venue.

Chris, you mentioned you started in a coffee shop.

Now you're in this great Northern Sky Theater.

Tell us how you found this great venue for the film festival and what people can expect when they see films there.

Yeah, after we left the coffee shop, we were in a village hall in Sister Bay Village Hall for many years.

Um, and oh, and I just gotta throw this out sister Bay Advancement Association has been helping us all this time They they never get the credit that that they're that they're due because they're the kind of behind the scenes people but they Have kept this thing going for all these years.

Um, but anyway, so uh a couple years ago we uh, the Nardin's guy built the the the ghoul theater and we got to talking with them about wanting to

to move into there and show films there and they kind of like the idea and we kind of were to their test bunnies for like whether or not they would want to do, you know, movies there because they're a live performance studio or theater.

So we did it, we all liked it and everybody's happy.

That's great.

All right, my guests are Kurt Krause, Antonio Pope, and Chris Opper.

They are joining us from Door County where the Door County Film Festival kicks off this weekend.

We'll have more Door County film talk after this.

We're gonna tell you about a Cherry Pie Christmas and the Librarians, two big cool feature films they've got going on there.

This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwama.

I am Pete Schwama.

Great to have you with me on this beautiful Monday night.

In the state of Wisconsin, we have officially entered very early summer.

It was in the 30s today, folks, and that's very exciting.

So I'll take that.

Great to have you here.

We've got Mike Siegel coming up in hour number two.

We're going to talk Super Bowl, halftime show, all kinds of fun stuff, and sitcom leading actors.

We'll talk about that with Mike as well.

And then in hour number three,

WRJN's Rich Lucassio will be here.

He is part of the Civic Media team and a wrestling announcer and he's going to tell us all about this really fun event that happened this past weekend and another wrestling event coming up.

Our question of the night is what is your favorite pizza topping?

It is national pizza day.

You can also tell us what is your least favorite pizza topping?

So right now we are talking Dork County Film Festival.

It is taking place this weekend

in Fish Creek at the Northern Sky Theater, a beautiful venue, and we've got three of the creative minds behind this year's festival joining me tonight over the stream, Kirk Krause, Antonio Polk, and Chris Opper.

Guys, let's talk movies.

You've got this great opening film.

I have a gig on PBS too, where I introduce all the POV and independent lens films, and I write the intros and all that kind of stuff.

And I remember

Looking at the librarians and introducing that film.

What a really cool.

What a great choice for opening night How did you find this film and tell us about the film too?

Well, that was actually brought to us by the friends of the library door County chapter and The League of Women's Voters of Door County They kind of partnered up and came to us and said you got to see this movie

And we would love to sponsor it if you can get it on your program.

And yeah, it is a great movie and really, really good talking piece for these times when there's a lot to talk about.

You know I I've had David Patterson on my show whose mom Catherine pattern Patterson wrote Bridge to Terabithia just an outstanding book it won the Newberry Award He said there have been places that book has been taken off the shelf and it's I know the librarians stand up to this group called Moms for Liberty and they you know

they've been outed and threatened for standing up and trying to keep books on the shelves.

So I applaud you guys for picking this film.

It sounds great.

And how many people are you anticipating on opening night to stay for the film?

Well, the theater holds 240 people, I believe.

And we're hoping every one of those seats get filled.

That's great.

I'm excited spoiler alert.

I will be there this year and I'm giving the keynote address at the open on Friday night I'm diligently working on my speech.

I've got all the curse words almost removed completely

so it

should be a lovely evening of

I'll try to keep it brief, but I'm honored that you guys asked I love film festivals and those of you listening who have not been to a film festival You cannot beat the Q&A and the time with filmmakers and and the movies they select as well So tell us about are you featuring a cherry pie Christmas or is that just showing at?

The theater separate of the film festival.

I want to make sure I got that right.

Well, yeah, no it is part of the film festival, okay, but yeah, we

I just wanted that to be our closing for this year.

You know, just the relevance of how cool it shows, Dora County light and everybody's really excited about the movie.

And just give people one more shot to see it in the theaters.

And on top of that, it's Valentine's Day.

Yeah, and

Valentine's.

So it's a nice Ron Kahn movie, hallmark style.

Perfect.

Any of you guys, I know I had the lead actress on this show a couple, two or three months ago, and she was so great, so much fun to talk to.

And we talked about the tour that Door County is offering now, based on the film, some of the film locations.

Have any of you actually taken the tour?

Or are you just like, no, I live here, I see that place all the time?

Yeah,

that So

all

right, I

want to I want to can you guys stick?

with us through the news so we can talk about a few of the films you guys are offering we won't keep it too long I know you guys got a lot of work to do but one film we've got about a minute and a half till the news I want to talk about first is Daniel needs to leave because you mentioned the film failsafe this the two of them have been in this groove where they've been in the same festivals such a funny film and Daniel Wheeler has been on nightlight as has the filmmaker Craig Kanitz so tell us about Daniel needs to leave was it a no brainer accepting it into the festival

Oh, yeah, that's one of the easy ones.

Yeah, it just gets you laughing right away and it never stops.

Yeah, I think when I first seen the film, I was totally drawn by it.

I mean, I was just consumed with laughter.

And I think that's the first thing I brought to Chris's attention, that after I viewed the film out of all the other films, that film, that's one of the films that kind of really stood out.

It's just so comedic and has some little comedic twists in there as well.

So it was just very

a gut rinsher to

a certain degree comes to laughter.

And the original title was actually called the Wisconsin Goodbye, which we've all had where you say goodbye, you know, in the kitchen, and then you work your way out to the front porch and you say goodbye again.

And everybody who's in the house kind of walks with you out to your

car.

And you say goodbye again, you're rolled on the window goodbye, and then, you know, you wave as you drive away.

But we've all had that more times than we probably care to admit.

And so, yeah, very, very relevant and comical.

Why did he change the title, Craig?

Do you know, Kurt?

I'm not sure, because when they were originally putting it together, it was called Wisconsin Goodbye.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's so great.

I'm not sure why the change.

Yeah, it's just a great film about a guy trying to leave a party and every time he turns around, someone's handing him another beer, the pizzas

get there, or

someone wants to tell him a story.

It is just a real, and it was all shot on an iPhone.

I love how innovative Craig was too with the movie.

All right, so we are talking Door County Film Festival with Kurt Krauss, Antonio Polk, and Chris Opera.

We're gonna talk with these guys for just a few more minutes after the news, and we'll give you a quick look at some of the short films you can see at this year's festival, which is going to be absolutely tons of fun this weekend.

This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.

We're coming right back on the Civic Media Radio Network.

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