It’s easy to say things like, “The 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival was great!” or, “Holy shit! The 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival was the best damn f*#@ing film festival ever! Shit.” But for all those easy and obscenity-laced platitudes, there’s one thing that truly tells the tale of how awesome MFF2014 was: cold, hard numbers. Today, Milwaukee Film released its final stat-filled report on the 6th annual fest, which reveals a 16-percent increase in attendance (64,187 in 2014 compared to 55,194 in 2013) and 72 sold-out screenings (compared to 64 in 2013). Also in the report are the winners of the Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Awards. Michael Rossato-Bennett’s Alive Inside took home the prize for feature films, while William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg’s The Numberlys won in the shorts category.
“The festival is a tremendous community undertaking that would absolutely not be possible without our generous sponsors, passionate community partners, and hundreds of dedicated volunteers and staff who work together tirelessly to create such an incredible 15-day experience,” said Milwaukee Film Artistic and Executive Director Jonathan Jackson in a statement. “But, most of all, it’s our enthusiastic audience who attend day after day that make our city’s festival possible.”
Here are the rest of the numbers, which bear out that audience enthusiasm. Let’s do this again next year, Milwaukee.
Days in the festival: 15
Films screened: 275
Countries featured: 63
Theaters: 4
Screens: 5
2013 attendance: 55,194
2014 attendance: 64,187
Increase in attendance: 16%
Public film screening attendance: 52,986
Private education screening attendance: 7,052
Sold-out screenings in 2013: 64
Sold-out screenings in 2014: 72
Visiting guests: 108
Festival events: 431
Standout moments as identified by Milwaukee Record: 10
2014 Milwaukee Film Festival Opening Night from Milwaukee Film on Vimeo.