By of the

Wisconsin Film Festival kicks off

For eight days, Madison is the state's movie capital, too.

The Wisconsin Film Festival, with more than 150 movies showing in six venues in Madison, begins Thursday with an opening-night screening of "Hunt for the Wilderpeople," a New Zealand buddy-action comedy by Taika Waititi (the vampire mockumentary "What We Do in the Shadows"), about a boy who becomes an outlaw while on the run. The buzzed-about comedy is showing at a sold-out screening at 7 p.m. at Madison's Barrymore Theatre.

Other highlights of this year's Wisconsin Film Festival include "Unlocking the Cage," a documentary by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus about a group fighting for chimps and other more intelligent animals to be legally treated as human; "Lo and Behold," in which filmmaker Werner Herzog explores the limits of the digital world; "Starving the Beast," part of the festival's "Wisconsin's Own" program of state-made films, about the impact of funding cuts and reform measures at six schools, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and tributes to Robert Altman and David Bowie.

The closing-night film on April 21 is "Love & Friendship," Whit Stillman's adaptation of a Jane Austen novella starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny, who also starred in Stillman's "The Last Days of Disco."

For a complete lineup, schedule and tickets, go to wifilmfest.org.

— Chris Foran