The 2026 Italian Film Festival USA in Milwaukee featured eight films that explore themes of grief, tragedy and growing up, with each having an underscoring theme centering on the hardships that love can bring, whether familial, platonic or romantic.
Only 13 U.S. cities present the festival, and the University of-Milwaukee Union Cinema, at 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd., held the Milwaukee showcase from April 10-12. The festival was free to the public.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Italian professor and chairwoman for the festival’s Milwaukee chapter, Simonetta Milli Konewko, played a key role in selecting the films.
Milli Konewko’s task is to choose 20 to 30 different films to potentially show, and from there, she establishes which films would best fit audiences.
“I love to have a mixture of comedy and important drama films, actors, or film directors. These are all new screenings; we don’t propose old or classic movies,” said Milli Konewko.
The festival opened with Antonio Padovan’s film “Come fratelli” (Like Brothers), which told the story of two young fathers who both lost their wives in an accident, forcing them to raise their sons together and navigate life after loss.
“The cinematography in the film is beautiful, and I thought the acting was perfect,” said Dominique Rquibi, an attendee of the April 10 screening of the film.
“The story was just so rich and beautiful, about love, life, struggle and family,” added attendee Mary Lisa Carenza-Keenan.
Both viewers traveled several hours to attend the Milwaukee screenings. Rquibi drove from Chicago, Illinois, while Carenza-Keenan drove from Shawano, Wisconsin, for the weekend-long festival.
Carenza-Keenan said she first discovered the film festival in St. Louis, Missouri, where the film festival originated.
The festival wrapped up with Italian director Silvio Soldini’s “Le assaggiatrici” (The Tasters), a historical drama presented in German. The film follows a group of women who taste Adolf Hitler’s meals before he eats them, to prevent poisoning. It delved into themes of survival and the importance of human connection during wartime.
Along with showcasing diverse stories, Milli Konewko emphasized the festival’s importance to the community and its significance in helping the Milwaukee community better understand Italian culture.
“The easy thing for me is to drive two hours to Italy. To transport to that in that space, to another country, another continent, another culture, is so refreshing,” Carenza-Keenan said.
“We are landlocked, and many of us do not have access to foreign media or art,” Rquibi said. “While we are landlocked physically, I think our brains are sometimes landlocked too, but it is important that we expand our perspectives now more than ever.”