Talking how Rivoli’s Clara Gelatt previews movies on the big screen, as the No Man’s Land Film Fest comes to town

For the first time ever, the No Man’s Land Film Festival is headed to La Crosse.

The free event happens at the Rivoli on Friday night, featuring nine short films ranging from just over a minute to just under 20 minutes.

Of course, we broke down what the festival put on by La Crosse Adventure Films is all about, while we had Rivoli co-owner Clara Gelatt in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk, we had to grill her a bit on the perks of owning a movie theatre.

La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-8 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk wherever you get your podcasts.

So, as she’s talking about setting up for Friday’s festival, Gelatt mentioned she was fast forwarding through the movies, which prompted the question, “Are you watching these on the big screen and just pointing a remote somewhere behind you at the projector to fast forward?”

Gelatt laughed, and said they actually “CAN and DO” do that.

Gelatt went on to begin to discuss one of the nine short films that she was previewing, but had to be reminded, “No spoilers!”

Gelatt stopped herself, but then said, “No, this is a good little clip. It’s like a trailer.”

She then went on to describe her self-anointed trailer, saying “the woman (in the movie) said, ‘My mom always said it’s your life you can do whatever you want with it.’ And, that’s sort of the theme in all of the films. It’s really encouraging children, and all of us, to look and say, ‘Hey, I always wanted to do this thing. I really want to do this.’ And to think about the fact that you actually can go out and do it.”

Katie Bitner, who is on the on La Crosse Adventure Film committee, was also in studio, and talked more about what these films are about.

“The one thing that’s the common theme is that it’s centering women athletes in the outdoors,” Bitner said. “So, people who have been to other La Crosse Adventure Film nights, it’s very similar. We’re always really excited about showing the possibilities of the human spirit around the world. This one is really fun because it’s film after film after film that centers a woman and her journey into whatever she’s doing for adventure.”

The No Man’s Land Film Festival has been around for a decade. This one celebrates the voices of women, men, and gender-diverse individuals in the outdoor industry.

Doors open at 5 p.m. for the event. The films at the Rivoli begin at 6 p.m. You’ll need to register for tickets. Directions to do that can be found here.