Over the last few weeks, Milwaukee Film has announced its much-anticipated picks for its equally much-anticipated festival, from the new Sportsball! and United States of Cinema programs to Black Lens and more. And this morning, Milwaukee Film added its lineup for the hometown-focused Cream City Cinema category. 

"An astonishing 249 local films were entered this year, a 56 percent increase over last year," Milwaukee Film artistic and executive director Jonathan Jackson said in a press release. "The growth in quantity and quality of submissions is telling, our already strong filmmaking community is growing rapidly."

In addition to the ten presentations, the Cream City Cinema category awards three juried cash prizes totaling up to $12,500 – including the $5,000 Cream City Cinema Jury Award, returning this year, as well as the newly established $2,500 Cream City Cinema College Filmmaker Award (funded by MLB pitcher and Milwaukee Film superfan John Axford) and the $5,000 Milwaukee Music Video Award.

Here's the lineup of hometown works to look forward to beginning next month:

"Christopher Darling"

"Christopher Darling" follows its titular character – a drugged-up, womanizing lead singer of a moderately successful band – as his latest tour in support of his lukewarmly received new album sends him further lost down a drain of groupies and drugs.

"From Mass to the Mountain"

Named "Padre Pablo" by the locals, Ripon native Father Wally Kasuboski has dedicated 28 years of his life to helping the citizens of Eastern Panama build the infrastructure needed to get drinkable water to its struggling, impoverished and corruption-exploited neighborhoods. The documentary tells his inspiring story and the story of those he's helped over almost three decades.

"HAPPY: A Small Film With A Big Smile"

After the death of his partner, Brian, visual artist Leonard "Porkchop" Zimmerman chooses not to wallow in his grief but instead turn it into happy paintings involving robots – one of which became a worldwide phenomenon. 

"The Milwaukee Music Video Show"

A collection of some of the city's finest musicians and performers uniting their sonic work, ranging from all genres, with visual mastery ranging from all types of techniques. This year's selected Milwaukee music videos include:

• WC Tank ,"27th and National"
• Busdriver, "Much"
• Canopies, "Getting Older"
• Devil Met Contention, "Used to Be"
• Direct Hit, "Was it the Acid?"
• Fabian James & Treyy G, "See You"
• Fox Face, "Teenage Wiccan"
• The Drowning Dreamers Band, "Frayed Bridge to Dying Star"
• Group of the Altos, "Coplights"
• Lex Allen, "Cream & Sugar"
• Lorde Fredd33, "SOS"
• Maritime, "Roaming Empire"
• Rio Turbo, "20/20 (Dashcam Remix)"
• Serengeti, "Doctor My Own Patience"
• Trapper Schoepp, "Settlin’ Or Sleepin’ Around"
• Webster X, "Lately"

"The Milwaukee Show I"

From guys trying to make it in Los Angeles to the animated telling of a Hindu fable to a true crime tale and more, "The Milwaukee Show I" dishes out a full feast of some of the best short works to come out of the city. This presentation includes:

• "Fox In The Fan"
• "The Hindu Thread"
• "Needlepoint"
• "Saint Paul"
• "Shangri-LA"
• "Some Dark Place"
• "Synthase"
• "Twin Sister (Jimagua)"

"The Milwaukee Show II"

A second helping of some of the best short stories to come from the Cream City, including a family of fancy zombies, a terminally ill woman spending her final days fighting with her sister over the hottest cartoon character and more. This presentation features:

• "American Zombies"
• "Fixing The Dog"
• "Jáaji Approx."
• "@Me"
• "Northfound"
• "Recycle"
• "The Seed in the Sky"
• "Sterile"

"The Milwaukee Youth Show"

A showcase of the young filmmaking talent here in Milwaukee, ranging in age and style. This year's picks include:

• "Baseball Tips"
• "Color TV Evolution"
• "Colors"
• "Dark Side Waffles"
• "The Evil Gift Giver"
• "The Game of Life"
• "INNER"
• "INSOMNIAC"
• "Mid-Day of the Living Dead"
• "Millennial"
• "Photograph"
• "Rocket Kin"
• "Silent Folds"
• "Society’s Challenge"
• "Violence Shapes Us"
• "A Work in Progress - The Breakfast Composer"

"REVZA"/"Naneek"

A double feature of mid-length features about return journeys, "REVZA" follows UWM instructor and filmmaker Emir Cakaroz as he returns to his native Turkey to revisit his widowed mother, while "Naneek" follows a Vietnam War veteran as he returns to the country and its battlefields to seek forgiveness and humanity. 

"There Are Jews Here"

Directors Brad Lichtenstein ("As Goes Janesville") and Morgan Johnson tell the story of America's disappearing Jewish communities – and a few places where people are trying to keep their cultural traditions and legacies alive. 

"Tolkien & Lewis: Myth, Imagination & The Quest for Meaning"/"Behind the Pearl Earrings"

In another double feature of mid-length features – this one about essentially storytellers, in both the worlds of fiction and news – "Tolkien & Lewis" highlights a historic 1931 debate between the great fantasy authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, while "Behind the Peal Earrings" shines a spotlight on Milwaukee native and groundbreaking female war journalist Dickey Chapelle. 

The Milwaukee Film Festival begins Sept. 22 and runs through Oct. 6.