After four days of incredibly well-received films and presentations, the Wisconsin Film Festival has drawn to a close.

One of the festival’s most buzzed about features was the Debra Winger/Arliss Howard collaboration, “Big Bad Love.” The sold-out screening Friday night attracted a slew of press from Wisconsin, Chicago and Minneapolis. Winger has appeared in 25 films over her impressive career, including “Terms of Endearment” and “An Officer and a Gentleman.” Howard has also had a long career in film, appearing in films such as Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” and Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers.”

However, this is the first time that Howard has stepped behind the camera to write and direct a film as well as star in it with real-life wife Winger. Howard and Arliss came to Madison for the festival this weekend to present their film.

Howard explained the significance of viewing films in our current cultural climate.

“It seems now, more than ever before, we need communal experiences where we can go to a place all together and not have to confront each other, but sort of get to each other through a shared focal point,” he said.

The film festival offered many opportunities for that kind of experience. Film fans greeted the fest with tremendous enthusiasm, and the lines wrapping around every theater before each screening were a testament to that.

For all those who were unable to get into the “Big Bad Love” festival screening, the film will premiere in Madison today at the Orpheum.