By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published Sep 01, 2015 at 10:36 AM

This morning, Milwaukee Film unveiled the latest passel of picks for the upcoming Milwaukee Film Festival, this time for the Competition program. The collection of genre-spanning features includes:

"Cartel Land"

Executive produced by Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, the documentary "Cartel Land" grants unprecedented access to the drug war and those fighting the cartels from both sides of the border. 

"Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente)"

Shot in black-and-white, "Embrace of the Serpent" tells the story of a shaman – the lone survivor of his tribe – searching with two explorers for a mystical healing flower, all while modernity closes in along the sides of their several quests. 

"Imperial Dreams"

"Attack the Block" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" star John Boyega plays Bambi, a recently released ex-convict hoping to make a living for himself and his young son through his writing, in "Imperial Dreams."

"Krisha"

A expansion of the short film that played at last year's Milwaukee Film Festival, "Krisha" follows the titular recovering alcoholic and family black sheep (Madison native and John Cassavetes collaborator Gena Rowlands) as she reunites with her family for the first time in over a decade during the Thanksgiving holiday. 

"No One's Child (Nicije dete)"

Based on a true story, "No One's Child" follows a young feral child living amongst the wolves in the mountains of Bosnia who is found, placed in an orphanage and begins to connect with humanity – just as the Balkan War forces his caretakers to return him to his homeland.

"The Russian Woodpecker"

A buzz-worthy hit out of this year's Sundance Film Festival, Milwaukee area native Chad Gracia's (who is scheduled to appear) documentary "The Russian Woodpecker" chronicles the conspiracy-laiden conflict between Russia and Ukraine through Fedor Alexandrovich, a Ukrainian performance artist and childhood survivor of the Chernobyl disaster. 

"Uncertain"

A Southern gothic-infused documentary about three lost souls starting over in a town barely on the map – and falling off of it thanks to a natural weed that's clogging its water source.

"Violet"

A senseless act of violence leaves a 15-year-old boy without his best friend and lost in his grief in "Violet," the impressionistic debut feature from director Bas Devos. 

The Milwaukee Film Festival program book – complete with the full line-up of films and special events, as well as the schedule – comes out on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Cathedral Square from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m.