MSPIFF returns April 2-13 to The Main Cinema and other venues around the Twin Cities. As the largest annual celebration of international cinema in the region, MSPIFF44 promises another exciting lineup of 200+ films from around the world, plus an exciting array of parties, panels, visiting filmmakers, and special guests.

Film Schedule

April 2, 2025

Free Leonard Peltier

Dir. Jesse Short Bull, David France

110 min

Opening Night tickets include the film screening and Opening Party

Time: 7:00 pm, 7:15 pm, 7:30 pm

Venue: The Main 1

April 3, 2025

Acts of Reparation

Dir. Selina Lewis Davidson, Macky Alston

113 min

Two filmmaking friends, Selina, a Black woman, and Macky, a white man, head south together to explore their roots and the insidious legacy of slavery. Visiting with family in Louisiana, Selina discusses the secret histories of her family, while Macky, in Georgia, confronts his family’s inherited privilege. What emerges is an eye-opening story of hope and redemption.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: Capri Theater

Anxiety Club

Dir. Wendy Lobel

86 min

Director Wendy Lobel crafts an intimate and humorous examination of some of the best comedians working today about their mental health issues. Allowed to attend therapy sessions, and filming some incredible stand-up, Lobel’s film is a welcome examination of anxiety and its myriad treatments.

Time: 7:05 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Bad Shabbos

Dir. Daniel Robbins 

84 min

Set in the well-heeled part of New York’s Upper West Side Jewish community, Tribeca Film Festival’s audience award-winner is an entertaining, fast-paced comedy about a Sabbath dinner gone terribly awry.

Time: 4:10 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Bauryna Salu

Dir. Askhat Kuchinchirekov

113 min

This is the story of 12-year-old Yersultan, given up by his family to his grandparents for both labor and support, a Kazakh tradition called ‘bauryna salu’. Angry about his abandonment and frustrated over his arduous responsibilities to his ailing and elderly grandmother, Yersultan dreams of reuniting with his parents. Writer-director Askhat Kuchinchirekov’s semi-autobiographical film was Kazakhstan's official entry for Best International Film at the 2025 Academy Awards.

Time: 1:40 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Bound in Heaven

Dir. Huo Xin

109 min

Xia meets Xu while he is trying to scalp tickets to her favorite singer Wong Faye, and they have an instant attraction. Both harbor profound secrets–he’s dying and she’s on the run from an abusive boyfriend. Defying their fate, Xia and Xu embrace the reckless love that will soon be their undoing in Huo Xin’s blistering debut.

Time: 4:30 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Cactus Pears

Dir. Rohan Parashuram Kanawade

112 min

Anand returns to his rural Indian town for a 10-day period of mourning for his recently deceased father. Despite mounting pressure to marry, Anand rekindles the flames with his childhood friend Balya, as they both face scrutiny from their family and community.

Time: 4:20 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Carnival is Over

Dir. Fernando Coimbra

123 min

Valerio and Regina love life but hate the mafioso family business they have inherited. Unwilling to give up the luxurious lifestyle but desperate to get out of the ruthless racketeering, they devise a foolproof plan that goes awry from the beginning. Valerio and Regina scheme spirals with mounting violence in Fernando Coimbra’s devious gangster comedy that earned rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Time: 9:35 pm

Venue: The Main 2

The Dating Game

Dir. Violet Du Feng

90 min

Men outnumber women in China, the unintended result of the one-child policy, and in a country where loneliness isn’t just painful but downright frowned upon, three desperate men turn to a dating coach to find wives. Meet Hao, who’s “strategic deception” helps men who don’t seem to measure up to society’s high standards. But while it may result in finding partners, will their lies undermine true love?

Time: 4:15 pm

Venue: The Main 4

DJ Ahmet

Dir. Georgi M. Unkovski

99 min

Ahmet is a teenage shepherd from North Macedonia, a young man who loves music and is frustrated by his father’s short-sightedness and community’s limitations. Falling hard for Aya, a girl in the village, he discovers her dance troupe is performing in the village festival. With his younger brother’s help, our hero transforms into DJ Ahmet, in Georgi M. Unkovski’s magical feature debut.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: Pop's Art Theater Rochester

Drowning Dry

Dir. Laurynas Bareiša

88 min

Ernesta and Juste are sisters who were once close and now seek reconciliation while on vacation at a lakeside cabin with their husbands Lukas and Tomas. When tragedy strikes, the sisters must make sense of their new reality.

Time: 9:40 pm

Venue: The Main 4

The Friend

Dir. David Siegel, Scott McGehee

120 min

Once upon a time, Iris (Naomi Watts) was a good friend and formerly a part time lover of Walter (Bill Murray), an old-school author whose popular novels were as prolific as his womanizing ways. When he dies suddenly, Iris discovers she’s in charge of his literary letters, and his 180 pound great dane, Apollo. From MSPIFF alumni writer/directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, The Friend is adapted from the bestselling novel by Sigrid Nunez

Time: 6:50 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Heightened Scrutiny

Dir. Sam Feder

89 min

Heightened Scrutiny follows Chase Strangio, ACLU attorney and the first out trans person to argue before the Supreme Court, as he fights a high-stakes legal battle to overturn Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth (United States v. Skrmetti).

Time: 1:20 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore

Dir. Shoshannah Stern

96 min

In this revealing documentary, acclaimed actor Marlee Matlin, the first Deaf actor to win an Oscar, reflects on her life in her primary language of American Sign Language with Director Shoshannah Stern, a Deaf filmmaker inspired by Matlin.

Time: 1:45 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Monsieur Aznavour

Dir. Mehdi Idir, Grand Corps Malade

133 min

Acclaimed actor Tahar Rahim stars as the legendary French singer Charles Aznavour, dubbed “the French Frank Sinatra”, who rose from poverty to become one of that country’s greatest singers and actors.

Time: 1:30 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Or Something

Dir. Jeffrey Scotti Schroeder

82 min

Writers/actors Mary Neely and Kareem Rahma attending.

Co-writers Mary Neely and Kareem Rahma (Subway Takes) star as Olivia and Amir, two strangers who meet up at an apartment, separately seeking money from the occupant who swears he doesn’t have it. But someone named Uptown Mike in Harlem apparently has the cash. The two reluctantly spend the day together, plotting how to get their dough and learning about one another along the way.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Right in the Eye: Live Movie-Concert of Georges Méliès Films

75 min

Right in the Eye is a live performance set to 12 films by Georges Méliès, a pioneer of the Cinema and a wizard of special effects.

Created by Jean-François Alcoléa and praised by the Great-Great-Granddaughter of legendary filmmaker and cinematographer Georges Méliès, Right in the Eye features a captivating, multi-layered score performed by three virtuoso musicians, offering an amazing emotional voyage. Using an extraordinary range of instruments—including piano, percussion, guitar, and unique oddities like the aquaphone, theremin, and even plastic take-out lids—the musicians bring new life to Méliès' films. Their mesmerizing music evokes the technical wizardry and playful creativity that defined his work.

Time: 4:00 pm, 7:15 pm

Venue: The Main 1

The Things You Kill

Dir. Alireza Khatamirambo

113 min

When his mother, living in Turkey with his father, dies mysteriously, Ali, a professor somewhat detached from his family, suspects foul play. Allowing his suspicions to spiral out of control, he plots his retribution with a newly befriended drifter to exact a brutal punishment, in Alireza Khatami’s Sundance prize-winning film.

Time: 1:15 pm

Venue: The Main 1

The Trouble With Jessica

Dir. Matt Winn

89 min

A whip-smart black comedy satirizing the British upper-middle classes, their hopes, dreams, duplicities and hypocrisies. Sarah (Shirley Henderson) and Tom (Alan Tudyk) are in terrible financial trouble. On the brink of losing everything, they’ve managed to find a buyer for their stylish London home. When their best pals Richard (Rufus Sewall) and Beth (Olivia Williams) come ‘round for a final dinner, an uninvited old friend, Jessica (Indira Varma), tags along. After a seemingly trivial argument and a tragic event, the couples must work together to make it out of a nightmare. What could possibly go wrong? They might even learn something about themselves in the process. The playful script by Matt Winn and James Handel hilariously shows the British fondness for the F-word and the multiple ways it can be used. The top-notch ensemble cast is a delight. –AS

Time: 9:20 pm

Venue: The Main 5

The Wailing

Dir. Pedro Martín-Calero

107 min

Something is haunting Andrea, but no one, not even she herself, knows what it is. Twenty years ago, ten thousand kilometers away, the same presence terrorized Marie. Camila was the only person who could understand what was happening to her, but no one believed them. When they face this oppressive threat, all three hear the same thing: a wailing.

Time: 9:45 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Where the Wind Comes From

Dir. Amel Guellaty

99 min

Alyssa is an outgoing 19-year-old; Mehdi is a 23-year-old introvert and art prodigy. Life in Tunis is weighing them down, so when Alyssa hears of an art contest in a neighboring town, she secretly enrolls her friend in the hopes that the prize–a trip to Germany–will help them realize their dreams.

Time: 9:30 pm

Venue: The Main 3

The Wolves Always Come at Night

Dir. Gabrielle Brady

96 min

After a devastating sandstorm wrecks their ability to herd sheep, a Mongolian family must now move into Ulaanbaatar to find work, upending their family and their spiritual connection to the land. Gabrielle Brady’s film fuses searing documentary with re-creations that deepen the story.

Time: 7:10 pm

Venue: The Main 5

April 4, 2025

Andrea Gets a Divorce

Dir. Josef Hader

93 min

Andrea is a cop in rural Austria and she wants out of her empty marriage. At a raucous party, Andrea confronts her drunken husband, takes his car keys away and makes him walk home. However, walking home on a dark country road drunk also carries its own hazards. In an unlikely turn of events, Andrea unwittingly rids herself of her husband and gets stuck in a very complicated lie.

Time: 9:40 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Beloved Tropic

Dir. Ana Endara

108 min

Ana María is a pregnant home health aide and Colombian immigrant in Panama City, whose status is in limbo and who carries a secret. She becomes the caretaker for Mercedes, a wealthy and mercurial woman with encroaching dementia that sets off a delicate dance of isolation and dependance. But the two forge an unexpected bond in Ana Endara’s sensitive and atmospheric fiction debut.

Time: 11:15 am

Venue: The Main 4

Brooklyn, Minnesota

Dir. Jessica Blank, Erik Jensen

96 min

Filmmakers attending.

Teenage Maise is a punk-loving girl who takes after her late mother, Carolyn. She lives in Brooklyn with her artist-dad Kurt, where they’ve created a comforting life for themselves. But when Kurt’s father dies it’s a surprise to Maise, since he told her that his old man was already dead as a promise to Carolyn, who hated his abusive dad. With this news, the pair embark on a journey to rural Minnesota.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: The Main 2

By the Stream

Dir. Hong Sangsoo

111 min

The latest from prolific Korean director Hong Sangsoo, By the Stream sees Jeonim, an artist, and her uncle Chu, a film director, working together at a local university, confronting old memories and examining what it means to be truly human. Director Hong Sangsoo, whose charming films are MSPIFF favorites, creates another delightful comedy of manners.

Time: 11:10 am

Venue: The Main 5

Flicka

Dir. Brian Staufenbiel

74 min

Frederica von Stade and filmmakers attending.

Flicka is the inspiring documentary about the incredible career and post-retirement life of Frederica von Stade, one of our greatest opera singers. A remarkable mezzo-soprano, she forged a career as a freelance opera singer, who, after she left the stage, focused on bringing musical training to underprivileged students and even to the unhoused in her community.

Time: 11:30 am

Venue: The Main 1

Four Mothers

Dir. Darren Thornton

89 min

Edward, an Irish novelist who lives with his elderly mother, finally finds himself on the brink of literary success. With pressure to go on a US book tour mounting, the last thing he needs is his friends jetting off to Spain for an impromptu Pride holiday, leaving their mothers on his doorstep, so he must feed and care for four eccentric, combative, and wildly different ladies. An Irish twist on the 2008 Italian film Mid-August Lunch, this combination of uplifting comedy and tender drama takes an unlikely found family on a journey to embrace life. Variety reviewer Guy Lodge praised the “very warm, very sweet story,” calling it “a comedy with surprising reserves of wisdom and sadness and praising its perceptive grasp of queer identity.” Collectively, the mothers’ differing views on marriage, child-rearing and their sons’ queerness amount to a thoughtful snapshot of a country in generational transition, which will resonate with many. –AS

Time: 5:20 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Ghost Trail

Dir. Jonathan Millet

105 min

Powered by a pair of blazing performances, this tense, stirring, expertly judged thriller about Syrian exiles in France, including a secret group pursuing the Syrian regime’s fugitive leaders, is a work of visceral intensity and formidable control, pulling you into a tight grip and holding you there. Best of all are the two fascinatingly matched feats of acting at the movie’s center: the stealthy emotional wallop delivered by lead Adam Bessa (Extraction) and a spine-chilling supporting turn from Tawfeek Barhom (Cairo Conspiracy). Bessa has a soulful movie-star magnetism that he modulates flawlessly here. Director Millet knows how to crank up the tension, assisted by Yuksek’s churning electro-infused score and the deft layering of ambient campus noise — whispers in the hallway, chairs creaking, the shuffling of papers — with Hamid’s own throbbing heartbeat. A gripping manhunt movie that packs a stealthy wallop. –AS

Time: 9:40 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Grand Tour

Dir. Miguel Gomes

128 min

Edward is a British factotum in colonial Burma, who is on the run–not from the authorities, but from his fiancée, Molly! Terrified at the thought of marriage, he flees around the globe, with Molly in hot pursuit. Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes’ delightful Grand Tour is a dissection of character, colonialism and untenable personal pursuits.

Time: 1:30 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Happy Holidays

Dir. Scandar Copti

124 min

The lives of four people intersect in Oscar-nominated Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s kaleidoscopic film. Cast with non-actors, we see the relationships between Palestinians and Israelis, some intimate, some distant, collide in a country riven by conflict.

Time: 2:00 pm

Venue: The Main 5

I, The Song

Dir. Dechen Roder

112 min

Nima is a schoolteacher in rural Bhutan. When an inappropriate video surfaces that appears to include Nima, she is fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. With nothing left to lose, she sets off on a journey to find her doppelganger, who has not only vanished but is somehow embodied in Nima herself.

Time: 4:15 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Lost Ladies

Dir. Kiran Rao

124 min

Set in 2001, this entertaining Hindi comedy of errors follows two young brides who wind up in the same Indian cross-country rail car, with their faces hidden behind identical red marital veils. When tired groom Deepak (Sparsh Shrivastava) accidentally grabs the wrong covered woman and gets off the train, he doesn’t even realize his mistake until he gets her home and finds Jaya (Pratibha Ranta) instead of his beloved Phool (Nitanshi Goel). Meanwhile, Phool finds herself at another train station, without any resources or even her parent-in-law’s address. Afraid to go to the police, she finds succor from an enterprising beggar boy and the brash woman (Chhaya Kadam) who operates the station tea stand. Although initially helpless, Phool soon learns that she is not without skills. Jaya, on the other hand, appears far more resourceful as she takes advantage of Deepak’s mistake to escape her arranged marriage to a true villain. –AS

Time: 3:15 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

LUZ

Dir. Flora Lau

102 min

In Chongqing, Wei is estranged from his daughter Fa; in Paris, Sabine is the terminally ill stepmother of Ren. Neither relationship is healthy. These disparate stories come together in virtual reality, aided by a mystical deer, in Flora Lau’s mind-bending cinematic spectacle.

Time: 7:20 pm

Venue: The Main 5

The Property

Dir. Dana Modan

108 min

In this romantic dramedy, Regina (Rivka Michaeli) and her granddaughter Mika (Sharon Strimban) embark on a journey to Poland to reclaim their family property seized during World War II, but their quest quickly unravels. Regina unexpectedly decides to abandon the mission entirely, leaving Mika lost and confused. To complicate matters further, an irritating distant relative reappears at every turn. Just as Mika finds herself falling for a charming tour guide, Regina seizes the opportunity to pursue her own hidden agenda: finding her long-lost love, from whom she was separated seventy years ago. Based on the graphic novel by the director, Dana Modan’s sister, Rutu Modan, The Property was nominated for 4 Israeli Academy Awards. –AS

Time: 1:45 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Quisling: The Final Days

Dir. Erik Poppe

140 min

Both a bold historical drama and a penetrating psychological study of a delusional authoritarian, Quisling serves as a bookend to director Erik Poppe’s The King’s Choice, about the first three days of Germany’s invasion of Norway in 1940. Quisling, set in 1945, revisits the period of Occupation and its aftermath through the story of Vidkun Quisling (Gard B. Eidsvold) the war-time puppet head of government and Nazi collaborator. In a fresh and provocative approach, Poppe and his screenwriters view the era through the lens of Quisling’s prison meetings with pastor Peder Olsen (Anders Danielsen Lie), whose mission from Oslo’s bishop is to lead Quisling toward contrition and absolution. With its terrifyingly topical look into the complicated mind of an autocratic leader, tour de force performances by the two leads along with a sterling supporting cast, striking cinematography and notable period production design, this is a gripping cinematic experience that should be seen on the big screen. –AS

Time: 4:30 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Regretfully at Dawn

Dir. Sivaroj Kongsakul

116 min

Yong is an ex-soldier raising his granddaughter Xiang in a bucolic Thai village. When a worldly young teacher sees potential in Xiang, Yong is forced to grapple with letting go and doing what’s best for Xiang.

Time: 4:40 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo

Dir. Khaled Mansour

102 min

An endearing, audience-friendly drama, Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo follows Hassan, a taciturn security guard whose best friend is the canine of the title. Life in the Cairo working-class neighborhood where Hassan, his mother and Mr. Rambo live takes an unexpected turn when their greedy landlord Karim demands an increase for their ramshackle apartment, hoping that he can evict them and expand his car repair business. As Hassan’s mother fights back through the courts, Karim turns his wrath on Hassan. When, to defend his owner, Mr. Rambo bites Karim in a sensitive place, the landlord declares a death warrant on the dog. In order to save his beloved pet Hassan is forced out of his comfort zone and into the nocturnal underbelly of his chaotic city. In the process, he confronts his fears and regains his self-respect. –AS

Time: 7:10 pm

Venue: The Main 4

The Shameless

Dir. Konstantin Bojanov

114 min

Renuka is on the run after killing an abusive policeman and seeks shelter at a rural brothel in the north. There she meets Devika, a 17-year-old devadasi, a low-caste Hindu woman which temples use as sex workers for upper-caste men. The two fall in love in Konstantin Bojanov’s queer thriller.

Time: 1:50 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Shorts: Back & Forward

84 min

My Brother’s Keeper 21 min

dir: Dominic Howes

Forever marked by the loss of his beloved older brother in Vietnam, a man embarks on a quixotic journey to find solace on the open road.

Love, Birds 27 min

dir: Angel Morris & Elliiott Kennerson

A breakthrough discovery of homosexuality in seagulls changes the field of science and the LGBTQ+ movement in America.

Chasing Time 40 min

dir: Sarah Keo & Jeff Orlowski-Yang

A follow up to the award-winning film Chasing Ice, photographer James Balog reflects on his years documenting glaciers around the world.

Time: 4:25 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Sister Midnight

Dir. Karan Kandhari

110 min

Uma is trapped in an arranged marriage in Mumbai. Bereft of virtually every skill a housewife is supposed to have, and with a milquetoast husband, Uma is slowly coming undone, and finally unleashes her pent-up anger, and boredom, to transform into a feral creature in Karan Kandhari’s visionary black comedy.

Time: 9:50 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Speak.

Dir. Jennifer Tiexiera, Guy Mossman

103 min

Special guest attending.

Speak. is a rousing documentary that follows five high school students from around the country, competing for the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) Original Oratory championship. Past competitors include Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt, and these young men and women are fighting for their own shot at glory. Featuring Apple Valley’s own Mfaz Mohamed Ali and Moorhead’s Sam Schaefer. Directors Jennifer Tiexiera and Guy Mossman follow these devoted teenagers as they battle for the top prize, and whose future as fighters for a better world seems all but assured.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

The Surfer

Dir. Lorcan Finnegan

99 min

In the psychological thriller directed by Lorcan Finnegan, a man (Nicolas Cage) returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son. But his desire to hit the waves is thwarted by a group of locals whose mantra is “don’t live here, don’t surf here.” Humiliated and angry, the man is drawn into a conflict that keeps rising in concert with the punishing heat of the summer and pushes him to his breaking point.

Time: 10:00 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Viet and Nam

Dir. Truong Minh Quý

129 min

Vi?t and Nam are lovers, coal miners who steal brief moments of intimacy at work. But when Nam expresses his desire to seek a better life in another country and plans a dangerous escape in a shipping container, Vi?t is at a loss to what his future holds. Truong Minh Quý’s award-winning film was banned in Vietnam.

Time: 11:00 am

Venue: The Main 2

Village Rockstars 2

Dir. Rima Das

108 min

Dhunu is back and she’s still playing her guitar and dreaming of becoming a rock star. But Dhunu’s not 10 anymore–now 17, she’s discovering that adulthood has a way of pushing back, in Rima Das’ highly anticipated sequel to Village Rockstars, which was a festival favorite at MSPIFF 2018.

Time: 11:05 am

Venue: The Main 3

Wind – Surveying the Great Ocean of Air

Dir. Alexander Riedel

92 min

Director Alexander Riedel attending.

The documentary film Wind - Surveying the Great Ocean of Air explores the significance of wind over the course of six episodes. We travel with the wind and feel the expansive freedom it provides across the globe. We experience its powerful forces and its gentle hugging, its terrifying violence and its ability to move.

Time: 1:40 pm

Venue: The Main 2

April 5, 2025

2000 Meters to Andriivka

Dir. Mstyslav Chernov

107 min

Oscar-winning director Mstyslav Chernov embeds himself in a Ukrainian brigade struggling through a dense forest to liberate a village from Russian forces. As they progress through dangerous no-man’s land, the soldiers come face to face with total war.

Time: 2:00 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

Ai Weiwei’s Turandot

Dir. Maxim Derevianko

78 min

Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei turns his attention to directing Puccini’s opera Turandot at the Rome Opera, with his friend, choreographer Chiang Ching. They begin work, only to be thwarted by the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which affected artists in the production. What finally emerges is a Turandot as beautiful as it is political.

Time: 5:15 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story

Dir. Sinead O’Shea

99 min

With her debut novel, The Country Girls, Edna O’Brien emerged as one of Ireland’s most brilliant and controversial writers. Director Sinéad O’Shea’s sweeping documentary examines the writer and the woman, featuring take-no-prisoners interviews with O’Brien herself, whose diamond-clear intelligence and cutting wit make her one of the most fascinating people you will ever meet.

Time: 5:00 pm

Venue: Pop's Art Theater Rochester

Come See Me in the Good Light

Dir. Ryan White

104 min

Poets and partners Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley face the former’s terminal cancer diagnosis with laughter, love, and an invitation to share in their grace, in director Ryan White’s beautiful new documentary. Gibson, Colorado’s poet laureate and a veritable rockstar, faces the diagnosis with humility and humor. Using Gibson’s poetry throughout, White crafts a remarkable and life-affirming documentary that won the Festival Favorite Award at Sundance.

Time: 11:30 am

Venue: The Main 3

Crocodile Tears

Dir. Tumpal Tampubolon

98 min

Mama has always run Johan’s life on their crocodile farm in West Java. Far removed from society, Johan isn’t aware that his mother is a bit of a dictator. So when the beautiful Arumi enters the picture, and Johan falls in love, Mama isn’t happy, and she’ll do anything to keep them apart in Tumpal Tampubolon’s hard-boiled and surreal debut.

Time: 4:20 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Friendship

Dir. Andrew DeYoung

101 min

Midnight Mayhem MSPIFF edition featuring your host Chaz Kangas.

Craig (Tim Robinson) needs a friend. He lives a bland suburban life and his wife (Kate Mara) seems too attached to their teenage son. When his new neighbor, Austin (Paul Rudd), invites him over, and Craig sees this tight circle of friends, he feels like a new man. That is, until Austin pushes him away, and Craig goes berserk in this soon-to-be cult comedy classic.

Time: 10:00 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Good Sport

Dir. Andrew Jack Zuckerman

72 min

Filmmakers, cast, and crew attending.

Pat is having a bad, bad day. His ex-wife’s about to get remarried, he’s hung over, and now he’s got to coach his 12-year-old son’s basketball team. There, he must face off against helicopter parents, an insane opposing coach, and his own sense of failure. From MN writer/director Andrew Jack Zuckerman, this winning dark comedy stars an ensemble cast led by Sam Landman in a wayward comedic role reminiscent of Paul Giamatti and Sari Lennick of the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man.

Time: 7:15 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Happyend

Dir. Neo Sora

113 min

In a near-future dystopian Tokyo, the city is steeling itself for a massive earthquake and is increasingly reliant on surveillance to keep everyone in line. Yuta and Kou are high schoolers who just want to DJ, and their infectious optimism in the face of the world’s lunatic absurdity anchors director Neo Sora’s otherwise stark futuristic film.

Time: 9:30 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

If You See Something

Dir. Oday Rasheed

107 min

Ali and Kate are two young people deeply in love in New York City. He’s an Iraqi immigrant and she’s an American, and both are eager for a good life in the big city. But when a crisis strikes in Iraq, it threatens Ali’s legal status, secrets emerge, and their love is pushed to its breaking point.

Time: 4:30 pm

Venue: The Main 4

The Legend of Ochi

Dir. Isaiah Saxon

96 min

Set on the fictional island of Carpathia in the Black Sea, this family-friendly movie has a throwback feel reminiscent of Gremlins or E.T., but made by the director of Björk’s music videos. Starring Willem Dafoe, Finn Wolfhard and Helena Zengel, Legend of Ochi is the story of Yuri, a shy young girl raised by her zealous father and his roaming gang of boys to fear and hunt the Ochi, an elusive orange and blue monkey-like species. But when Yuri discovers a wounded baby Ochi left behind after one of her dad’s chaotic nighttime forest missions, she sets off on a quest to bring the fierce but adorable creature home. While learning to communicate with the misunderstood Ochi, the girl discovers secrets about herself and her own mysterious past. Recently premiered as a Sundance Film Festival ‘family matinee’, this gripping fantasy feature is full of big feelings, hope, and wonder. –DG

Time: 1:50 pm

Venue: The Main 2

The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos

Dir. James Tayler, Mathew Cerf, Temitope Ogungbamila, Samuel Okechukwu, Tina Edukpo, Elijah Segun Atinkpo, Bisola Akinmuyiwa

100 min

Jawu lives with her son in a waterfront community in Lagos dubiously scheduled for demolition. When she chances on a hidden fortune, she uses the money to fight to save her home. Based on true events of forced eviction, The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos is a harrowing yet rapturous film from Nigeria’s Agbajowo Collective giving viewers a Lagos they’ve never seen before.

Time: 2:45 pm

Venue: Pop's Art Theater Rochester

Meet the Barbarians

Dir. Julie Delpy

101 min

The villagers of Paimpont are loving and open minded. Just look at them! Why, they’re practically begging a Ukrainian refugee family to come to their village and accept their warmest goodwill. But when a Syrian family shows up instead, Paimpont’s supposed compassion is tested.

Time: 4:40 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Middletown

Dir. Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine

112 min

In the early 1990s, Fred Isseks was an unconventional teacher at Middletown High School, in whose class, Electronic English, he inspired his students to make a student film that uncovered a vast conspiracy involving toxic waste. The students, armed with video cameras and youthful determination, confronted a powerful opposition.

Time: 6:50 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Never Alone

Dir. Klaus Härö

85 min

Sometimes films highlight little-known events in their country of origin that wind up catalyzing a re-evaluation of their nation’s history. Finnish director Klaus Härö’s Never Alone is that sort of film. It follows the deportation from Finland of eight Austrian-Jewish refugees by the Gestapo during WWII and the work of Abraham Stiller, a pillar of the Helsinki Jewish community, who tried to stop it from happening. Despite an uneasy alliance with Nazi Germany during the early years of the war, Jewish citizens of Finland had their government’s protection, although some Finnish officials would have preferred to comply with the Gestapo’s requests to expel them all. Director Härö has been called Finnish Steven Spielberg. It’s not a bad comparison. Like Spielberg, Härö is a man of faith (albeit Christian) and is known for his ability to wrap important topics in well-acted, smoothly-crafted dramas that entertain and educate, along moments of heightened sentiment that honestly earn their tears. –AS

Time: 12:00 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

Odd Fish

Dir. Snævar Sölvason

104 min

Emilia Perez isn’t the only film where a trans woman aces both male and female roles. Channeling something of a Will and Harper vibe, Odd Fish is an endearing dramedy that follows childhood friends Hjalti (Björn Jörundur) and Björn (newcomer Arna Magnea Danks), who run a seafood restaurant in their hometown in the scenic Westfjords during the summer. The pair are polar opposites. Front of house Hjalti is a confident family man and a big fish in town, who also heads the maritime museum, whereas cook Björn is a reserved, single guy who has always lived in his parents’ house. When the pair suddenly get an opportunity to keep their fish restaurant going all year round, Björn comes out as a trans woman and will be known as Birna from now on. These changes test their friendship, and both must face life with a new perspective to preserve what matters most. –AS

Time: 7:15 pm

Venue: Pop's Art Theater Rochester

On Swift Horses

Dir. Daniel Minahan

118 min

Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her husband Lee (Will Poulter) are beginning a bright new life in California when he returns from the Korean War. But their newfound stability is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic brother, Julius (Jacob Elordi), a wayward gambler with a secret past. A dangerous love triangle quickly forms.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

One to One: John & Yoko

Dir. Kevin MacDonald

100 min

This innovative documentary explores John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s time living in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s, with footage of Lennon’s only post-Beatles concert. Director Kevin McDonald creates an immersive world to situate these two iconic artists, collaborators and lovers, who were themselves immersed in American culture and television, resulting in their One to One Concert in 1972, now considered a landmark musical event.

Time: 3:00 pm

Venue: Landmark Center

Savages

Dir. Claude Barras

87 min

Award-winning Claude Barras (My Life as a Zucchini) creates a beautiful stop-motion animated feature set at the edge of a tropical rainforest in modern-day Borneo. 11-year-old Kéria cares for an orphaned orangutan who was rescued from the palm oil plantation where her father works. Soon after, her young cousin Selaï arrives, seeking refuge from the conflict between his nomadic Penan people and the logging companies. Together, Kéria, Selaï, and the baby orangutan set out on their own to battle deforestation and save their endangered ancestral home and its inhabitants. For Kéria, the fight doesn’t stop there when she also discovers the truth of her family’s past. This anti-colonial, ecological fable speaks passionately and joyfully to children about the values of nature and traditional ways as well as the need for collective resistance to the threats to their destruction. –DG

Age 8+

Time: 11:15 am

Venue: The Main 5

Shorts: Sense of Place

86 min

Filmmakers attending.

Maternal Fabric 6 min

dir: Lucy Mathews Heegaard

A trip to the quilt shop stirs up tender contemplations in this story written and narrated by MN author Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew.

Gigiigemin Baaga’adoweyang (We Are Healed by Stickball) 11 min

dir: Finn Ryan

The return of stickball is a conduit for Ojibwe communities to walk the path of cultural revitalization and heal from historical trauma.

Every Day Is A Parade 16 min

dir: Deacon Warner

When you drive an Art Car, every day is a parade!

Bdote – A Birthing Island 15 min

dir: Laya Hale

Tracing the Dakota people's profound connection to Bdote, where the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers meet.

A House For My Mother 16 min

dir: Pilar Timpane & Benjamin Nero

Spanning decades and rooted in the segregated Mississippi Delta, a pioneering figure breaks barriers as one te first Black dentists in the nation.

Summer Camp 11min

dir: Dahee Kim

A box of old letters stirs up the deeper traces of summer camp memories.

If A Man Wanted To Disappear 13 min

dir: Nik Nerburn

Four generations of men are linked by both tragedy and tenderness in this film about how families make myths, how artists make images, and how men keep secrets.

Time: 11:00 am

Venue: The Main 1

Souleymane’s Story

Dir. Boris Lojkine

92 min

Souleymane is a Guinean immigrant in Paris, whose every waking second is spent fighting against the clock, working as a delivery driver to make his quota, getting back in time to secure a bed at the shelter, filling out paperwork on a deadline as he tries desperately to get asylum.

Time: 9:30 pm

Venue: The Main 5

The Spies Among Us

Dir. Jamie Coughlin Silverman, Gabriel Silverman

94 min

A devastating portrait of the East German Stasi, the most feared police apparatus in history. Peter Kreup, a victim of the Stasi whose experience fuels his work as a historian, confronts the men who ran the operation, and in doing so fully exposes the inner-workings of the surveillance state. Filmmakers Jamie Silverman and Gabriel Silverman’s jaw-dropping film explores the capacity for fellow countrymen, and family, to turn on eachother, and serves as a chilling cautionary tale.

Time: 2:00 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Unholy Communion

Dir. Patrick Coyle

92 min

Director Patrick Coyle attending.

At first, it was the murder of one Catholic priest, then another, and another. A series of disturbing messages accompany the killings, and soon a local detective is on the hunt for a serial killer, one with a thirst for justice. Based on a novel by Scandia, Minnesota author Thomas Rumreich, directed by local filmmaker Patrick Coyle.

Time: 2:30 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Waves

Dir. Jirí Mádl

131 min

Set in 1967-68, a crucial era in modern Czech history, this dynamic, Oscar-shortlisted drama revolves around the international office at Czechoslovak Radio led by editor Milan Weiner, whose commitment to honest journalistic work puts the organization in the crosshairs of the Czechoslovak secret police. “Waves unfolds like a ticking time bomb of a spy thriller. Filip Malásek’s editing deserves praise for keeping an edge-of-seat tempo …Tested loyalties and cat-and-mouse chases set the stage for the brave work Czechoslovak Radio’s journalists accomplished in the year leading up to the invasion. The film’s pulse-pounding rhythms soon make it feel like a gripping John Le Carré tale. The freedom of the press is here no mere abstract concept; it’s an embodied moral imperative that rests on professionals who constantly had to make tough personal choices that could put them at odds with colleagues, friends and even family.” –Manuel Betancourt, Variety –AS

Time: 1:40 pm

Venue: The Main 1

The Wedding Banquet

Dir. Andrew Ahn

103 min

From Director Andrew Ahn comes a joyful comedy of errors about a chosen family navigating the disasters and delights of family expectations, queerness, and cultural identity. Angela and her partner Lee have been unlucky with their IVF treatments, but can’t afford to pay for another round. Meanwhile their friend Min, the closeted scion of a multinational corporate empire, has plenty of family money but a soon-to-expire student visa. When his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris rejects his proposal, Min makes the offer to Angela instead: a green card marriage in exchange for funding Lee’s IVF. But their plans to quietly elope are upended when Min’s skeptical grandmother flies in from Korea unannounced, insisting on an all-out wedding extravaganza.

Time: 7:30 pm

Venue: The Main 3

The Witness

Dir. Nader Saeivar

100 min

When Tarlan witnesses her friend murdered by her husband, she goes to the police, who turn their backs. He’s a powerful figure in the Iranian government, but against all odds Tarlan pushes forward, risking everything, to bring justice to her friend.

Time: 7:25 pm

Venue: The Main 4

You Are Not Alone

Dir. Marie-Hélène Viens, Philippe Lupien

105 min

Léo is a young Montreal man. He’s a loner, he delivers pizza, end of story. Enter Rita, a musician who takes interest in Léo and they begin to fall in love. Meanwhile Léo is being stalked by an alien who preys on lonesome fellas like Léo.

Time: 9:45 pm

Venue: The Main 4

April 6, 2025

Ang Lee in Conversation – MSPIFF44 Milgrom Tribute

90 min

Ang Lee in Conversation - MSPIFF44 Milgrom Tribute

Sunday, April 6

Doors: 3pm • Conversation: 4pm

DeLaSalle High School, 1 DeLaSalle Drive, Minneapolis

Join us for a conversation with filmmaker Ang Lee, recipient of the MSPIFF44 Milgrom Tribute, on his decades-spanning career and mastery of the craft of directing.

This in-person conversation will be moderated by Deirdre Haj, MSPIFF Advisory Council Member and Vice President of Art House Convergence.

The MSPIFF44 Milgrom Tribute, named in honor of MSP Film Society founder Al Milgrom, showcases artists whose talents put a distinctive stamp on every one of their films, who have been instrumental in promoting a higher regard for the art of cinema, and who have consistently made and continue to make critical waves at a global level. Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee, personifies this description.

Time: 4:00 pm

Venue: DeLaSalle High School

Brokeback Mountain

Dir. Ang Lee

134 min

20th Anniversary screening as part of the Milgrom Tribute to Ang Lee

Director Ang Lee will give an introduction to the film.

Celebrating 20 years in 2025 and winner of three Academy Awards®, including Best Director for Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain is a sweeping epic that explores the lives of two young men, a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection. The complications, joys and heartbreak they experience provide a testament to the endurance and power of love. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal deliver emotionally charged, remarkably moving performances.

Time: 7:30 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Dir. Ang Lee

120 min

Named one of the 10 best movies of the millennium by Time Magazine! Two master warriors (Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh) are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen. A young aristocrat (Zhang Ziyi) prepares for an arranged marriage, but soon reveals her superior fighting talents and her deeply romantic past. As each warrior battles for justice, they come face to face with their worst enemy - and the inescapable, enduring power of love. Set against 19th-century China's breathtaking landscape, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the action-packed, box office smash from acclaimed director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm) featuring stunning martial arts choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix). Winner of Four Academy Awards® including Best International Feature.

Time: 11:30 am

Venue: The Main 3

Everybody Loves Touda

Dir. Nabil Ayouch

102 min

Fiery and capricious, small-town chanteuse Touda (a tour-de-force performance by Nisrin Erradi, who made a striking debut in co-writer Maryam Touzani’s Adam) dreams of only one thing: being a Sheikha, a respected traditional Moroccan performer empowered by the lyrics of the fierce female poets who came before her, with their songs of resistance, love and emancipation. Tired of performing every evening in provincial bars under the lustful gaze of the watching men, Touda sets her sights on leaving her small village for the bright lights of Casablanca where she hopes to be recognized as a true artist and also secure a better future for her hearing-impaired son. Amidst a hypnotic soundscape of Moroccan music, newcomer Erradi portrays a vibrant woman and mother in a narrative pitched between musical and social issue drama. Despite their broken wings, Nabil Ayouch’s heroines always aspire to fly and to find freedom. –AS

Time: 5:00 pm

Venue: The Main 3

The Exiles

Dir. Belén Funes

110 min

Delia is a Chilean immigrant in Spain, whose sudden loss of her husband, Julian, has left her alone to raise her teenage daughter. When they face eviction, mother and daughter find themselves on different paths, in Belén Funes' moving sophomore feature about the contours of identity, loss and love.

Time: 7:20 pm

Venue: The Main 5

From Hilde, With Love

Dir. Andreas Dresen

124 min

A drama based on the lives of real members of the Red Orchestra, a band of young resisters to the Nazi regime, this stirring, poignant story of love during a time of war focuses on Hilde Coppi (Babylon Berlin star Liv Lisa Fries). In a fresh approach, director Andreas Dresen portrays the group as a bunch of attractive young people who hang out in parks in the summer, smoking and sitting around a fire, some dabbling in polyamory, almost as occupied with their own romantic lives as they are engaged with activism. Given the agonizing futility of most of their actions, the film plays as a memorial to their courage rather than their achievements, suggesting that it’s possible for legacy to lie in the attempt, rather than the outcome. From Hilde, With Love might be set almost 80 years ago, but the themes explored seem destined to remain eternally urgent and relevant. –AS

Time: 1:40 pm

Venue: The Main 5

The Fun-Raiser

Dir. Wyatt McDill

82 min

Filmmakers attending.

Carson and Crystal run a performing arts school where nothing seems to go right. Desperate to save the school and ensure their students have a creative future, they throw a fund-raiser to save the school, even flying in a celebrity from Hollywood to lure in the high-level donors. Despite everything going wrong, including fire, flood, and food poisoning, everyone is still going to have a great time… right?

Time: 7:35 pm

Venue: The Main 4

The Last Journey

Dir. Filip Hammar, Fredrik Wikingsson

91 min

Unfolding as a humorous and heartbreaking road movie, this highly relatable documentary is a tender portrait of the love that filmmaker Filip Hammar bears for his ailing 80-year-old father Lars. Hoping to rekindle the older man’s zest for life, Filip and his best friend/co-director Fredrik Wikingsson drive him to the French coastal town where they used to spend their holidays, but in the end, it’s the in-denial Filip who must come to grips with the indignities that aging brings and what time makes inevitable. Even if Lars will never again be the lively and energetic father that Filip idealizes, he still comes off as a wise and pragmatic soul. He’s a modest man with a good sense of humor whose sincere love for France and some of that country’s craziest foibles shines through. The film also serves as a tribute to teachers and an affirmation of how inspirational and memorable the good ones can be. –AS

Time: 4:30 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Mistura

Dir. Ricardo de Montreuil

97 min

In 1960’s Peru, Norma, a privileged French-Peruvian, finds her life unraveling after her husband’s betrayal ostracizes her from elite society. A journey of self-reflection and discovery leads her to embrace people from the very communities that she was raised to disregard. Alongside newfound alliances, she opens a restaurant in her home with a Nikkei chef, an indigenous cook, and an Afro-Peruvian driver. Together they reveal Peru’s authentic identity through a daring culinary venture that celebrates the country’s remarkably diverse cuisine and peoples.

Time: 4:40 pm

Venue: The Main 4

The Pinchers’ High Voltage Heist

Dir. Leif Lindbloom

90 min

Ture is a young misfit in a family of notorious thieves. With a burning desire to follow the law, the boy tries his best to convince his parents and sister to stop their shenanigans. Although the Pinchers prove that they can straighten up and follow the ‘right path’, they soon become bored and can’t seem to stop themselves from planning an elaborate museum heist. Caught in the middle is the family dog, who might not even be legit. What will it take to get his family to do the right thing? It appears that it might take 20,000 volts to get their attention. With fantastical and whimsical art direction and good-hearted characters, this fast-paced comedic crime thriller is an entertaining romp for audiences young and old. Based on a popular Swedish children’s book by Anders Sparring and Per Gustavsson. –DG

Age 8+

Time: 11:20 am

Venue: The Main 5

Samia

Dir. Yasemin Samdereli, Deka Mohamed

102 min

A biopic about Samia Yusuf Omar, the Somalian teenager who was determined to become an Olympic sprinter. Having lost her father and uncle to violence, and struggling against an oppressive society that didn’t believe women should be athletes, she trained in the ruins of Mogadishu and went to the 2008 Olympics at age 17.

Time: 4:45 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

Shorts: The Company We Keep

92 min

Filmmakers attending.

Blue Check 19 min

dir: Nickolaus Swedlund, Robert Henry

After Elliot, an eighteen-year-old obsessed fan sneaks into his idol Lil Gouda's latest concert, he soon finds himself in over his head as he is pulled into Gouda's orbit. Elliot soon discovers Gouda's true colors, and he wants more.

Memory Mule 14 min

dir: Luis Adam Garcia

In the near future, the drug of choice is memories, or MEMS. Groomed to deal people’s memories, Mel pushes back against her, Hippo, who pressures her to sell the last good mems she has of her absent mother.

Such a Pretty Girl 6 min

dir: Deborah Puette

Meg has returned to her childhood home to help her aging father. But when her twelve-year-old discovers a long-forgotten relic from her past, Meg must decide in a matter of moments who she'll protect: her parent or her child.

Gorgeous 14 min

dir: Morgan Gould

Beth, a fat woman, is getting married in 36 hours and her mother hasn’t seen her dress. This might sound low stakes but honestly...weddings never are.

Belief 14 min 

dir: Christian Loubek

Alongside his wife and daughter, Lennox joyously unpacks their new home but is left speechless when he finds a letter in a moving box labelled 'mom' that predestines a different life for him – it’s not as he remembers.

Suzuki 24 min

dir: Jung-min Ahn

In the summer of 2009, the first Jisan Valley Rock Festival was held, and Blur reunited and Oasis disbanded. For Su-min, a middle school student living in the countryside, all this seems far away. And that summer, Suzuki disappeared.

Time: 11:10 am

Venue: The Main 2

Shorts: Youth Media Showcase

60 min

Experience the powerful voices and creative talents of high school youth in our community. Presented in partnership with the Twin Cities Youth Media Network (TCYMN), this screening of short films and videos represents young artists involved with In Progress, MIGIZI, Perpich Center for Arts Education, Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN), SPEAK MPLS, Studio Thirteen at FilmNorth, and other youth media arts programs.

The screening is followed by a Q&A with youth media makers and a reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of TCYMN.

The Star in the Cottonwood Tree

Diamond Valencia-Wiyaka

(MIGIZI)

A traditional Dakota story retold in multiple animated mediums.

Mirror Image

Zero McCoy

(FilmNorth)

A high school girl becomes obsessed writing a play for her senior year show.

Lunging Lily’s Rampage

Eli Mau and Emma Fuller

(SPNN/Focus Beyond Transitions)

An unsuspecting educator encounters a chilling fright in a youth lab.

Sk8

Margot McCabe

(Perpich Center for Arts Education)

The story of a teen and her love for her local skate park.

Blankspace

Thomas Edmund Thro

(Perpich Center for Arts Education)

Finding a Playstation in the woods brings a man to an entire new reality.

Grandiose Abstractus

Sebastian Roberto Marquez

(Perpich Center for Arts Education)

Experimentation with abstract graphics, cinematography, and music.

Where’d Johnny Go?

Milo Crane

(Perpich Center for Arts Education)

A music video about the misadventures of a bounty hunter named Johnny.

Who Took My Sandwich?

Daniel Kevin Short

(Mahtomedi High School)

When a grizzled detective must locate his missing lunch, a stylish film noir unfolds.

pooling all the memories together

Ty Vue

(In Progress)

Collected memories of a youthful summer at a public swimming pool, as shared by the filmmaker’s father.

The Game Dev’s Guide to Procrastination

Henry Jennings

(SPEAK MPLS)

Experience the suspenseful ups and downs of designing and creating a game under pressure.

Youth for Blue

Kate Mandujano, Debra Gbidi, Ciana Bates

(SPEAK MPLS)

Leading up to the election, a point-in-time portrait captures the growing political awareness and importance of young and future voters of 2024.

A Love Letter To The Human Spirit

Halimah Abdullah

(SPEAK MPLS)

A personal and transcendent exploration of the human spirit and what is created when a community comes together.

Time: 12:45 pm

Venue: The Main 1

April 7, 2025

Deal at the Border

Dir. Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi

104 min

On the Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan border, drug trafficker Aza meets Nazik, a woman on the run from human traffickers. Against his better judgment, he helps her to escape, but nothing goes as planned. Summoning up his last threads of dignity, Aza is determined to do the right thing in this gripping thriller.

Time: 2:15 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Magic & Monsters

Dir. Norah Shapiro

89 min

Director Norah Shapiro attending.

Magic & Monsters uncovers a decades-old sexual abuse scandal at America's preeminent children's theater, following survivors who break their silence to hold both their perpetrators and the institution that harbored them accountable. Their quest for justice becomes a path to healing—not only for themselves, but for their entire community.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Pink Lady

Dir. Nir Bergman

106 min

In an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem, Bati (Nur Fibak) has a seemingly perfect life. She is happily married to Lazer (Uri Blufarb), and the young couple have three children. But their world starts to crumble when the gentle Lazer is blackmailed, and Bati discovers his secret affair with his male study partner. Desperate to protect her family and keep the man she loves, she supports Lazer as he attempts to “cure” his homosexuality, whilst uncovering her true desires. Screenwriter Mindi Ehrlich, who drew on her own experiences within the Hasidic Jewish community for the film, brings a freshness to the subject by focusing on the female perspective of events. Ultimately, Bati learns more about her own needs than those of her husband. –AS

Time: 1:50 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Sally

Dir. Cristina Costantini

103 min

Dr. Sally Ride was known as the first American woman to reach outer space, but few outside of her inner circle were aware of her lifelong romantic partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy. Facing down the sexism in the space program–before and after her historic inaugural flight–Dr. Ride triumphed and inspired countless girls and women around the world.

Time: 7:05 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Shorts: Revealing Laughter

87 min

Filmmakers attending.

Night Session 11 min

dir: Ballard C. Boyd

When a burglar unexpectedly runs into a homeowner during a theft, the robbery morphs into a makeshift therapy session.

The Constructor 10 min

dir: Scott Morris

Elizabeth, an impossibly precocious seven-year-old Lego constructor, struggles with “imagination blur” as her three-year-old sister attempts to free her from her rigid thinking.

Phantom Heart 6 min

dir: Josephine Spanier

When a mischievous poltergeist escapes, a shy supernatural researcher must recapture it before it reveals the crush she harbors for her coworker.

Check Please 10 min

dir: Shane Chung

Dinner for two turns deadly when a Korean and a Korean-American escalate a fight over who gets to pay the check — and who gets to walk out the restaurant alive.

Channelvue 8 min

dir: Brandon Tauszik

During a late '90s TV Guide channel broadcast, an uptight cable company CEO fights off deranged hackers as they hijack her station, changing its content in real time.

What's The Deal With Birds? 11 min

dir: Taylor Bakken

A trailblazing young birder sets out to answer the age-old question – what’s the deal with birds? When a strange bird offers her answers, things begin to take flight.

The Understudy 14 min

dir: Peter Pasyk

An understudy actor receives a call that he must go on last-minute to replace the star of a major stage production of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

The Sentry 17 min

dir: Jake Wachtel

A suave spy's routine mission in Cambodia gets derailed when a persistent local guard makes him face the human cost of his James Bond lifestyle.

Time: 7:10 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Third Act

Dir. Tadashi Nakamura

91 min

Known as “the Godfather of Asian-American media”, the life and career of filmmaker Robert A. Nakamura is examined in his son Tadashi's stirring documentary, along with generational trauma, silenced emotions, and Robert’s experiences in the Japanese internment camps during WWII.

Time: 4:15 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Undercover

Dir. Arantxa Echevarría

118 min

Aranzazu Berradre Marín has a secret, she’s a cop. And, she’s the only one able to infiltrate the Spanish terrorist group ETA. Not her real name, Marín goes deep undercover, perplexing her enemies and astonishing her fellow officers. Arantxa Echevarría’s nail-biting thriller is based on a true story and won the Goya for Best Film.

Time: 7:15 pm

Venue: The Main 5

April 8, 2025

The Dance Is Not Over

Dir. Mark Wojahn

93 min

Director Mark Wojahn attending.

Celebrating the life and career of dancer, performer, choreographer, LGBTQ+ and publicly HIV-positive activist Patrick Scully, whose Patrick’s Cabaret was a South Minneapolis fixture for decades. His work in MN, New York and Berlin, expresses his passion for life, and touches on subjects that are often controversial and profound.

Time: 7:05 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Harvest

Dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari

133 min

In the Middle Ages, a mysterious fire consumes the village stables and two community members are scapegoated for it. As fingers are pointed and paranoia comes to a roiling boil, the arrival of an unforgiving and wealthy landowner pushes the villagers further into disarray. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s new film is a scathing critique of authoritarian power.

Time: 4:10 pm

Venue: The Main 2

John Cranko

Dir. Joachim A. Lang

128 min

A dance-infused tribute to the virtuoso choreographer who graced the world’s greatest stages, driven by a quest for perfection in both art and love. South Africa-born John Cranko (a tour-de-force performance by Sam Riley) is the toast of 1950s London until he is caught up in a “cottaging” scandal and prosecuted for homosexual activity. Recruited by the Stuttgart Ballet, the manic workaholic revitalizes the company and develops a world-renowned ensemble, but still grapples with destructive urges. Benefitting from writer-director Joachim A. Lang’s extensive research, the film accurately depicts Cranko as adored by his dancers, yet a frequent headache for others. Riley plays him as a high maintenance bundle of contradictions: generous, ebullient, depressive, highly cultured but with a taste for rough trade, and able to focus even after extreme drinking bouts. Meanwhile, Lang finds unusually vivid means of conveying how a driven creator’s mind works, showing the dance ideas in his head wonderfully performed. –AS

Time: 1:30 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Kill the Jockey

Dir. Luis Ortega

96 min

Remo (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) is a star jockey; his lover Abril (Ursula Corberó) is also a jockey. When he suffers an accident, Remo goes on the lam and Abril must find him before a murderous gangster does, in director Luis Ortega’s darkly comedic, stunning modern noir.

Time: 7:20 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Manas

Dir. Marianna Brennand

101 min

In her Amazonian village, teenage Marcielle watches as her older sister escapes their oppressive household. Desperate to protect her younger sister, Marcielle summons her courage to face down generations of exploitation in renowned documentarian Marianna Brennand’s debut fiction feature.

Time: 1:50 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Shorts: Animation Roundup

95 min

Filmmakers attending.

The Brown Dog 14 min

dir:  Nadia Hallgren, Jamie-James Medina

A night watchman clocks into a lonely security booth and spends his nights composing endless security logs to stay awake. But as daylight approaches, he is haunted by a mysterious brown dog.

Best Damn Street Corner 4 min

dir. Emory Allen

Local slacker Mikey can't wait to tell you why his street corner is the number 1 undisputed heavyweight champion of street corners.

Jasmine 10 min

dir:  Adam Loomis

Abel’s one joy in life is laying eyes on his pet lizard Jasmine. When the lights in Jasmine’s enclosure go out, a series of mishaps force Abel out of the darkness.

Even Still, 3 min

dir: Grey Anderson

Even Still, is a short film about creating a life that is joyful to live through the experience of transness.

Early Bird 3 min

dir: Scott Wenner

A seaside search, a standoff, and a decision to make about all things lost and found.

Birds of a Feather 5 min

dir: Katie Cobos

A talkative parrot attempts to befriend a boy with Tourette's syndrome.

Stitched 2 min

dir: Joella Goyette, Alison Haun

After waking up on their bed in a strange new body, a plush fox becomes haunted by traumatizing memories.

Have I Swallowed Your Dreams 6 min

dir: Clara Chan

A poetic conversation between an immigrant daughter and her mother about sacrifices and dreams.

Kabekona Bay 1970 4 min

dir: Tom Schroeder

During the last days of her life my mother fixates on a memory from 50 years earlier.

The Garden Sees Fire 15 min

dir: Kiera Faber

A mystical tale of cloaked identities, systemic traumas, and insatiable consumption: The ecology burns, reclaiming its environs.

Les Bêtes 12 min

dir: Michael Granberry

A mysterious rabbit with a set of magic keys summons a host of strange creatures to entertain a wicked king and his decadent court.

The Devil’s Neighbor 15 min

dir: Brian Hawkins

In this folktale from Missouri's French Creole community, Petit Jean is a farmer who also happens to be the devil’s neighbor.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Shorts: The Kids Are Alright

73 min

51st State 27 min

dir: Hannah Rosenweig

As one of Gen Z’s most vibrant political leaders, Jamal Holtz takes on Washington D.C.’s fight for statehood and reveals a virtually unknown crack in our democracy.

The Honest Poet 30 min

dir: Jordan Bryan

Through the eyes of 11-year-old Raheem, a journey through Taliban-controlled Afghanistan offers hope and reflections on the country’s poetic soul.

Bear Guardians 16 min

dir: Mariah Wilson

A father and daughter wildlife rescue team care for amputee bears in Cambodia.

Time: 4:45 pm

The Main 4

Singing Back the Buffalo

Dir. Tasha Hubbard

98 min

Richly visualised and deeply uplifting, Singing Back the Buffalo is an epic reimagining of North America through the lens of buffalo consciousness and a potent dream of what is within our grasp.

Time: 4:45 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

Tiny Lights

Dir. Beata Parkanová

75 min

Based on the childhood of prize-winning director Beata Parkanová (The Word), Tiny Lights shows the impact of family turmoil on six-year-old Amálka. There’s a strain in the relationship of Amalka’s parents and between Amálka’s mother and grandmother. Parkanová’s approach to storytelling is immersive, keeping the camera at Amálka’s eye level and presenting the narrative as she experiences it. The cinematography by Tomáš Jurícek enhances this, using rich, saturated colors that make each moment feel like a vivid childhood memory. The visuals are striking—warm tones of sun-drenched fields contrast with the cooler hues of her home, reflecting the comfort she finds in nature versus the unease of her domestic life. The story takes place over the course of a single day, and its poignancy derives from the fact that we, if not Amalka, are fully aware that her life is soon going to change, possibly forever. –AS

Time: 2:00 pm

Venue: The Main 5

When Fall is Coming

Dir. François Ozon

103 min

The versatile and prolific François Ozon channels a bit of iconic French master Claude Chabrol in this gentle drama dealing with generational tensions and the art of breaking rules. Michelle (Hélène Vincent), who once lived in Paris, has since retired to a quiet existence in Burgundy. The voracious hostility of her adult daughter Valérie (Ludovine Sagnier) remains Michelle’s great puzzlement: how can a child for whom she sacrificed so much treat her with such contempt and suspicion? When Valérie drops off her son for a week with his grandmother, Michelle sees an opportunity to repair the relationship, but a culinary accident soon undercuts whatever trust remains. Hélène Vincent and Josiane Balasko are terrific as old friends who share an unconventional past as well as difficulties with their children. –AS

Time: 7:15 pm

Venue: The Main 4

April 9, 2025

Life After

Dir. Reid Davenport

99 min

A gripping personal investigation that exposes the tangled web of moral dilemmas and profit motives surrounding assisted dying. In an unfolding matter of life and death, disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport uncovers shocking abuses of power as he amplifies the voices of the disability community and raises the alarm about the "right to die.” Director Reid Davenport won the 2025 Sundance U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for his investigation.

Time: 6:50 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Misericordia

Dir. Alain Guiraudie

103 min

When Jérémie learns of his former boss’ death, he returns to his rural hometown for a funeral. Once there, the widow insists he stay with her, which enrages her son. In no time, Jérémie finds himself in a social quagmire in festival-favorite Alain Guiraudie’s newest mind-bender.

Time: 7:20 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Mr. K

Dir. Tallulah H. Schwab

96 min

Crispin Glover is Mr. K, a magician who stays in a grand rundown hotel in a remote part of an unnamed country. When he tries to leave, he finds every hallway a maze, every exit a wall, the other tenants verging on madness. Two decades in the making, Mr. K is a surrealist mystery and comedic mindbender like you’ve never seen before.

Time: 9:55 pm

Venue: The Main 4

The New Year That Never Came

Dir. Bogdan Mure?anu

138 min

A slyly funny, thrillingly confident work full of wit, irony and empathy, this robust ensemble piece unfolds over two days in late December 1989 in a Bucharest sapped of seasonal spirit, as white-hot, sidewalk-level fury at the Nicolae Ceausescu regime cuts through the December cold. Even as TV bureaucrats put the final touches on New Year’s shows that glorify the president, the streets are alive with demonstrations and students mock the regime through art. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, families grapple with personal conflicts and the omnipresent Secret Police. Six seemingly disconnected lives intersect in unexpected ways. As tensions reach a boiling point, an explosive moment brings them together, culminating in the dramatic fall of Ceausescu and the communist regime. –AS

Time: 1:15 pm

Venue: The Main 4

The People’s Way

Dir. Ashley Tyner, William Tyner

87 min

Filmmakers and guests attending.

Capri Theater screening on April 10 includes a pay what you can option

At the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, three community organizers—Jeanelle Austin, Toshira Garraway, and Robin Wonsley— embark on interweaving journeys after George Floyd’s murder to care for their communities, find inner healing, and forge a path towards black liberation.

Time: 7:15 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Seeds

Dir. Brittany Shyne

123 min

Shot in gorgeous black and white, director Brittany Shyne creates an intimate and beautiful documentary about Black farmers in the American South, their legacy and challenges ahead. Shyne’s miraculous and dreamlike debut won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Time: 2:00 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Shorts: The Chilling North

85 min

Filmmakers attending.

528 13 min

dir: Mack Hastings, Shane Sleger

A young boy's life is thrown into new light after discovering a mysterious sound on a synthesizer.

The Tent 11 min

dir: Jared Bohlken

When the lights go out while Andrew and his father are camping, the storm becomes a tempest, and an otherworldly presence draws near—a specter whose haunting familiarity threatens to unravel the delicate threads of their bond.

Nordic Curse 5 min

dir: Aaron Kalahar

Following his map, a nordic philologist unearths a mysterious rune stone that hides an ancient curse. Based off the Kensington Stone.

I Already Went 3 min

dir: Allegra Eve Oxborough

In this dystopian satire set in a not-so-distant future, a dad and daughter bond at a cabin.

Inventing 13 min

dir: Benjamin Hasle Myrick

In a strange new job, Alice spends her days inventing lies for a mysterious AI guide. But when one of her “inventions” harms a new friend, she risks her own sanity to make amends.

Kill the Video Star 14 min

dir: LightHouse

1997. A popstar comes face to face with her biggest fan.

A Kidnapping 26 min

dir: Karl Gajdusek

As two police officers investigate a break-in, the night before two star-crossed teens arrive with a strange girl in their care.

Time: 7:10 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Who By Fire

Dir. Philippe Lesage

155 min

When Jeff, an aspiring filmmaker, is invited by his friend, Max, for a weekend in a remote cabin with Max’s family and an acclaimed director, old grievances, jealousies and the primeval forest drive everyone to their worst behavior.

Time: 1:00 pm

Venue: The Main 3

April 10, 2025

Caught By the Tides

Dir. Jia Zhangke

111 min

Chinese auteur Jia Zhang-Ke’s paean to leading actress Zhao Tao takes over 20 years of footage, seen and unseen, from his past films in this kaleidoscopic epic. Examining his past work and fusing it with a new story, Caught by the Tides is a celebration of the power of Jia’s cinematic vision.

Time: 7:05 pm

Venue: The Main 4

The Flamingo

Dir. Adam Sekuler

78 min

63-year-old Mary Phillips is not about to let divorce and age stop her from being happy. Determined to find love and sexual pleasure, she not only attends dungeon parties and engages in BDSM, she helps others navigate this world as well. Adam Sekuler’s delightful and warmhearted documentary introduces us to a woman fully connected with her own body and soul.

Time: 9:30 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Sicilian Letters

Dir. Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza

130 min

The great Toni Servillo stars in this sly black comedy inspired by the search for real-life mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro. The story takes place in Sicily in the early 2000s. After serving several years in prison for Mafia-related crimes, Catello (Servillo), a long-serving politician, has lost everything. When the Italian Secret Service “persuades” him to help capture Matteo (Elio Germano), the last major Mafia boss still on the run, whom Catello has known since he was a boy, he sees an opportunity to stage a comeback. A shrewd man of a hundred masks, a tireless illusionist who turns truth into falsehood and falsehood into truth, Catello begins a correspondence with the fugitive, as unique as it is improbable, exploiting the younger man’s emotional emptiness. A gamble which, with one of the most wanted criminals in the world, is always going to involve a degree of risk… –AS

Time: 6:55 pm

Venue: The Main 5

Sima’s Song

Dir. Roya Sadat

98 min

Writer/director Roya Sadat attending.

During the Afghan civil war, good friends Suraya and Sima struggle to find common ground. Suraya is rich and a communist, and Sima is from a more traditional background. Fighting for their country, and their civil rights in a world where women’s lives are undervalued, this friendship is put to the test. Director Roya Sadat, the first woman director in post-Taliban Afghanistan, has crafted a moving and exciting drama that plays much like a thriller.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: Edina Theatre

Somalia in the Picture

Dir. Mark Brecke

89 min

Filmmakers attending.

Somalia in the Picture traces a century of cinema in Mogadishu, where today gorgeous movie palaces lay in ruin. Director Mark Brecke brings this story into even clearer focus, following fellow director Said Salah Ahmed, as Ahmed tries to find a single print of his lost masterpiece, The Somalia Dervishes, a nearly 5 hour epic from 1985.

Time: 7:10 pm

Venue: The Main 3

Suburban Fury

Dir. Robinson Devor

118 min

Suburban Fury revisits the 1975 assassination attempt on US President Gerald Ford through the perspective of would-be assassin Sara Jane Moore, a conservative mother from the San Francisco suburbs who became radicalized while working as an FBI informant.

Time: 6:50 pm

Venue: The Main 2

The Swedish Torpedo

Dir. Frida Kempff

120 min

In 1939, Swedish single mother Sally Bauer was a long-distance swimmer who took on the ultimate challenge–to swim the English Channel. Facing sexism, raising a seven-year-old, and finding enough money (not to mention World War II) might be more daunting than the swim itself. Josefin Neldén is riveting as Bauer, in Frida Kempff’s triumphant biopic.

Time: 1:20 pm

Venue: The Main 1

April 11, 2025

Assembly

Dir. Rashaad Newsome, Johnny Symons

99 min

Visionary artist Rashaad Newsome has always been on the cutting edge, eluding nearly every label, as he creates incredible works of multidisciplinary art. With a group of diverse artists, performers and collaborators (including a non-binary AI named Being), he transforms a former military armory into a utopian dream.

Time: 2:20 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Folktales

Dir. Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady

106 min

Director Rachel Grady attending.

At a Norwegian Folk School located 800 miles north of the Arctic Circle, teenagers learn survival skills in one of the harshest environments on Earth. There they navigate the path to adulthood by learning survival skills while forging relationships with their teachers, peers, and the beautiful pack of sled dogs under their care.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Predators

Dir. David Osit

96 min

Director David Osit’s scathing and empathetic investigation of the controversial show To Catch a Predator, looking at its history, its rise, and its legacy. This often bizarre and sanctimonious television show was ostensibly designed to entrap child predators, but the result was often exploitative, and culminated in tragedy.

Time: 9:35 pm

Venue: The Main 4

Ricky

Dir. Rashad Frett

112 min

30-year-old Ricky has been in prison half his life. Newly released, and having been locked up from age 15, he navigates post-incarceration back at home in East Hartford, Connecticut. Rashad Frett’s stunning and compassionate debut feature won the best directing award at the Sundance Film Festival and showcases a dynamic performance from Stephan James as Ricky.

Time: 7:00 pm

Venue: Capri Theater

Shorts: We Can Be Heroes

88 min

Filmmakers attending.

They Call Me The Tattoo Witch 15 min

dir: Lindsay Nyman

A tattoo artist uses her rare skills in covering scars to empower her clients to reclaim their bodies.

Don’t Cry For Me All You Drag Queens 9 min

dir: Kristal Sotomayor

A striking portrait of memory and belonging for the matriarch of drag queens.

Livestreams with GrandmaPuzzles 6 min

dir: Emily Sheskin

Grandma goes viral with a lifelong hobby that soon becomes a lifeline.

How To Care 23 min

dir: Brennan Vance

A team of amazing caretakers demonstrate the joys, demands, and uncertain future of direct care work.

Get Your Line in and Pray 5 min

dir: Jackson Adams

10,000 people descend on Brainerd, MN to compete in the world’s largest charitable ice fishing competition.

My Back Pages 10 min

dir: Nick Canfield & Paul Lovelace

The world’s foremost collector of Bob Dylan memorabilia donates his life’s work to the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, OK.

dir: Adidas Owns The Reality 22 min

Keil Orion Troisi, Igor Vamos

Prankster activists The Yes Men Take on Adidas with an elaborate hoax to stage a runway show during Fashion Week.

Time: 4:30 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Sons

Dir. Gustav Möller

95 min

A superbly acted, atmospheric prison drama from the director of The Guilty. Eva (a sensational Sidse Babett Knudsen), an idealistic prison officer, is faced with the dilemma of her life when a young man from her past gets transferred to the prison where she works. Without revealing her secret, Eva asks to be moved to the young man’s ward–the toughest and most violent in the prison. Here begins an unsettling psychological thriller, where Eva’s sense of justice puts both her morality and future at stake. Sons is a tough, taut character study of a woman driven, against all better judgement, to increasingly reckless and dangerous acts. Knudsen’s performance reveals a more unpredictable side of the star, who gives an at-times feral turn fueled by rage and regret. –AS

Time: 11:45 am

Venue: The Main 4

The Village Next to Paradise

Dir. Mo Harawe

133 min

In a windy Somali village, a newly assembled family must navigate between their different aspirations and the complex world surrounding them. Mamargade is a jack-of-all-trades in Paradise, a town in the war-torn Somali countryside. With his son, Cigaal, and sister, Araweelo, he’s trying to make ends meet in a country rife with violence and uncertainty. Mo Harawe’s debut feature was the first Somali film to be an official selection at Cannes.

Time: 6:45 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Went Up the Hill

Dir. Samuel Van Grinsven

99 min

When his mother’s widow, Jill, calls Jack to attend her wake in remote New Zealand, he agrees reluctantly. Troubled that his mother, Elizabeth, abandoned him as a child, he arrives with trepidation, and when Jill tells him that she did not, in fact, call him, the pair soon realize that Elizabeth is haunting them both, literally and figuratively.

Time: 9:50 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Yen and Ai-Lee

Dir. Tom Shu-yu Lin

107 min

Yen is a young woman who murdered her abusive father. She’s back from prison and moves in with Ai-Lee, her mother, who has a new boyfriend who isn’t much better. When a mysterious little boy, the son of her dead father’s mistress, arrives on the scene, life changes for these two damaged women.

Time: 11:30 am

Venue: The Main 3

April 12, 2025

All That’s Left of You

Dir. Cherien Dabis

145 min

After a Palestinian teen confronts Israeli soldiers at a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the series of events that led him to that fateful moment, starting with his grandfather’s forced displacement during the 1948 Nakba and weaving through the decades that follow. Starring alongside the great Saleh Bakri, Palestinian American writer/director Cherien Dabis’s (Amreeka, May in the Summer) expansive, profoundly moving film details with utter precision the years of shared trauma between generations.

Time: 6:15 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Checkpoint Zoo

Dir. Joshua Zeman

103 min

Director Joshua Zeman attending.

The Feldman Ecopark was one of Ukraine’s most beloved animal sanctuaries, until it found itself on the frontline of the war with Russia. Joshua Zeman’s heartbreaking documentary chronicles the work of staff and volunteers as they try to save the animals, at the risk–and cost–of their own lives.

Time: 7:15 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Greetings From Mars

Dir. Sarah Winkenstette

90 min

A 10-year-old city kid, Tom, is sent for a loop when a sudden change of plans lands him at his grandparents’ house in the countryside for the summer. Talked into considering the trip an opportunity to prepare for his dream of going on a mission to Mars, Tom puts on his astronaut suit and helmet and appoints his teen sister and brother as his crew members. His mother assures him, “If you can do Grandma and Grandpa, you can definitely do Mars.” While the unpredictable grandparents initially seem out of touch and unprepared, they playfully get on board with the kids’ unique talents and differences. With moments of impressive animation to illustrate Tom’s visions of space, Greetings from Mars is a funny and touching family comedy about interplanetary and intergenerational explorations and acceptance. –DG

Age 9+

Time: 11:05 am

Venue: The Main 5

The Librarians

Dir. Kim A. Snyder

92 min

Producer Janique L Robillard attending.

From Oscar nominated director Kim A. Snyder comes an urgent cautionary tale that stunned and rallied Sundance audiences. In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQia+ stories – triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of White Christian Nationalism fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work – the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale.

Time: 4:30 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Pather Panchali

Dir. Satyajit Ray

125 min

Special FREE Screening at Mia (Pillsbury Auditorium, 2400 3rd Ave S, Minneapolis)

MSP Film is partnering with the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), Indian Cultural Association of Minnesota (ICAM), India Association of Minnesota (IAM), and Khazana on this special screening of the first feature film by legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray at Mia on Saturday, April 12 at 2pm. Admission is FREE.

Time: 2:00 pm

Venue: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Shorts: Who We’ve Become

90 min

Filmmakers attending.

The Combination 16 min

dir: Michael Greenberg

Isadore and his brother Harry as they seek legal representation following the accidental killing in their speakeasy. After taking his first life, Isadore struggles with the morality of losing his last shred of innocence and begins his transformation into the killer and ruthless criminal soon to be known as "Kid Cann".

Lifeline 8 min

dir: Ilhan Abdullahi, Abdi Ibrahim

Ibtisam Farah, a fish out of water youth worker, confronts her biases when helping a Somali youth accused of a crime he denies.

Sourdough 11 min

dir: Hallie Haas, Alec Cohen

A woman's loaf of homemade bread is overshadowed by her dinner guests' exciting news.

Kevin 8 min

dir: Lindsey Esch

A man struggling to accept reality walks in on situations he's not supposed to see.

The Professional Parent 15 min

dir: Erik Jasan

Ingrid lives in a small village in eastern Slovakia, where the Roma population is the victim of a tenacious stigma. Despite this, Ingrid decides to become the legal representative of a young Roma girl, which upsets the fragile balance of her home.

Their Universe 17 min

dir. Jeong-gil Han

Jun, who passed away in an accident a year ago, comes to Earth as a ghost to say goodbye to his lover, Hyun.

Loving Silence 15 min

dir: Nick Perlman

When Jerome runs into his old flame, Luke, at – of all places – a silent retreat, their past threatens to unravel his present.

Time: 1:50 pm

Venue: The Main 3

April 13, 2025

Shorts: A Home Away From Home

92 min

Filmmakers attending.

Daly City 16 min

dir:  Nick Hartanto

An Indonesian boy and his mother attend a church potluck and lie about their dish.

The Seas Between Us 14 min

dir:  Faisal Lutchmedial

In the mid 1960s, a young girl who has never seen anything but rural Trinidad has her eyes opened to the world when her adventurous Auntie from India comes to visit.

Volador 15 min

dir:  Miguel Angel Hernandez, Tessa Elizabeth Osborne

Mateo, an 18 year old from Mexico, fights his way through challenges that arise in Grand Rapids, a place he would describe as dull.

Lengua 16 min

dir:  Tahiel Jimenez Medina

Anxiety troubles Daniel, a recently arrived migrant, before his first day of school in the United States.

Turnaround 17 min

dir:  Aisling Byrne

Mags uncovers a tightly held secret as she navigates the fast-paced pressures of a West of Ireland tourist property turnaround. Grief-stricken and under mounting pressure from landlord Martina, Mags must decide if she will risk everything to help a friend.

The Long Goodbye 14 min

dir: . Stephanie Wong Ken

The Long Goodbye takes place over a period of 20 years at the same location: the front door of a family home.

Time: 11:10 am

Venue: The Main 3

Bitterroot

Dir. Vera Brunner-Sung

86 min

Filmmakers attending

Lue has just gotten divorced and moved home to rural Montana. Unmarried, introspective, and lonely, this young Hmong man now has more time to take care of his ailing mother, all the while listening to her and his sister chide him over his failed marriage. But taking care of mom also means taking care of her enormous vegetable garden.

Time: 7:20 pm

Venue: The Main 1

Queendom

Dir. Agniia Galdanova

98 min

Filmmakers attending.

Born in a small Russian town, Jenna Marvin has faced discrimination her whole life. A visionary performance artist, all she wants to do is practice her art and entertain, but is propelled to use her incredible silhouettes to raise awareness and fight against Putin’s state-sponsored homophobia.

Time: 4:50 pm

Venue: The Main 2

Buy Tickets

Date: April 2 - 13, 2025

Location: Various Venues in Minneapolis, MN 

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