APRIL 27 - MAY 1, 2022

FEATURE FILMS

‘A NORTHEAST PASSAGE’

Director:  Tyler Paul Hudson, Gregory Alan Paape

USA/73 min

Date: Sunday, May 1st

Location: Zinema 2

Time: 1:30pm

Q

A NORTHEAST PASSAGE

Captured over the last four months of 2020, this is a look back at the tumultuous and historic events of the year, filtered through the lens of the Northeast Minneapolis Community.

‘BAD AXE’

OPENING NIGHT FILM! Presented by Twin Ports Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Collective (TPAC)

Director: David Siev (in attendance!)

USA/101 min

Date: Wednesday, April 27th

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 8:00pm

Film followed by Q&A

Q

BadAxe

After leaving NYC for his rural hometown of Bad Axe, MI at the start of the pandemic, an Asian-American filmmaker documents his family’s struggles to keep their restaurant open. As fears of the virus grow, deep generational scars dating back to the Cambodian Killing Fields unearth between the family’s patriarch, Chun, and his daughter, Jaclyn. When the BLM movement takes center stage in America, the family uses their voice to speak out in their conservative community. What unfolds is a real-time portrait of 2020 through the lens of this multicultural family’s fight to keep their American dream alive in the face of a pandemic, racial reckoning, and the trauma of having survived a genocide.

‘BEYOND THE NORTH WOODS’

Director: Lance Todd (In Attendance!)

USA/59 min

Date: Sunday, May 1st

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 5:00pm

Followed by Q&A session

Q

BEYOND THE NORTHWOODS

Raw, unedited footage recovered from the iPhone of a YouTuber who went missing while filming in a mysterious forest. Beyond the North Woods is a Duluth, MN based found-footage horror experience.

‘BRING HER HOME’

Presented by American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO)

Director: Leya Hale (in attendance!)

USA/56 min

Date: Saturday, April 30th

Location: Zinema 2

Time: 2:00pm

Film followed by Q&A

Q

Bring Her Home

BRING HER HOME follows three Indigenous women — an artist, an activist and a politician — as they work to vindicate and honor their relatives who are victims in the growing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. As they face the lasting effects of historical trauma, each woman searches for healing while navigating the oppressive systems that brought about this very crisis.

‘CUP CONFIDENTIAL’

Director:  Ryan La Via

CANADA/42 min

Date: Saturday, April 30th

Location: Zinema 2

Time: 6:00pm

Q

CUP CONFIDENTIAL

CUP CONFIDENTIAL is a 43-minute documentary that tells the true story about how a scrappy, semi-pro hockey team won the hearts of the blue-collar city they represented while on their way to winning the very first Colonial Hockey League championship.

‘DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD’

Presented by American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO)

Director: Brooke Swaney

USA/66 min

Date: Sunday, May 1st

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 1:30pm

Q

DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD

DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD explores the ethics surrounding Native American adoption, via a singular story as an entry point into a more complicated national issue. In many ways, Kendra Potter is a perfect example of cultural assimilation, a modern representation of the painful phrase, “Kill the Indian, save the man.” She is a thriving woman who grew up in a loving, upper middle-class white family, and feels no significant loss with the absence of Native American culture or family in her life. And yet, as a Blackfeet/Salish woman, director Brooke Swaney could not imagine that Kendra could be content or complete without understanding her heritage. So together they embark on a 7 year journey. 

‘FRESHWATER’

Presented by Minnesota Environmental Partnership (MEP)

Director:  Ian Planchon & Lynn Melling

USA/51 min

Date: Sunday, May 1st

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 12:00pm

Q

FRESHWATER

Freshwater is a documentary that dives into the cold waters of Lake Superior along Minnesota’s North Shore. Despite the fact that it contains ten percent of Earth’s freshwater, this massive force of nature remains largely unexplored. One group of people, however, is intimately aware of its power. From the surfers who catch its waves to the scientists who study its depths, learn why Lake Superior is a precious resource that should never be taken for granted.

‘GLOB LESSONS’

Director: Nicole Rodenburg & Colin Froeber (In attendance!)

USA/105 min

Date: Saturday, April 30th

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 8:30pm

Q

GLOB LESSONS

While performing two-person low-budget children’s theatre out of a minivan across North Dakota and the frozen Upper Midwest, two aimless thirtysomething strangers — a repressed gay man and an enigmatic woman with a wild streak — struggle to overcome their fears of inadequacy and intimacy in order to survive that lonely tundra called life. GLOB LESSONS is about the stories we tell to others, and the stories we tell ourselves.

‘ISLANDS’

Presented by TPAC

Director: Martin Edralin (In Attendance!)

USA/94 min

Date: Thursday, April 28th

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 8:00pm

Film followed by Q&A

Q

ISLANDS

A coming-of-middle-age film about a timid Filipino immigrant struggling with the care of an elderly parent while managing his first experience of puppy love.

‘LET THE LITTLE LIGHT SHINE’

Presented by NAACP Duluth Branch

Director: Kevin Shaw (In attendance!)

USA/87 min

Date: Saturday, April 30th

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 6:30pm

Film followed by Q&A

Q

LET THIS LITTLE LIGHT SHINE

When a thriving, top-ranked African American elementary school is threatened to be closed and replaced by a new high school that favors the community’s wealthier residents, parents, students and educators fight for the elementary school’s survival.

LÍNEAS de SANGRE’

Director: Taja Will (In attendance!)

USA/54 min

Date: Saturday, April 30th

Location: Teatro Theater

Time: 3:30pm

Followed by Q&A session

Q

LINEAS DE SANGRE

Queer ceremony. Tierra. Fuego, Agua, Viento. Reclaiming connection to bloodlines through the guidance of plant and land ancestors on Dakota and Anishinaabe land, Mni Sota Makoce. We find ourselves right where we are, as we listen deeply to the plantita ancestors near us. This dance film is the biomythology of bodies in Latine diaspora, Boricua, Chicana, Chilean. We journey with the archetypes which support/guide/mask/empower us, we are LOVER, VIRGEN, SHADOW, SERVANT, SIREN and ALCHEMIST. We are here now, and ancient, elders in training and millennials, we are stress, and meditation, we are tired and we are growing.

‘MUSHER’

Director: Anuradha Rana & Laurie Little (In attendance!)

USA/75 min

Date: Saturday, April 30th

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 12:00pm

Q

MUSHER

“Musher” follows four female sled-dog racers as they prepare for the annual Copperdog150, bonding with their dogs, and passing the torch between women and girls and their dogs and puppies. As each musher prepares for the race, we reveal their community, devotion to the lifestyle, and how women influence the sport. 

‘ONE OF OURS’

Presented by AICHO + NAACP DULUTH BRANCH

Director: Yasmine Mathurin

CANADA/88 min

Date: Saturday, April 30th

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 4:00pm

Film followed by Q&A

Q

ONE OF OURS

Josiah Wilson was adopted as a baby in Haiti and raised in an Indigenous family in Calgary, Canada. Years later, when Josiah is racially profiled at an Indigenous basketball tournament and refused the right to play a sport he deeply loves, his experience makes the news. In the aftermath of this hurtful rejection, Josiah is left to examine his identity, his shaken sense of belonging and the complex relationships he has with this family and community. With the unwavering support of his loved ones, Josiah embarks on the difficult path of healing from his past and finding his footing in the world. With deep compassion for Josiah’s journey, this honest portrayal of complicated family dynamics boldly asks us to create space for non-linear paths to self-acceptance, while revealing the empowering experience of being accepted and loved by your community.

‘SAAMSIK: GREAT GRANDMOTHERS HAT’

Director: Anstein Mikkelsen & Harry Johansen

Norway/60 min

Date: Friday, April 29th

Location: Zinema 2

Time: 4:00pm

Q

SAAMSIK

Living in Norway on the border of Russia and Finland Venke Tørmænen has seen her Skolt Sámi culture being crushed between world events. For a long, long time, perhaps since the dawn of time, the Pasvik Sámi managed their small borderless area in harmony with nature. Then Norway, Russia and Finland divided the area between them. Mining and power plants changed the landscape and the river. On the Norwegian side, the language and culture were almost obliterated. But they never managed to eradicate the East Sami genes. In the film, we follow Venke Tørmænen who wants to learn to sew the Skolt Sámi womenś hat her great-grandmother wears on an old picture. – I feel that when I can sew it and put it on my head, the ring is closed. I want the world to know that we exist. We are here and we live here. “

‘THE HAND THAT FEEDS

Director: Blair Smith (In attendance!)

USA/101 min

Date: Thursday, April 28th

Location: Zinema 1 & 2

Time: 10:00pm

Followed by Q&A session

Q

THE HAND THAT FEEDS

Russel, mid thirties, has wasted his whole life. Devoid of purpose or ambition, all he has to claim as his own, is the bar left to him by his father, a father who never approved of him. All seems to be moving into a positive light for Russel, until he realizes what lives in the loft about the bar.

‘TRUSTED MESSENGER’

Director:  Chris Newberry (In attendance!)

USA/56 min

Date: Saturday, April 30th

Location: Zinema 2

Time: 12:00pm

Followed by Q&A session

Q

TRUSTED MESSENGER

As the world still grapples with COVID-19 and herd immunity eludes us, vaccine skepticism poses a huge obstacle. During the early months of the vaccination effort, filmmaker Chris Newberry and his crew followed a diverse ensemble of dedicated health care professionals as they set out to gain the trust of at-risk communities across Minnesota. The resulting documentary is a tribute to the doctors, nurses, organizers and influencers who are embracing community-led efforts to overcome vaccine hesitancy.

‘WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND’

Director: Iliana Sosa (In Attendance!)

USA/71 min

Date: Friday, April 29th

Location: Zinema 1

Time: 5:30pm

Followed by Q&A session

Q

WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND

At the age of 89, Julián takes one last bus ride to El Paso, Texas, to visit his daughters and their children — a lengthy trip he has made without fail every month for decades. After returning to rural Mexico, he quietly starts building a house in the empty lot next to his home. In the absence of his physical visits, can this new house bridge the distance between his loved ones? Over several years, director Iliana Sosa films her grandfather’s work, gently sifting through Julián’s previously unspoken memories brought up by the construction project and revealing both the daily pragmatism and poetry of his life. WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND unfolds as a love letter to her grandfather, as well as an intimate and insightful exploration of Iliana’s own relationship with him and his homeland.

SHORT BLOCK – BEYOND SPACE (Cosmic Cinema)75min

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27TH – 6:00PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 1

‘JANE’S COMET

Director: Peter Groynom

Genre: Narrative

MN/13 min

Q

JANE'S COMET

Starting in 1997, Jane’s life changes every time a mysterious comet enters the solar system.

‘CONTACT TRACES

Director: Kevin Obsatz

Genre: Narrative

MN/8 min

Q

CONTACT TRACES

Science fiction or everyday reality? An intimate, wordless portrait of a couple riding out the pandemic in a small cabin in the woods – filmed entirely from outside the cabin with long lenses.

‘STATIC SPACE

Director: John Klein & Kate Black-Spence

Genre: Narrative

IL/28 min

Q

STATIC SPACE

When Jamie’s quiet rural life is disrupted by a signal from Noa’s one-woman space shuttle, they find a powerful connection. Can it be sustained even though they’re worlds apart?

 

‘LLOYD KENNEDY PROFESSIONAL SASQUATCH PHOTOGRAPHER

Director: Rodney Johnson

Genre: Narrative

MN/9 min

Q

LLOYD KENNEDY PROFESSIONAL SASQUATCH PHOTOGRAPHER

Lloyd Kennedy is frustrated, failing, going in circles… literally. He needs to adapt and to work smarter if he is ever going to become the worlds first professional Sasquatch photographer. It would be a good start if he could find a Sasquatch.

‘LOST BEYOND THE STARS

Director: Kayla Arend (In Attendance!)

Genre: Narrative

WY/9 min

Q

LOST BEYOND THE STARS

 Lorena wakes up on a strange planet. She discovers that she is the captain of a Mars exploration troop.

‘NEUROGENESIS

Director: Josh Cisewski (In Attendance!)

Genre: Narrative

MN/8 min

Q

NEUROGENESIS

Twin brothers conduct a series of electrochemical experiments in an attempt to transfer skills by linking minds.

SHORT BLOCK – CREATIVE THERAPY (Imaginative Remedies)50min

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27TH – 6:30PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 2

‘DYS/FUNCTION

Director:  Kendra Shoemaker (In Attendance!)

Genre: Documentary

Duluth, MN/12 min

Q

DYS/FUNCTION

In this film I wanted to show how I go about my daily life with ADHD and to help educate others, as it is still a widely misunderstood condition.

‘STITCH

Director: PaChia Vang (In Attendance!)

Genre: Experimental

MN/4 min

Q

STITCH

A Hmong American woman finds healing and solace in sewing Paj Ntaub while persevering through traumatic events during the COVID pandemic.

‘LOVE STORY?

Director: Crystal Coreen

Genre: Dance

OH/4 min

Q

LOVE STORY?

A dysfunctional relationship with America depicted though movement, song, and spoken work.

 

‘SPINNING PLATES & RAZZLE DAZZLE

Director: Jeremy Nelson (In Attendance!)

Genre: Documentary

TX/MN/13 min

Q

SPINNING PLATES & RAZZLE DAZZLE

This documentary follows a musical conversation between producer and artist, chronicling the stages of fully realizing a song from demo to produced and recorded over the course of a day.

‘DEVOUR

Director: Kate Raney

Genre: Animation

OH/3 min

Q

DEVOUR

Consumption considered, the din of dining. Using reference videos from my front yard, I created animations and collaged them with cyanotypes of garden material and audio field recordings from travels near and far.

‘PATTY PERSHAYLA & THE MAYHAPS – SLO MO

Director: Hwa-Jeen Na (In Attendance!)

Genre: Music Video

MI/5 min

Q

PATTY PERSHAYLA & THE MAYHAPS - SLO MO

Official music video for Patty PerShayla & The Mayhaps’ song SLO MO off their new album “Cheap Diction.”

‘HEHE’E

Director: Keoloha Ferreira (In Attendance!)

Genre: Dance

MN/8 min

Q

HEHE'E

Dance film directed and performed by Kealoha Ferreira for Red Eye Theater’s New Works 4 Weeks Festival. Heʻe is an octopus; a line that supports the mast; it is the process of melting, flowing, spreading; an avalanche; a softening. What is the sickness you wish to cast away?

SHORT BLOCK – ONCE UPON A TIME… (Melodrama, Period, Nostalgia)

THURSDAY, APRIL 28TH – 5:30PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 2

‘THE LITTLE LOG HOUSE

Director: Sean A Skinner

Genre: Documentary/Recon

MN/8 min

Q

THE LITTLE LOG HOUSE

Hastings, Minnesota 1987…Steve was helping a neighbor tear down a home. During the demo process, Steve discovered logs under the siding of the home that dated back to the 1850’s. Instead of continuing to demolish the structure, Steve saved the cabin and moved it to his farm.

‘AWAKENING

Director: Julie Koehnen (In Attendance!)

Genre: Narrative

MN/14 min

Q

AWAKENING

When a young social elite at the turn of the nineteenth century explores life as a modern woman, she risks losing the man she loves and a certain future.

‘SADIE BREAKS THE SILENTS

Director: Tom Brandau

Genre: Narrative

MN/13 min

Q

SADIE BREAKS THE SILENTS

When the director is drunk and a producer demands results, the gutsy scenario writer on a 1920’s movie shoot is determined to start and finish the film, even when she’s faced with pushback from her cast and crew.

 

‘INDELIBLE

Director: Shane Rock Nelson (In attendance!)

Genre: Narrative

MN/9 min

Q

INDELIBLE

The spirits of a cranky 97-year-old man are lifted when he plays the piano for memory care patients. His music eases their angst and elicits indelible memories, momentarily freeing them from the trap of dementia.

‘DIGESTIF

Director:  Eve Van Dyke

Genre: Narrative

CA/8 min

Q

DIGESTIF

Five friends come together for their yearly ritual they call the Digestif.

‘ALWAYS TOMORROW

Director: Martin King

Genre: Narrative

Thunder Bay – Sister City/9 min

Q

ALWAYS TOMORROW

Brad does not know if he wants to leave his family and friends behind for his dream of being a sailor.

SHORT BLOCK – FAMILY HERITAGE (A Message from Our Roots)89min

THURSDAY, APRIL 28TH – 5:30PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 1

‘FRENCH RIVIERA

Director: Samantha Erkkila

Genre: Documentary

Duluth, MN/9 min

Q

FRENCH RIVIERA

For many, deer hunting in Minnesota is a tradition passed down to mostly the men in the family. But this deer shack in Aitkin County tells a much different story.

‘KICKING THE CLOUDS

Director: Sky Hopinka

Genre: Experimental

WA/15 min

Q

KICKING THE CLOUDS

This film is a reflection on descendants and ancestors, guided by a 50 year old audio recording of my grandmother learning the Pechanga language from her mother.

‘DAD TAX

Director: Ida Lasic

Genre: Animation

CA/3 min

Q

DAD TAX

An experimental tribute film to the artist’s relationship between her father and how they contradict yet blend together. 

 

‘HOW DO WE HAVE THIS MEAL?

Director: Dairys Escoto De León

Genre: Stop Motion

CA/4 min

Q

HOW DO WE HAVE THIS MEAL?

An encounter between two cultures, the joys and hardships, and sharing a meal.

‘GHOSTLY FORM

Director: Seokyoung Yang

Genre: Experimental

CA/9 min

Q

GHOSTLY FORM

After experiencing the prolonged illness and eventual loss of my father, I went through a mental and physical breakdown. In particular, I suffered from an eating disorder. I sometimes binge eat and other days, I barely eat. I think fasting is the only way to get closer to my father and punish myself by suffering from guilt. While attempting to manifest his presence through his absence, how do I use the cinema to express something unseeable and immaterial?

‘I WISH YOU HAPPY MOON FESTIVAL

Director:  Xiaolu Wang

Genre: Documentary

MN/3 min

Q

I WISH YOU HAPPY MOON FESTIVAL

One overseas phone call, but one phrase was lost to the receiver of the call.

‘THE DEATH OF MY FATHER

Director: Lex Kimbrough

Genre: Narrative

NC/18 min

Q

THE DEATH OF MY FATHER

An eerie yet touching story of a son’s unyielding love for his immobile father.

‘FAMILY RECIPE

Director: Kamari Bright

Genre: Documentary

5 min

Q

FAMILY RECIPE

A girl’s baking lesson from her grandfather teaches her acceptance as she learns the similarities between ingredients and people.

‘SIX FEET OVER

Director: Joe Tufte

Genre: Narrative

OH/9 min

Q

SIX FEET OVER

Alex is tasked with cleaning up his late father’s house the day before the funeral, and deals with how to present himself come time for him to attend.

‘BAAHAR (OUTSIDE)

Director: Prakshi Malik (In Attendance!)

Genre: Narrative

MN/13 min

Q

BAAHAR (OUTSIDE)

Disaster brews when Seher gets accepted to a boarding school-a dream come true-on the evening of a big family dinner.

SHORT BLOCK – RESILIENT VULNERABILITY (Exploratory Edits) 62min

FRIDAY, APRIL 29TH – 4:00PM – Zinema 1

‘PARKED

Director: Yoon Hei Cho

Genre: Animation

CA/4 min

Q

PARKED

An incident of an inconvenient attack at a parking lot. Panic attacks sometimes strike at an unsuspected moment.

‘RESILIENCY IS INHERITED

Director: Sequoia Hauck (In Attendance!)

Genre: Experimental

MN/5 min

Q

RESILIENCY IS INHERITED

MNI SOTA MAKOCE IS THE ANCESTRAL LAND OF THE DAKOTA PEOPLES. THIS LAND LOOKS VERY DIFFERENT NOW THAN IT ONCE DID.

‘POTTERO

Director: Lindsey Martin

Genre: Animation

OH/10 min

Q

POTTERO

Pottero uses a reflexive framework. It’s a folktale within a folktale featuring my family monster, a violent beast who suffers from a disturbing anatomical abnormality.

 

‘MARY ANNE & FRANK

Director: Jingjing Tin

Genre: Narrative

NY/10 min

Q

MARY ANNE & FRANK

A reclusive senior citizen seeks a release from reality as she struggles to say goodbye to a loved one.

‘WATER

Director: Lily Berg (In Attendance!)

Genre: Animation

MN/3 min

Q

WATER

Arianna jumps off a bridge and is saved by the Water Lady, who gives her a choice between life and death.

‘OLIVER SEES INDIGO

Director: Ryan Clancy (In Attendance!)

Genre: Experimental

MI/14 min

Q

OLIVER SEES INDIGO

An attempt to regain attachment following a period of heroin addiction, near-death experiences, and oxytocin deficiency. The camera shifts between moments of fragile devotion as it searches for a higher power in threads of shared suffering. Oliver, is heaven only for the high?

‘MEN WHO TALK’

Director: Cristin Stephens

Genre: Documentary

TX/13 min

Q

MEN WHO TALK

Men Who Talk sits with the stories of Brazilian men who grapple with new understandings of race that validate their experiences and traumas.

SHORT BLOCK – FOR THE FAMILY55min

SATURDAY, APRIL 30TH – 10:30AM – Zinema 1

‘THE GIFT’

Director: Rachel Garrick

Genre: Animation

Thunder Bay – Sister City/4 min

Q

THE GIFT

A lesson in compassion and generosity results in a lifelong gift. Set in a small Northwestern Ontario town, a father takes an opportunity to pass on important teachings to his daughter.

‘BELLYSAURUS

Director: Philip Watts

Genre: Animation

Australia/8 min

Q

BELLYSAURUS

A tiny dinosaur dreams she is a scary big dinosaur. When danger strikes, she learns it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Literally.

‘CAT AND BIRD

Director: Franka Sachse

Genre: Animation

Germany/7 min

Q

CAT AND BIRD

A white bird living in a black world encounters a black cat living in a white world. The moment they meet, their backgrounds literally collide. An animated short film for the whole family.

 

‘SKIN LIKE MINE

Director: Tiffany Burgess & Stanley Aughtry

Genre: Animation

GA/8 min

Q

SKIN LIKE MINE

Skin Like Mine describes young Brittany’s courageous journey from self-doubt to self-love and acceptance.

‘SOMETHING ABOUT THE STARS

Director: Hannah Goodrich

Genre: Animation

MN/3 min

Q

SOMETHING ABOUT THE STARS

Something About the Stars is a short, animated, poetic documentary that depicts my memory of looking at the stars in the Cook Islands. Through silhouette stop-motion, this film explores the juxtaposition of the reality of memory versus the perception of memory.

‘TRANSASTER

Director: Dana Pellebon (In Attendance!)

Genre: Narrative Youth

WI/14 min

Q

TRANSASTER

Rayna and Nora are teammates on a high school volleyball team, but will Rayna’s intolerance over Nora’s friendship with Cole, who is trans, cost them a championship?

‘SHE DREAMS AT SUNRISE’

Director: Camrus Johnson

Genre: Animation

UK/10 min

Q

SHE DREAMS AT SUNRISE

Gerry lives a monotonous, daily routine led by her optimistic great-nephew & caretaker. Although he tries to make her smile, she’s rarely in the mood. Gerry’s already found her new source of joy, but she can’t access it while awake.

SHORT BLOCK – TIME, PLACES AND SPACES – 80min

SATURDAY, APRIL 30TH – 2:00PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 1

‘DIARY

Director: Gillian Waldo

Genre: Experimental

WI/15 min

Q

DIARY

Diary is an essay film that uses personal reflections and landscapes of the city to document the larger forces acting on Baltimore during the summer of 2020.

‘A VALLEY WITHOUT TREES

Director: Janelle Vanderkelen

Genre: Experimental

WI/6 min

Q

A VALLEY WITHOUT TREES

 In “A Valley Without Trees,” the lowly onion that burrows into the soil and spends most of its life underground is cast as an interpreter or potential sensory prosthetic that offers a different way of understanding (and perhaps communicating with) the land, planet, and cosmos in which it grows.

 

‘OTHER TIDAL EFFECTS

Director: Sofia Theodore-Pierce (In Attendance!)

Genre: Experimental

WI/7 min

Q

OTHER TIDAL EFFECTS

Catamenial seizures, tidal correspondences, a sonic EEG, and a lullaby in partial translation. Highlighting the seams with the darts. An exploration of epileptic rhythms and sensations through moving image practice.

 

‘MILWAUKEE NIGHT AND DAY

Director: Dick Blau

Genre: Experimental

WI/18 min

Q

MILWAUKEE NIGHT AND DAY

The distillation of ten years of looking at one square block in the very middle of an American city. A film made from stills that challenges them to move. Beauty, pathos, and turmoil, all in the course of a Joycean day.

‘THY NAME IS SUFFERING

Director: Dan Black (In Attendance!)

Genre: Experimental

WI/13 min

Q

THY NAME IS SUFFERING

Encounters at the edges of imperialism. An experimental documentary concerning mega-corp Foxconn’s Wisconsin Deal.

‘LOOKING BACKWARD

Director: Ben Balcom (In Attendance!)

Genre: Experimental

WI/10 min

Q

LOOKING BACKWARD

Filmed on the former grounds of Black Mountain College, Looking Backward is a brief elegy to the legacy of a utopian college and other impossible projects.

‘THE REVERSAL

Director: Jen Boles

Genre: Documentary

IL/11 min

Q

THE REVERSAL

The Reversal animates a collection of thousands of glass-plate negatives with an original sound composition to evoke the reverse-engineering of the Chicago River and the invisible and haunted histories of our capital-driven infrastructure and landscapes.

SHORT BLOCK – TRUTH TO POWER – 83min

SATURDAY, APRIL 30TH – 4:00PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 2

‘THE BOY WHO THE BULLET FOLLOWED

Director: Russell Nichols

Genre: Animation

CA/2 min

Q

THE BOY WHO THE BULLET FOLLOWED

Based on the poem, “The Boy Who the Bullet Followed” by Russell Nichols, this animated short tells the tale of a boy who could use a friend and finds in the street a stray bullet in need.

‘ONCE FORGOTTEN

Director: Obed Lamy

Genre: Documentary

AK/23 min

Q

ONCE FORGOTTEN

In summer 1856, the state of Arkansas and lynch mob executed three enslaved individuals: Anthony, Aaron, and Randall. They were accused of killing a white slave owner. Just one side of their story has been told by the white family over successive generations. An oral account of the events preserved in the Black community helps bring out the truth and honor their memories.

 

‘SALT RIVER NIBI WALK

Director: Jenny Zander (In Attendance!)

Genre: Documentary

MN/18 min

Q

SALT RIVER NIBI WALK

On a reservation in Montana where tribal members are outnumbered four to five, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal community fight to protect their people during the covid-19 pandemic.

 

‘PROTECTING OUR PEOPLE

Director: Brooke Swaney

Genre: Documentary

MT/21 min

Q

PROTECTING OUR PEOPLE

The distillation of ten years of looking at one square block in the very middle of an American city. A film made from stills that challenges them to move. Beauty, pathos, and turmoil, all in the course of a Joycean day.

‘GOLDEN JUBILEE

Director: Suneil Sanzgiri

Genre: Experimental

NY/18 min

Q

GOLDEN JUBILEE

While navigating a virtual rendering of an ancestral home in Goa, 16mm direct animation, digital renderings, and surveillance technologies form a poem-reflection on colonialism’s legacy on a family and land.

 

SHORT BLOCK – HORROR – 58min

SATURDAY, APRIL 30TH – 7:00PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 2

‘AND AGAIN

Director: Joseph Schlapsi

Genre: Horror

Thunder Bay – Sister City/2 min

Q

AND AGAIN

A single guy wakes to the sound of his front door closing.

‘LIGHT ON THE WAY BACK

Director: Anthony Shirk

Genre: Horror

OH/6 min

Q

LIGHT ON THE WAY BACK

In the middle of the night, a woman is awakened from a deep sleep by a mysterious flashlight that directs her on a dark journey toward clues that reveal glimpses into the night’s events.

‘HEREAFTER

Director: Robbie Barnes

Genre: Horror

OH/1 min

Q

HEREAFTER

When a woman jogging at night notices a man stalking her, she flees for her life through a cemetery.

 

‘BITTEN, A TRADGEDY

Director: Monika Estrella Negra

Genre: Horror

MN/19 min

Q

BITTEN, A TRADGEDY

Bitten, a Tragedy follows Lydia, a Black queer woman living in Philadelphia. At a Philly rave, ancestral warfare wreaks havoc on the bloodline of an unfortunate party goer, connecting Lydia to a world of blood, ritual, secrets and vengeance.

‘DISPLACEMENT

Director:

Wesley Johnson (In attendance!)

Genre: Horror

11 min

Q

DISPLACEMENT

After the sudden and surprising loss of her parents, Aurora fights to keep her grasp on reality under the care of her disgruntled uncle.

‘TOOTH FAIRY’

Director: Payton Alexa McCarty-Simas (In Attendance!)

Genre: Horror

NY/3 min

Q

TOOTH FAIRY

A lonely college student contending with a recent breakup receives a gift from a secret admirer with an ASMR YouTube channel–– only to find her hypnotic online attention more visceral than what she’d been hoping for. 

‘REUNION

Director: MR Fitzgerald (In Attendance!)

Genre: Horror

MN/17 min

Q

REUNION

During a viral outbreak that alters humans into something sinister, a father and daughter risk everything to bring their family back together after an infected loved one is taken by their own kind. 

‘THEY RETURN

Director: Carlos Omar De Leon

Genre: Horror

MN/7 min

Q

THEY RETURN

When a young woman wakes up from a nightmare, she must confide in her husband and tell him about her tragic past.

SHORT BLOCK – EXCUSE ME, WHAT? (Comedy block) – 51min

SUNDAY, MAY 1ST – 12:00PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 2

‘A DAY IN THE PARK

Director: Sebastian Schnabel

Genre: Narrative

MN/2 min

Q

A DAY IN THE PARK

A group of friends come together for a barbecue in the park. Happiness all around until Kenneth stops smiling.

‘FAVORITE DAUGHTER

Director: Dana Reilly

Genre: Documentary

NY/18 min

Q

FAVORITE DAUGHTER

FAVORITE DAUGHTER is a story of an intergenerational odd couple sheltering-in-place in a lower Manhattan apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘FUNCTIONS, UNLIMITED

Director: Cameron Crum Crumley

Genre: Narrative

IL/11 min

Q

FUNCTIONS, UNLIMITED

We follow two interconnected groups as they’re affected by a mysterious social media influencer: a man in need of confidence, a woman who just wants to see her friend — strangeness abounds!

 

‘LOSER

Director: Vanessa M Powers

Genre: Narrative

MN/13 min

Q

LOSER

A comedy of errors that follows a young woman through a day that goes from bad to worse. A series of misadventures leads her to the conclusion that perhaps being a ‘loser’ isn’t so bad.

‘DETECTIVE DREWS

Director: Penny Pauletich

Genre: Musical

MN/7 min

Q

DETECTIVE DREWS

Detective Drews learns to overcome her fears in an unusual way at her very first crime scene.

UMD STUDENT FILMS SHORTS BLOCK

 

FRIDAY, APRIL 29th – 4:00PM – Zeitgeist Teatro Performing Arts Theater

The UMD Student Film block of programming will feature work from UMD students. UMD is a proud sponsor of the North by North Film School and International Film Festival.

WDSE SHORTS BLOCK

SUNDAY MAY 1ST – 3:00PM – Followed by Q&A session – Zinema 1 – 1 hr 8min – Iron Opera

The WDSE•WRPT block of programming aims to showcase the diverse genres of stories told on public media. From the arts to history and storytelling to culture and identity and beyond…public media is a window to the world.

It’s not easy to stage an opera in the middle of northern Minnesota. But this is the Iron Range. Where the people are stubborn. And the music of the Old World still runs deep in their veins. Watch as a legendary concert pianist teams up with an Ojibwe language teacher, a skateboarding accordionist and talent imported from every corner of the Earth to pull off the impossible. Because big dreams happen in small towns too.

10 min – Minnesota Obscura: Duluth’s Doomed Winter Olympics 

The idea of Minnesota hosting the Winter Olympics seems pretty far-fetched today. But back in 1932, Duluth had everything it needed: plenty of snow, sheets of ice and more than a couple of hills. This is the story of an Olympics that never happened in a city that never stopped dreaming. 

8 min – Native Report: Two Spirit Identity 

We explore life for those who identify as Two-Spirit in modern times. Traditionally, Native American two-spirit people were male, female, and sometimes intersexed individuals who combined activities of both men and women with traits unique to their status as two-spirit people (IHS). Today, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Native people throughout North America are reviving the two-spirit role and its traditions (IHS). Do they feel they’re being accepted by their communities, and were others who identify like them accepted historically?

14 min – Supper Club

Co-owners Paul David Marturano and Rob Russo of the Iron Range Supper Club Valentini’s Supper Club reflect on their contrasting immigrant heritage from Italy and Vietnam, and the roles that their mothers have played in their culinary careers.

PANEL DISCUSSION

 

SATURDAY, APRIL 30th – 11:30AM – Zeitgeist Teatro Performing Arts Theater

‘SHOOTING IN NORTHERN MN’ – PANEL DISCUSSION

But what’s it really like?  3 Feature filmmakers share what it is like to shoot in the Northland.  Would they do it again? What is the future of the industry in our area? We’ll talk all things including the benefits and hurdles of shooting here.  Shari Marshik, Executive Director – Upper Midwest Film Office will be on hand to field questions on incentives (yep – they are stackable!). Moderated by Riki McManus – Chief Production Officer of UMFO

HOME ON EARTH

 

SUNDAY MAY 1ST – 12:00PM – Teatro – followed by performance
Genre: Documentary
Ely/25min

When the Coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Ely’s Reflections Dance Company adapted their summer show into an outdoor dance film. Witness their creative process and love of community and place in this hybrid documentary / dance film.

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