The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival opens this week, launching two weeks of films by international stars and local talent. The festivities start on Thursday, April 11, but just as an FYI, the closing film from last year, “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All” gets a reprise this Wednesday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at the Main. Think of it as a pre-fest screening, and well worth checking out if you haven’t seen it. It turns out Amy Ray often had a video camera on hand while the duo was touring over their 40 years, so the documentary, directed by Alexandria Bombach, is filled with flashbacks from the early days of their career. It also features interviews with Ray and Emily Saliers, as well as spotlights on the audiences that have followed the duo for 40 years, often reflecting on how impactful their music and message has been for them.
The fest begins in earnest on Thursday with two screenings of Greg Kwedar’s “Sing Sing,” about a man falsely imprisoned who joins a theatrical group while behind bars. An opening night party follows at the A-Mill Artists Lofts. After that, the festival continues every day through April 25, with not only films, but panel discussions, book signings, after-parties and more.
Below is a taste of four films I was able to preview in advance, plus a number of other films and events that look promising. Prices range from $15 for individual screenings to $600 for an all access pass. More info on pricing here, and you can see the full schedule here.
Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted
Yes, “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” is a documentary that charts the tenacious career of Jerry Williams Jr., known as Swamp Dogg, whose work as a singer, musician, songwriter and record producer has spanned seven decades. It’s also an invite to hang out at Swamp Dogg’s cool California house teeming with artists, musicians, and creatives as the iconic figure gets his pool painted. The film is directed by Ryan Olson, of Poliça fame, and Isaac Gale, who has made music with Olson in Marijuana Deathsquads and other projects and also has a parallel filmmaking and video career.
The film relishes in Swamp Dogg’s cult status persona and adds quirky flourishes, while also making room for a layered portrait of Williams and his close collaborators and housemates Moogstar and Guitar Shorty, the latter of whom passed away during the making of the film. Ultimately it’s a look at what it takes to sustain a life of making music, even at the times when taking a step back is the key to artistic longevity. Exploring grief, ambition, rebellion, and curiosity, the film will make you want to explore the entire Swamp Dogg catalog.
Friday, April 12 at 7 p.m. at The Main 1 and Sunday April 21 at the Capri. More information here.
Afterbirth
This one isn’t for the faint of heart. Nicole Brending’s “Afterbirth” is an unflinching look at postpartum depression and its devastating symptoms. It’s a horror film wrapped in a mommy vlog, with creepy dolls thrown in to boot. It’s a Blair Witch Project treatment of social media influencing you didn’t know you needed.
If you don’t have kids, it’s a nice re-enforcement to continue on this sensible life path.
I’m not entirely sure how much of the character Brending is playing is herself and how much is fictional/exaggerated. But suffice to say, the person we are seeing is going through it, mining her experiences of mental illness in the early days of her child’s life— both at home alone with her child and out in the world, with a hefty dose of point-of-view shots and the camera in selfie mode.
Set to an anxious score by Jean-Olivier Beginand and Francis Renaud-Legault, “Afterbirth” is difficult to watch. Breaking up the moments where the filmmaker speaks directly to the camera and showing her go through her days in the midst of the pandemic, she also inserts footage of two doll characters, inspired by a mother who killed four of her infant children. She also dons a wig and portrays a mother character, in scenes that are some of the most funny in the film, and also offer insight into the character’s backstory.
Brending films herself doom-scrolling infanticide topics, and even features a cameo with Naomi Gaines-Young, who served a 15 year sentence after throwing two of her young children over the Wabasha Street Bridge on the Fourth of July in 2003 while in a state of psychosis (only one survived).
Related: Her sentence complete, Naomi Gaines-Young wants to talk about mental illness
“I’m surprised more people don’t kill their kids,” Brending remarks glibly at the end of the film. “The f-ed up part is that all of this is completely normal. That’s what they don’t tell you.”
Monday, April 15 at 7:15 p.m., Thursday, April 18 at 4:45 at The Main 4. More information here.
Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink
Filmmaker Rick Goldsmith has earned two Academy Award nominations for previous films that looked at the press’s role in uncovering truths and pushing back against the powers that be. Previously, he made “Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press” (1996) and “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” (2009). “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink” is the third in the trilogy.
This time, the filmmaker highlights the role of journalists in uncovering the story of hedge funds de-funding newspapers. Often it’s the journalists at the very papers impacted that are doing the muckraking— like Julie Reynolds, who began investigating hedge funds after her own small-down daily paper was bought out by Alden Global Capital, which also owns Pioneer Press. It also features former editorial page editor for the Denver Post, Chuck Plunkett, who was forced to resign after penning a scathing critique of his own new bosses, called, “As vultures circle, The Denver Post must be saved.”
Goldsmith highlights the personalities and gumption of these journalists, and profiles new models for nonprofit and government-funded journalism. He emphasizes the important role journalism plays in democracy. You may already be familiar with some of the issues addressed in the film (thanks to the intrepid reporting and writing by the journalists profiled), but Goldsmith does a great job telling the story from the perspective of the journalists themselves, and following the work of people trying to do something about the problem.
Tuesday, April 16 at 7 p.m. at The Main 1, Thursday, April 18 at 12:10 p.m. at The Main 2. More information here.
Claire Facing North
Minnesota director Lynn Lukkas and cinematographer Eric Schleicher grab exquisite footage from Iceland in this narrative feature. From its opening shot of the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupting in 2021, the story follows the character of Claire, played by Barbra Berlovitz, as she travels to the country in the wake of grief. Along the way, she befriends a young traveler (played by Berlovitz’s real-life daughter-in-law Annick Dall). They each have complicated feelings around parent/child relations for different reasons, and work through those issues in this dream-like piece. The film’s landscape becomes one of the main characters, captured with all of its majesty.
Sunday, April 21 at 7:15 p.m. and Wednesday, April 24 at 1:45 p.m at The Main 3. More information here.
Shorts programs
If you’re going to pick just one event to attend at MSPIFF, I really recommend the shorts programs. That’s where you get the widest range of unexpected delights, and have a chance to peer into the landscape of Minnesota’s communities and beyond. There’s a bunch of different Shorts Programs you’ll see on the schedule, like “Shorts Program 01: Living Art,” which contains a 40 minute documentary of the larger than life Minnesota-based Serbian sculptor Zoran Mojsilov. Local filmmaker Dan Schneidkraut brings you into an old record store in “Used to Be,” featured in “Shorts Program 05: Time-Space Continuum,” and Pam Colby shares the healing power of dinosaur fish art in Shorts Program 08: Creative + Community. Shorts Program 08 also includes a short film about the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery’s quilt project, initiated in the summer of 2022. Directed by Kevin Sullivan, it’s the 3rd MAAHM film to be included in the festival.
(You can search the shorts programs on the MSPIFF page and choose Short Films as a search option).
Other Films to Explore
LaRoy, Texas
Besides appearing in Ethan Hawke’s new film “Wildcat” (below), Steve Zahn also stars in “LaRoy, Texas” as a private investigator, who his friend Ray (played by John Magaro) says is “not even a real detective” in the trailer. Ray is a would-be suicide turned accidental hit man in this crime thriller comedy directed by Shane Atkinson.
Friday, April 12 at 7:10 p.m. and Tuesday, April 16 at 9:35 p.m. at The Main 5. More information here.
Tuesday
Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays a mother coping with the terminal illness of her child, named Tuesday, played by Lola Petticrew. Fantastical elements buoy the story as the two prepare for each of their next chapters.
Saturday, April 13 at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 16 at 7 p.m. at The Main 5. More information here.
Snow Leopard
A goat herder and his monk brother disagree on what to do about a snow leopard that has eaten nine of the goat herder’s rams. In this narrative film shot in Tibet and directed by Pema Tseden, who died in 2023, the concerns of human survival are weighed against the importance of nature in mysterious ways.
Thursday, April 18 at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, April 21 at 11:30 p.m. at The Main 2. More information here.
The Electric Indian
Leya Hale directs this documentary about the great Henry Boucha, who helped the U.S.A hockey team win silver in the 1972 Olympics before going professional, playing for the Minnesota North Stars and the Detroit Red Wings. An Ojibwe man from Warroad, Minnesota, Boucha’s career was cut short when he was assaulted on the ice, causing an eye injury.
Sunday, April 21 at 4:45 p.m., Wednesday, April 24 at 5 p.m. at The Main 4. More information here.
Wildcat
Ethan Hawke directs this portrait of Flannery O’Connor, with the 20th century writer portrayed by Maya Hawke, the filmmaker’s daughter. Infusing O’Connor’s short stories into a biographical portrayal of O’Connor’s life as she completes her first film, Hawk shifts between black and white and color, with a script he co-wrote with Shelby Gaines. Among the cast is Laura Linney and Steve Zahn.
Monday, April 22 at 7:05 and Wednesday, April 24 at The Main 1. More information here.
Sheila Regan
Sheila Regan is a Twin Cities-based arts journalist. She writes MinnPost’s twice-weekly Artscape column. She can be reached at sregan@minnpost.com.
