Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival

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 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

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Date: April 2 - 13, 2025