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 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

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Date: April 2 - 13, 2025