MSPIFF39 Redefined Dates Announced + 4 New Virtual Cinema Films, and 3 Q&As this Weekend!

Via an April 29 e-announcement from MSP Film Society:

Dear Friends and Members of the MSP Film Society and MSPIFF Family, As you know, in a prescient twist, our theme for MSPIFF this year (selected months ago) was Adjust Your View. Determined to do just that, and remain relevant to you, our members and audiences and of course to filmmakers locally and around the globe, we have worked feverishly over the last five weeks to retool our exhibition presence for the time being. We’ve been learning, building virtual platforms, rebooking films and filmmaker participation, redesigning and rebranding, in order to get ready to present:

May 15-23, 2020 @ mspfilm.org

The full line-up may be smaller than that of the physical festival, but it will be notable in its global range. The line-up and an FAQ (to make it all as clear as we can), will be available soon on our web portal: mspfilm.org.   We are aiming for 40-50 feature films and 3-4 shorts programs. Most films will run for the duration, some will be shown as special one-time presentations. We will have live Q&As every evening, a May 15 Opening Night virtual dance party hosted DJ Jake Rudh, and we are working on a range of novel partnerships, from take-out movie-night meals with restaurants to virtual panels with our friends at community institutions to promotional exchanges of all kinds. Let us know if you’d like to be a partner! We very much look forward to seeing you soon again in person. In the meantime, be in touch at info@mspfilm.org.   Thank you for staying with us as we Adjust our View…

Susan Smoluchowski Executive Director MSP Film Society/MSP International Film Festival

MSP Film Presents Virtual Cinema

Virtual Cinema Presentations Directly Benefit MSP Film During this Temporary Closure. CLICK HERE FOR FULL VIRTUAL CINEMA SELECTION

NEW ADDITIONS

Our Mothers

2020 MSPIFF Official Selection Available to Watch May 1 Free live Q&As with director César Díaz on Sat, May 2 at 6 pm (CST), and Sun, May 3 at 3 pm (CST) In 2018 Guatemala is immersed in civil war. Ernesto is a young anthropologist working for the Forensic Foundation; his job is to identify the missing. One day, while hearing the account of an old woman, he thinks he has found a lead that might guide him to his father, a guerrillero who went missing during the war. Against his mother’s wishes, he flings himself body and soul into the case, looking for truth and resilience.

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Botero

2019 MSPIFF Official Selection Available to Watch May 1 This beautifully filmed documentary offers an inspiring look at the power of relentless vision, unwavering conviction and a lifetime of discipline. The film captures Botero’s essence–the quiet resolve and strength of character that allowed him to overcome poverty, decades of harsh criticism and the tragic death of his four-year-old son.

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Pahokee

Available to Watch May 1 Live Q&A with directors Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan on Sat, May 2nd at 7PM (CST)! In a small agricultural town in the Florida Everglades, hopes for the future are concentrated on the youth. Four teens face heartbreak and celebrate in the rituals of an extraordinary senior year.

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Capital in the 21st Century

Available to Watch May 1 Live virtual round table presented by The New Republic with Thomas Piketty Sun, May 3 at 2pm! Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on Time Magazine's list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today’s growing inequalities.

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NOW PLAYING

Eating Up Easter Available to Watch Now The iconic statues and sensationalized "mysteries" of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) have drawn the interest of the world for centuries, attracting curious visitors to its shores. Today, this tiny, barren island is experiencing an economic boon as tourism skyrockets. Yet the indigenous culture and the island’s fragile environment are suffering. VIEW MORE

The Etruscan Smile Available to Watch Now The Etruscan Smile stars Brian Cox as Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman who reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, Rory’s life will be transformed, just when he expects it least, through a newly found love for his baby grandson. VIEW MORE

COMING SOON

Spaceship Earth

Available to Watch May 8 Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult.

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