Sunday, April 29th - 7:30 pm - Bell Auditorium

Director: Maurice Amaraggi

In his roots journey to Salonika, Maurice Amaraggi, 62, explores the port city that once was a thriving cosmopolitan Jewish center, until its Sephardic community was destroyed in the Holocaust. Today’s mix of new immigrants and buildings -– including a University, built over a Jewish cemetery of 10,000 graves – hides a rich and dark past. The Sephardic history of Salonika is so completely buried, that even the ghosts do not have anywhere to wander.

Directors: Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio 

Being Sami no longer means making a living by herding reindeer in the far northern reaches of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In a new Finnish documentary, The Sami (Saamelainen) many Sami who have followed work to the big cities of northern Europe reflect on changes they have experienced within their lifetimes, as they have become musicians, store clerks, a film director, a school kid, an artist, a young mother, and, as a counterpoint, a couple engaged in traditional reindeer-herding.

Tuesday, April 24th - 5:30 pm - Bell Auditorium

Director: Garine Torossian

Director Invited

Into the richy-layered culture of ancient and post-Soviet Armenia, a woman of the diaspora embarks on a journey of discovery, encountering the country for the first time, distilling the realities vs. what she has constructed over her lifetime about the place of her family and their ancestors. Woven into her narrative are the insights and poetic reflections of Canadian-Armenian actress Arsinée Khanjian as she confronts Armenia for the fourth time.

Thursday, April 26th - 7:30 pm - Bell Auditorium

Director:  Kimon Tsakiris

As in many remote areas, the village of Zaharo (literally, Sugartown) has been hemorrhaging women to the big city. Desperate for a solution, the mayor organizes an expedition to Russia in seach of prospective brides, taking with him three men as local ambassadors. It’s hard not to feel for these nice, simple guys, thoroughly unprepared for the tough Russian gals that await them.

Sunday, April 29th - 4:15 pm - St. Anthony Main

Directors: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix

Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war, War/Dance tells the story of Dominic, Rose, and Nancy, three children whose families have been torn apart, their homes destroyed, and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo.

Monday, April 30th - 9:30 pm - Bell Auditorium

(Best of The Fest)

Friday, April 20th - 7:15 pm - St. Anthony Main

Sunday, April 22nd - 4:00 pm - Bell Auditorium

Director: Néjib Belkadhi

Tunisia is not a country renowned for its film industry. In fact, there is very little film industry at all. Apparently no one told this to Moncef Kahloucha. A charismatic, impassioned house painter, Kahloucha has always harbored a great love for cinema, especially 1970s genre cinema.

Saturday, April 21st - 11:00 am - Bell Auditorium

Monday, April 23rd - 5:00 pm - St. Anthony Main

Director: Ruth Beckerman

An entertaining and informative documentary, Zorro’s Bar Mitzvah accompanies four 12-year-olds—Sharon, Tom, Moishy, and Sophie—as they prepare for their bar or bat mitzvah, the traditional coming-of-age ceremony for Jewish children

Friday, April 27th - 5:00 pm - Oak Street Cinema

Director: Erik McCowan

World Premiere!

Director Invited

Swift of leg, fleet of wing, proud of tooth, humble of mien, he is Minnesota’s gift to the nation’s table. If we go banging the drumstick for Ruby Begonia we are not saying she deserves a place at the table alongside our Dan Patch or Phar Lap or Sea Biscuit of the racing world. But we owe her--or is it a him-- some respect, be he (she) loser or winner...