American Independents

Heavy metal, tattoos, and blowing stuff up.

These are just a few of chain-smoking, stringy-haired anarchist Hesher’s favorite things. When he moves, uninvited, into the garage of twelve-year-old TJ and his father, it does not exactly seem like a match made to last. But TJ has just lost his mom in a tragic accident, and Dad can’t bring himself to do much of anything these days, let alone kick the strange squatter out of his house. So, Hesher stays, and unwittingly starts to bring some life, however chaotic and full of mayhem, into a family still reeling from the most difficult loss of their lives.

Filmmakers Chris Panneck & Dave Hall Present

Could there be a more fitting film to open the 2011 Fargo Film Festival than one about an amateur hot dish chef's mix-up with the Norwegian mafia? 

Midnight Son is the story of Jacob, a young man confined to a life of isolation due to a rare skin disorder that prevents him from being exposed to sunlight. His world opens up when he meets Mary, a local bartender, and falls in love. Tragically, Jacob's actions become increasingly bizarre as he struggles to cope with the effects of his worsening condition. Forced by the disease to drink human blood for sustenance, he must control his increasingly violent tendencies as local law enforcement narrow their focus on him as a suspect in a series of a string of grisly murders.

Esther Harris, a devout young woman praised for her virtue and devotion to Warren F. Vanderbilt’s Prophetic Watchman Ministries, has been given the opportunity of a lifetime – to attend Vanderbilt’s Kingdom Bible College.

The film, loosely based on writer/producer Andie Redwine’s own experiences, traces Esther’s story living with the fundamentalist pastor's family until she is banished for a committing a “sin” in the eyes of the church.  She takes up with her new-found friends and co-workers who reveal a brand new and more lighthearted world to her…

Director Andrew Okpeaha MacLean Present

In a frozen isolation of Barrow, a tiny Alaskan town on the banks of the polar seas, two Iñupiaq teenage boys listen to the latest hip hop and race around on snowmobiles while hunting seals. During one of their expeditions (they use guns instead of harpoons), an argument with a third boy escalates into violence, with fatal consequences. In utter panic, the pair decides to frame the death as a tragic accident, lying and pretending it happened otherwise. A dark secret waiting to be discovered puts them on very thin ice as their families are suspected of murder.

Closing Night Film

The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival is proud to present a Minnesota sneak peak screening of Stuck Between Stations.

Official selection in the Tribeca Film Festival's Viewpoints category.  

If the performances by this standout cast featuring Sam Rosen, Zoe Lister-Jones, Michael Imperioli and Josh Hartnett weren't so superb, it could easily be argued that the strikingly gorgeous Minneapolis skyline deserves top billing in this indie feature from first-time director Brady Kiernan.  

Truly embodying the spirit of independent filmmaking, and chosen for Sundance NEXT 2011 and SXSW, Bellflower is Evan Glodell’s feature debut.

Writer-Director Jeff Lipsky and Producer Dan Satorius Present

Writer-director Jeff Lipsky (Once More With Feeling, Flannel Pajamas) brings his tangled tale of seduction to the screen in this ambitious ensemble piece that echoes The Graduate and features a distinctive style reminiscent of John Cassavetes.