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<\/p>\nWritten by: Kyra Beske and Jenna Grochow<\/p>\n
Introduction<\/b><\/p>\n
There are film festivals occurring all over the world, but Minnesota gives cinephiles the opportunity to experience international film right at home. Minnesota has their own Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul that not only presents the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, but programming 365 days a year. Located at the St. Anthony Main Theatre, the MSP Film Society diversifies audiences by bringing\u00a0international engagement locally. This would not be successful without the donations, sponsors, and volunteers to keep the art of film alive. The MSP Film Society stays successful through fulfilling their mission statement in the act of daily programming, the film festival, and audience engagement.<\/p>\n
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What is MSPIFF?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Why travel out of state? Locally, there are opportunities such as the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul to appreciate film. The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul was founded in 1962 and\u00a0is\u00a0Minnesota\u2019s foremost 501(c)(3) non-profit film exhibition organization. Located in Minneapolis and presenting films at the St. Anthony Main Theatre, this film society hosts an annual film festival in April and daily programming 365 days a year. Anyone can get involved in the MSP Film Society by volunteering, donating, or even become a member. The Film Society is preparing for their 38th\u00a0annual\u00a0film festival filled with cinema, events, parties, panels, and competition.<\/p>\n
The films that are presented by the MSP Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul can be seen at the St. Anthony Main Theatre located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The theatre was opened in 1985 by Engler Theaters of Minnesota. This theatre opening was part of the renovation of old factories and warehouses into a street with shopping and entertainment. Bordwell mentions in the discussion of cinemas, \u201cAs shopping centers grew from strip malls into vast, enclosed structures offering acres of parking, and as suburban young people became the primary audience, the movie house of the 1970s was likely to be a multiplex\u201d (Bordwell, 110). Over the years, there have been many changes to the St. Anthony Main Theatre due to ownership and renovations. In 2003, Stone Arch Cinemas purchased the theatre and has kept it well attended and preserved for the MSP Film Society to showcase their films on multiple screens.<\/p>\n
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The St. Anthony Main Theatre<\/p><\/div>\n
The MSP Film Society\u00a0has\u00a0volunteer opportunities called the Cine Squad to keep it up and running in a successful manner. The Cine Squad is a team of volunteers that spreads the word about the MSP Film Society\u2019s engagement such as individual films, the annual film festival, themed screenings, and more. This is an opportunity to hang out with other cinephiles. Cinephiles or \u201cMore specifically,\u00a0cinephilia\u00a0could be labelled an individual character trait of persons in the cinema audience, watching films frequently and in a devoted manner, which could be regarded as a peculiar way of spending free time\u201d (Bosma, 21). The Film Society could not be successful without their cinephiles as volunteers. In return for the Cine Squad dedication, volunteers receive rewards including memberships, vouchers, swag, free admission, and more. Being a volunteer in the MSP Film Society leads to volunteering and preparing for the big annual film festival.<\/p>\n
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The marquee during the festival<\/p><\/div>\n
The Festival Purpose\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
The MSP Film Society carries out their mission statement through their annual film festival, regular themed series, and daily programming of international cinema. Their mission statement is \u201cto foster a knowledgeable and vibrant appreciation of the art of film and its power to inform and transform individuals and communities\u201d (38th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival). They follow through with their mission statement by making international cinema available to the local audience. The choice of films\u00a0includes\u00a0award-winning, new, and classical films that represent different perspectives and experience to better inform and engage the community. It is a celebration of cinema that is all inclusive.<\/p>\n
There are many aspects to the MSP Film Society and the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival to execute in creating a successful program and it could not be done without the help of their volunteers and sponsors. There is major funding by sponsors such as the Nation Endowment for the Arts, Cedarwoods Foundation, and Pohlad Family Foundation. With these sponsors, it is important that \u201cThe \u2018core business\u2019\u00a0of film festivals remains the presentation of the best possible\u00a0programme, selected by a strictly independent staff\u201d (Bosma, 71).\u00a0Programming is key to the MSP Film Society and the MSPIFF. This is how they will receive continuous support from local, national, and international audiences by following through with their mission statement in mind.<\/p>\n
Programming<\/b><\/p>\n
When trying to find the programs from the past years of MSPIFF and the MSP Film Society\u2019s past programming it proved to be difficult. The Archive section on their website is incomplete with only a section for their Cine Latino program and the 2015 MSPIFF program, stating at the bottom of the page \u201cmore coming soon.\u201d We sent an email to an address, listed under the \u201cAbout Us,\u201d tab to inquire and see if we could get someone\u2019s direct contact information to ask more questions that we\u00a0weren\u2019t able to find the information for about past and current programming, but we\u00a0never received a reply. We had to search various news sources, such as the\u00a0Star Tribune,\u00a0<\/i>to find in-depth information on what the programming was last year and previous years for MSPIFF. The MSP Film society has a more detailed \u201cPrograms\u201d page of their website that gives brief descriptions of all their programs and events they host throughout the course of a year; however, they are still lacking an archive of past programs and events they have held that are not still currently put on. Another difficult aspect of their website, is while it is convenient to have both the MSPIFF and the MSP Film Society sharing the same web address, it is sometimes difficult to tell which one you are reading information about, for example when you click on the \u201cPrograms\u201d tab you will receive completely different information, depending if clicked on it after you looked at the film society\u2019s page or the film festival\u2019s page, but the website doesn\u2019t look any different. A suggestion that would greatly improve this navigation of the website would be to add some simple color coding to indicate if one is viewing MSPIFF information or the MSP Film Society information.<\/p>\n
The Minneapolis International Film Festival and the MSP Film Society work together to create a successful, diverse range of programming year-round. MSPIFF and the MSP Film Society both select and curate film programs that give viewers worldly experiences. The MSP Film Society has multiple annual and special programs focused on celebrating specific nations’ heritages, according to their programs and series listing on their website, such as Cine Latino, \u201cthe region\u2019s only showcase of Ibero and Latin American cinema\u201d and\u00a0Lumi\u00e8res\u00a0Fran\u00e7aises, a series \u201cdeveloped to showcase the ongoing importance of French-language cinema and the deep French roots in Minnesota,\u201d along with many other programs hosted at different times of the year.\u00a0The film society hosts daily screenings of different films, most often shown at the St. Anthony Main Theatre. Since the film society does year-round\u00a0programming,\u00a0they\u00a0are able to\u00a0keep their followers and audience up to date, through use of their website, social media, and app.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Audience<\/b><\/p>\n
The Minneapolis International Film Festival and the MSP Film Society celebrates both their local roots and heritage as well as international influences. The programs for MSPIFF covers a diverse a range of interests and backgrounds, as stated by Peter Bosma in his book\u00a0Film Programming: Curating For Cinemas, Festivals, Archives<\/i>, \u201cthe fundamental challenge for the film festival curator consists of dealing with the privilege to get the intense attention and dedication of a lot of different people during several days or a whole week or more.\u201d MSPIFF\u00a0wants to please and include as many people as possible, rather than focusing on a niche audience market as some other film festivals do, and they do this by offering a variety of film showings over a two-week period. MSPIFF seems to aim to expand its audience\u2019s worldview with their theme for the 2018 festival, \u201cWhere the World Comes into View,\u201d by showcasing films in curated programs for the festival such as: \u201cAsian Frontiers,\u201d \u201cImages of Africa,\u201d and \u201cWorld Cinema.\u201d As stated by De\u00a0Valck, film festivals offer viewers a unique opportunity for learning more about different cultures from around the world,\u00a0\u201cFilm festivals provide global exhibition opportunities and exposure for many wonderful films that would probably fail to find an audience otherwise\u201d (De\u00a0Valck, 97).\u00a0MSPIFF successfully provides unique programming to its audience every year through not only showing people from different countries and cultures, but people of different backgrounds and identities.<\/p>\n
The festival also seeks to engage with everyone and anyone, focusing on people of different age groups and genders, by having curated programs such as \u201cWomen & Film,\u201d \u201cLGBTQ Currents,\u201d and the \u201cNextwave Youth Film Competition.\u201d\u00a0MSPIFF\u00a0also celebrates its local Minnesota heritage, focused on by the festival\u2019s senior programmer, Craig Rice as he told\u00a0Star Tribune<\/i>, \u201cRice primarily focuses on Minnesota filmmakers \u201cbecause that\u2019s my passion,\u201d and finds that there are too many producing high-quality work to include them all.\u201d There are both\u00a0juried\u00a0and audience awards given for \u201cMinnesota Made Narrative Feature\u201d and \u201cMinnesota Made Documentary Feature,\u201d giving everyone an opportunity to voice their opinion and vote. The other awards voted on by the festivals audience each year include: \u201cNarrative Feature,\u201d \u201cDocumentary Feature,\u201d \u201cNarrative Short,\u201d and \u201cDocumentary Short.\u201d<\/p>\n Craig Rice, Senior Programmer for MSPIFF<\/p><\/div>\n Impact and Effectiveness<\/b><\/p>\n There are 250-plus movies from 70 different countries that the MSP Film Society provides for their audiences. Rice said \u201c\u2018It\u2019s a focused look at the whole international context,\u2019 he said, noting the works on display from Africa, China, the Middle East and by Native Americans\u201d (Covert). Some of the MSPIFF\u2019s must see top films in 2018 include\u00a0Won\u2019t You Be My Neighbor?\u00a0<\/i>(dir. Morgan Neville, 2018) from USA,\u00a0Marlina<\/i>\u00a0the Murderer in Four Acts\u00a0<\/i>(dir.\u00a0Mouly\u00a0Surya, 2017) from Indonesia,\u00a0and\u00a0Have a Nice Day\u00a0<\/i>(dir. Jian Liu, 2017) from China. Having films from all over the world creates this international engagement for locals to experience.<\/p>\n Each year MSPIFF keeps growing and gaining a larger audience base. Currently they attract and welcome over 45,000 people annually to the film festival, making it the largest film festival in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. Along with the large audience coming to view the films, MSPIFF \u201cwelcomes the attendance of more than 150 filmmakers from around the world,\u201d according to\u00a0FilmFreeway. Twin Cities Business reported, last year\u2019s 2018 festival attendance was negatively impacted due to an unfortunate snowstorm, \u201c”Due to the storm, our Saturday numbers were less than half [of what they were] the prior year,\u201d said Peter Schilling, the festival\u2019s publicity and outreach manager\u201d\u00a0(Ostuni, 2018).\u00a0Even with the unfavorable weather conditions, there were still loyal attendees that managed to sell out a few films such as:\u00a0Tully\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Won\u2019t You Be My Neighbor?\u00a0<\/i>After Saturday\u2019s storm, the rest of the 2018 festival went off smoothly and reached their overall average turnout, attendance wise.<\/p>\n Morgan Neville’s hit documentary was featured at the festival.<\/p><\/div>\n Supporting international independent cinema through donating is the perfect way to keep it running successfully. The MSP Film Society gives people different opportunities to donate and help fund future activities for their audiences. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and continuously needs the help of their members and supporters. One of the ways to support is by doing a general donation or donating to a special program such as MSPIFF, Iranian Film Series, Cine Latino, Nextwave, Czech That Film, and Cuban Film Festival. There is also corporate matching and volunteer giving where you may be able to double your gift or have your volunteer hours matched. Planned\u00a0giving\u00a0recognizes a specific film and donates to help their success and impact. Then there is their AmazonSmile shop program where Amazon donates 0.5% to the Film Society when you shop on AmazonSmile. Lastly, there is a Gift of Stock that the donor can receive significant tax benefits. These donation opportunities help keep the MSP Film Society creating\u00a0unforgettable experiences through the power of film.<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n The MSP Film Society stays successful through fulfilling their mission statement in the act of daily programming, the film festival, and audience engagement. Through connecting with people locally, nationally, and internationally, the MSP Film Society continues to grow. When the MSPIFF is over in April, the opportunities for audiences to watch film does not end,\u00a0as the MSP Film Society provides daily programming 365 days a year. As we found that there are some issues regarding finding information on past events or promotions about their social media, the MSP Film Society is doing many other things right to keep the art of film alive and supported.<\/p>\n Works Cited<\/p>\n \u201c38th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival \u2013 April 4-20, 2019.\u201d MSP Film Society, mspfilm.org\/festivals\/mspiff\/.<\/p>\n Bordwell, David.\u00a0Pandora’s Digital Box<\/i>. The Irvington Way Institute Press, 2012.<\/p>\n Bosma, Peter.\u00a0Film Programming: Curating\u00a0<\/i>For<\/i>\u00a0Cinemas, Festivals, Archives<\/i>. Columbia University Press, 2015<\/p>\n Covert, Colin. \u201cWith 157 Features from All over the World, Twin Cities Film Festival Has Something for Everyone.\u201d\u00a0Star Tribune<\/i>, Star Tribune, 5 Apr. 2018, m.startribune.com\/with-157-features-from-all-over-the-world-twin-cities-film-festival-has-something-for-everyone\/478919553\/.<\/p>\n De\u00a0Valck, Marijke. \u201cFilm Festivals: Successful or Safe?\u201d pp. 97\u2013108.<\/p>\n \u201cMinneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.\u201d\u00a0FilmFreeway<\/i>, filmfreeway.com\/mspiff.<\/p>\n \u201cMSPIFF Has over 250 Films. Here Are 15 Must-See Flicks.\u201d\u00a0City Pages<\/i>, City Pages, 11 Apr. 2018,\u00a0www.citypages.com\/arts\/mspiff-has-over-250-films-here-are-15-must-see-flicks\/479317193.<\/p>\n Ostuni, Amanda. \u201cMinneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival Among Hardest Hit by Weekend Blizzard.\u201d Twin Cities Business, 17 Apr. 2018, tcbmag.com\/news\/articles\/2018\/april\/minneapolis-st-paul-international-film-festival-a.<\/p>\n Scott, Steve. \u201cSt. Anthony Main Theatre.\u201d Cinema Treasures, Cinema Treasures, cinematreasures.org\/theaters\/15952.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Minnesota has their own Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul that not only presents the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, but programming 365 days a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":1562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,80],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-1561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criticism","category-left","tag-curation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/12\/167576_191838460845198_6232787_n.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1561"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1725,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561\/revisions\/1725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/12\/ows_152296575247009-300x223.jpg\")
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