MSP Film’s Craig Rice has curated an eclectic, fun night of short film highlights from the recent Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.
Dhannto by Yasmin Yassin
Doc 19 minutes
Mohamoud holds the knowledge of traditional Ease African dances and is passing it along to young Somali Americans.
Balwo by Mohammed Sheikh
Fiction 29 minutes
Explores the generational divide and the pursuit of dreams within immigrant family living in Minneapolis. The story revolves around Sinimo, a talented musician, who years to pursue his passion for music, much to the disappointment of his father, Abdo, who values practically over artistic aspirations.
Prom Party by Raven Johnson
Fiction 10 minutes
It’s prom! As friend gather for a night of celebration and joy, passing comment will forever change one teen’s view of herself.
Blight by Markus Hoeckner
Fiction 15 minutes
Amidst a globe exodus from Earth, two brothers must confront their differences about leaving their home forever.
Blues For The Blues by Craig Laurence Rice
Fiction 28 minutes
The story of two brothers facing their decline in the Blues music performance business due to a younger generations fickle taste and the abandonment of a certain section of the Black audience.
Hidden away deep in the suburban San Fernando Valley, legendary cult musician Swamp Dogg, alongside housemates Moogstar and Guitar Shorty, has transformed his home into an artistic playground. Together, they navigate the tumultuous waves of the music industry, and forge a wonderfully bizarre and inspiring path across time and space.
From multi-talented Minnesota artists Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson, Swamp Dogg celebrates the life and career of a singular talent whose legacy has quietly influenced every corner of popular music.
All MSPIFF films, April 19 – 21, are FREE to North Minneapolis residents. Northsiders: provide your zip code when you check in at the front desk.
Thanks to our partner, MSP Film, for bringing the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival to the Capri for the NINTH YEAR. Bravo!
Ash needs money. He’s trying to support his younger sister and his mother should go to rehab. His back against the wall, he joins Dubz’s gang, zooming around the city engaging in petty crime… until he’s pushed into a jewelry heist that sets him and the gang on the wrong side of Armenian gangsters.
Director George Amponsah, BAFTA award-winning director of numerous documentaries – including The Hard Stop at the 2016 MSPIFF – turns to feature filmmaking with a stunning crime film that’s already been compared to Martin Scorsese and Ken Loach films. At once a violent and engaging thriller, Gassed Up is also social realism at its best.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Feature at the BFI London Film Festival.
All MSPIFF films, April 19 – 21, are FREE to North Minneapolis residents. Northsiders: provide your zip code when you check in at the front desk.
Thanks to our partner, MSP Film, for bringing the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival to the Capri for the NINTH YEAR. Bravo!
DeRay, a legendary street dancer, falls from the sky to land on the doorstep of his true love, the poet Naima.
Boaz Yakin’s beautifully surreal film fuses rap, poetry, dance, and bold visuals to create a dreamlike cinematic fantasy exploring the need to reinvent oneself, creatively and romantically, throughout our lives.
Once Again showcases a multitalented cast and crew including dynamic performances by Jeroboam Bozeman, a primo dancer for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Mecca “Meccamorphosis” Verdell, an award-winning spoken word poet, with astonishing acrobatic choreography by legendary street dancer and choreographer Rennie Harris.
All MSPIFF films, April 19 – 21, are FREE to North Minneapolis residents. Northsiders: provide your zip code when you check in at the front desk.
Thanks to our partner, MSP Film, for bringing the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival to the Capri for the NINTH YEAR. Bravo!
Traveling to meet her groom, a young Christian man who is her childhood sweetheart, Sira is excited about her upcoming wedding. Her family is happy, she’s happy, and soon she will start her life anew. When terrorists murder all of her family, Sira refuses to cower and curses the gang of men. Left to die in the desert heat, she seems to have few options to survive. But with a fire in her heart, she crawls to a cave to hide, heal, and plan, patiently awaiting the hour when she can rain down vengeance.
Director Apolline Traoré tells Sira’s harrowing story with unflinching boldness and gut wrenching veracity.
All MSPIFF films, April 19 – 21, are FREE to North Minneapolis residents. Northsiders: provide your zip code when you check in at the front desk.
Thanks to our partner, MSP Film, for bringing the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival to the Capri for the NINTH YEAR. Bravo!
In the United States, police have been granted extraordinary power over our individual lives. The police determine who is suspicious and who ‘fits the description.’ They define the threats and decide how to respond. They demand obedience and carry the constant threat of violence.
Thousands of these interactions play out in our cities and towns every day, according to real and perceived ideas of criminality and threats to social order—as decided by the police. Police make the abstract power of the state real.
Power traces the accumulation of money, the consolidation of political power, and the nearly unrestricted bipartisan support that has created the institution of policing as we know it. The film offers a visceral and immersive journey to demonstrate how we’ve arrived at this moment in history, from the slave patrols of the 1700’s and the first publicly funded police departments of the 1800’s to the uprisings of the 1960’s and 2020’s.
All MSPIFF films, April 19 – 21, are FREE to North Minneapolis residents. Northsiders: provide your zip code when you check in at the front desk.
Thanks to our partner, MSP Film, for bringing the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival to the Capri for the NINTH YEAR. Bravo!
Alhaji and Sheku are first-generation Sierra Leonean American brothers in their twenties and on their way in life. Alhaji is an aspiring actor living in Los Angeles. His younger brother, Sheku, is a Georgetown law student coming to visit LA for the weekend. They hold one another in high esteem, and each believes their brother has it made.
But, not all is as it seems: Alhaji is estranged from his family and Sheku has come to reveal a secret that will test their relationship.
Omar S. Kamara’s assured and charming feature debut radiates wisdom and affection in this exploration of enduring brotherly bonds. The film won the Audience Award at Slamdance.
All MSPIFF films, April 19 – 21, are FREE to North Minneapolis residents. Northsiders: provide your zip code when you check in at the front desk.
Thanks to our partner, MSP Film, for bringing the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival to the Capri for the NINTH YEAR. Bravo!
Luther Vandross was an R&B legend. Originally a supporting singer, he sought his own path, and as a result became one of the most influential pop artists of all time.
Dawn’s Porter’s joyful documentary will have you dancing in the aisles. Luther: Never Too Much chronicles the story of a vocal virtuoso. Using a wealth of rarely seen archives, Vandross tells his own story with assistance from his closest friends and musical collaborators including Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Valerie Simpson and Roberta Flack.
The film relives the many stunning moments of Vandross’ musical career, while exploring his unrequited love life, health struggles, and a lifelong battle to earn the respect his music deserved.
All MSPIFF films, April 19 – 21, are FREE to North Minneapolis residents. Northsiders: provide your zip code when you check in at the front desk.
Thanks to our partner, MSP Film, for bringing the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival to the Capri for the NINTH YEAR. Bravo!
Five Fantastic Films!
Tickets are FREE to Northsiders. Enter your zip code when you reserve online or redeem at door.
Dates and times for all five movies below.
FRIDAY, April 14
Two Documentaries by Sam Pollard
5PM: TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’
Two Trains Runnin’ is a feature-length documentary directed by Sam Pollard, narrated by Common, and featuring the music of Gary Clark Jr. The film pays tribute to a pioneering generation of musicians and cuts to the heart of our present moment, offering a crucial vantage from which to view the evolving dynamics of race in America. Named one of the best documentaries of 2017 by Rolling Stone magazine, Two Trains Runnin’ was also honored with a Grammy nomination for Best Music Film.
7PM: MAX ROACH: THE DRUM ALSO WALTZES
Max Roach was one of the most innovative drummers in music history, often reinventing himself in a career that spanned over six decades. Accessing literally thousands of hours of footage and photographs, Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes is a rigorous and triumphant documentary about a legendary musician.
SATURDAY, April 15
4PM: TOTEM
Family Fiction from Senegalese Ama, the daughter of two Senegalese asylum seekers, is a competitive swimmer growing up in Rotterdam. When her family’s home is raided, she escapes, lost in the city she thought she knew, until a giant magical porcupine comes to her rescue and gives her the strength she needs to save her family. –Deborah Girdwood
6:30PM: THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER
Fiction from USA
Director Domani J. Story Attending!
“It has been a dream of mine to bring an adaptation of Frankenstein to film through the Black lens with a lead character as smart as my sister.” Director Bomani J. Story has done just that with The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, a stunning and fresh take on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s classic.
SUNDAY, April 16
2PM: DUSTY AND STONES
Fiction from Africa
Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi are a Country Western duo known as Dusty & Stones and hailing from an unlikely place, the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). They get their big break to come to Nashville to record and compete in a Texas battle of the bands. It’s a dream come true, until they’re confronted with some harsh realities.
Tickets are FREE to Northsiders. Enter your zip code when you reserve online or redeem at door.
Fiction from Africa
Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi are a Country Western duo known as Dusty & Stones and hailing from an unlikely place, the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). They get their big break to come to Nashville to record and compete in a Texas battle of the bands. It’s a dream come true, until they’re confronted with some harsh realities.
Full MSPIFF @ the Capri schedule
