Minnesota Film Festival in Duluth March 29-April 2

Next weekend, the Minnesota Film Festival returns to Duluth, although with a different name.

Last year, it was called North x North. They showed hundreds of films and had 50 filmmakers in town. Director Matt Koshmrl says not only can people watch movies but also further the industry locally.

“One thing that I think was very unique about our film festival, which we’re continuing this year, is that we’re giving away $18,000 in grants to local filmmakers,” Koshmrl said. “So even emerging or first-time filmmakers, they can pitch, send in a submission for their idea, and then we are bringing in industry professionals from all over the country that will give them notes on their pitches. And the winners will walk away with between $2,000-3,500. And the runners up will still get $500 to make films.”

He said he is seeing more interest in filmmaking in the Northland.

“One thing that’s exciting is that we are playing films now at our film festival that have taken advantage of the incentives,” Koshmrl said, “and the Upper Midwest Film Office has been a huge support for our film festival and just getting submissions here because they’re bringing in films from all over the country.”

The festival runs from March 29-April 2. A $75 badge will get you into all of the films, plus the after parties and award ceremonies. Koshmrl said they’ll have around 50 filmmakers in town to answer questions about their work.

“We have great community partners with AICHO, with TPAC, with the Minnesota Discovery Center, and so we have films from like the Iron Range, we have an incredible … indigenous film block,” he said. “So we just have this really wide variety of films, and we just really want to bring the community here and share what we’ve been working on for the last year.”

Find more information and buy tickets here.