Annual Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival Set for April 14-May 5, 2011 at St. Anthony Main Theatre

CELEBRATING THE BEST OF INTERNATIONAL AND INDEPENDENT FILM!
 
(Minneapolis, Minn.) The Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul has announced that the 2011 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival is slated for April 14 through May 5 - presenting over 170 films from some 50 countries at the five-screen St. Anthony Main Theatre. For three weeks, the Twin Cities celebrates the arrival of the best of international and independent filmmaking in the region.
 
Included in this year’s programming is a great slate of French films marking the Year of France in Minnesota.  Also noteworthy: an impressive group of music-themed films, and the ever-popular Minnesota-Made Showcase.  In addition, the festival will host many visiting filmmakers from all corners of the globe participating in panel discussions and presentations, and attending a host of festival receptions and gala events.
 
In fact, Michael Henry Wilson and Carole Wilson, the filmmakers behind South Africa’s Reconciliation: Mandela’s Miracle, will attend the festival!
 
As a part of the Minnesota-Made Showcase, we are thrilled to host the Minnesota sneak preview of Stuck Between Stations on our closing night, directed by Brady Kiernan, and featuring the likes of Sam Rosen, Zoe Lister Jones, Michael Imperioli, and Josh Hartnett. What’s more, we are excited to announce that director Brady Kiernan will attend the showing!
 
In addition, we are proud to present Minnesota producer Harvey Cook as he displays his work on the film King of Luck, documenting life on tour with Willie Nelson and Billy Bob Thornton.
 
Reconciliation: Mandela’s Miracle
Documentary
Directed by Michael Henry Wilson
South Africa, 2010, in English
Nelson Mandela saved his country from bloody civil war and dismantled the system of apartheid through the spirit of reconciliation. Reconciliation: Mandela's Miracle details the events that lead up to what South African's have coined "Mandela's miracle," a strategy that shepherded in a peaceful transition from apartheid to a democracy. It is driven by the notion that even the most terrible tyranny can be overcome through reconciliation, as both the oppressed and the oppressors need to be liberated from the vice-grip of prejudice and injustice. Additionally, we visit Clint Eastwood on the set of Invictus. His outsider's perspective finds in Mandela an exemplary hero who broke down an inhumane ideology after having been its most notorious victim: "a Biblical figure" whose wisdom will be a source of inspiration for future generations. He sums it up simply: "The world needs people like him."  -Michael Henry Wilson
 
Broken Dreams
Documentary
Directed by Fathia Absie
USA, 2010
Broken Dreams is documentary film about the Vanishing Somali youth of Minneapolis, MN, home to the nation’s largest Somali immigrant community. Most of these boys left Somalia as refugees when they were very young. Some of them came here in the United States as toddlers while some of them were born outside Somalia in refugee camps and elsewhere. These boys were the lucky ones who have been given the opportunity to come to the United States of America as refugees. Many of these young men had a bright future and were pursuing their American dream, when somehow they decided to just give up everything and to go back to Somalia to fight alongside Al-Shabab, the terrorist group that has links to Al-Qaida. 6 of them are now dead and were killed when the rest of the group, and 16 or more are missing in action. No one knows there whereabouts. This documentary tells the story of some of the deceased boys and their parents. This is the first time that these parents openly talked about the hopes and dreams of their sons. This documentary talks to the community leaders, imams and the youth in order to examine how this story affected the entire Somali American community in the U.S. -Fathia Absie, director
 
Aftershock
Narrative
Directed by Xioagang Feng
China, 2010, Mandarin with English subtitles
Seven-year-old Fang Deng is enjoying a tranquil summer night with her parents and younger brother, not knowing that in a few hours her father will be gone and her mother will make a decision that will haunt her life for the next 32 years.
On the early morning of July 28, 1976, the northern Chinese city of Tangshan is flattened by an earthquake that measures 7.8 on the Richter scale.
The disaster kills more than 240,000 residents, including Fang Deng's father. Now, her mother, Li Yuanni, has to make a decision. Her two children are both buried underneath a thick cement slab, and saving either one of them will put the other's life at risk. Li Yuanni can only hear her son from the debris, and she is running out of time, so she chooses to abandon Fang Deng, unaware that her daughter is conscious enough to realize what the decision means for her. But Fang Deng eventually survives and grows up with adoptive parents until another major earthquake 32 years later brings her back to her lost family.
 
Wrecked
Narrative
Directed by Michael Greenspan
USA/Canada, 2011, in English
A man wakes up in a mangled car in the middle of the woods, covered in blood, with a dead body in the backseat, a gun on the floor, and no idea who he is. Through the static of the half-working radio, he learns that three men are wanted for double murder, and the name of one of the suspects matches a debit card he finds in the car. Discovering a bag of cash in the trunk, he begins to connect the dots and tries to come to terms with the fact that he’s probably a vicious criminal on the run. Then the hallucinations start. Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody almost one-handedly carries this intense psychological thriller. Director Michael Greenspan and writer Christopher Dodd have crafted a tense, unnerving story of man against nature, and the depths of the unhinged mind.
 
For more information about the 2011 International Film Festival and other Film Society Programming contact Ryan Oestreich, at 612 331-7563, or visit the 2011 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival website.