Feed your tummy and your mind at the Fargo Film Festival’s 2023 Luncheon Panel Discussions. Join us at the Radisson Blu Fargo (201 5th St. N) on Friday, March 24 and Saturday, March 25 at noon for exciting conversations with special guests. Tickets are $15 and include lunch. Tickets are on sale now at the Fargo Theatre Box Office; remaining tickets will be available at the door.
Heists, Cons, and Murders: True Crime in Media
Friday, March 24 at 12:00 noon
From documentaries to podcasts, true crime stories have been captivating audiences for generations. Explore the enduring appeal of the genre and the unique challenges of telling these stories from the perspective of three creators: documentarian Allison Otto, journalist/filmmaker Tracy Briggs, and producer/podcaster James Wolner.
Writing for the Screen
Saturday, March 25 at 12:00 noon
Every great movie begins as words on a page. Whether telling an original story or composing an artful adaptation, screenwriting is the unique craft at the heart of cinema. Hear from multi-hyphenate film artists as they discuss their writing processes and the transition from script to screen.
The Fargo Film Festival’s 2023 2-Minute Movie Contest will take place on Thursday, March 23 beginning at 9:15 p.m.
Moviegoers who attend the Thursday evening showcase screening of “Iron Opera” are invited to stay for the 2-Minute Movie Contest. Those who plan to come only for the 2-Minute Movie Contest will be able to purchase tickets at the door for only two dollars each.
Congratulations to all the moviemakers whose work was selected for the 2023 2-Minute Movie Contest.
Again and Again (Lutz Kayser) Alone (Nicolas Andrew Silva) Call of Nature (Donal O’Dea) Capture (Tristan Pfaff and Ben Koel) Charlie the Lonely (Shihyun Wang) Chicken Tinga Toagie (Jason Kuntz) Chinese New Year in Taiwan (Shihyun Wang) Coping With Loss (Mitchell McCallson) A Coward’s War (Anthony Bradley) The Date (Donal O’Dea) Dehumanized (Louis Bruckner) Etah (Rachel Lin Weaver) Fight Night (Derek Smith) Foolgirl (Sofia Touboura) The Gift of All Time (George Michals) Insomnia (Kang Le) The Intruder (Peng Ziqi) It’s Been a Bad Day (Danielle Lirov) Lacy Hates Her Job (Maddie Lee) Light on Water 6 (Andrew Payne) The Lizards Are Listening (Ashique Mostafa) Magma (Alexandre Dacosta) The Missing Horoscope (Jess Skolnick) October Eleventh (Damian Gonzalez and Jeremy Weinstein) One Hundred Grand (Charles Hinton) Out of Pasture (Jared Weiss) Pedidos (Roberto I. Ercolalo) Point of No Return (Lutz Kayser) Reflection (Tanya Vigel) Sam (Anthony Cuomo) Screengrab (Sadie Walton) See You When I See You (Delia Mullen) She (Odette Laramee) Smoking Mirrors (Zareh Tjeknavorian) Stair Stare (John Akre) Summer Turns to Fall (David Creighton) Taking Inventory (Aaron Diament) Thoughts From a Severed Head (Aaron Crume) TKO (Oliver Smith) To the Moon (Rickie Cai) The Top Ten Films of 2022 (Toby Jones) Treasure (Lance Yijin Lao) Wanderers: Reverie (Katie Brooks) Who Cares (Joey Esposito) Wilbur (Luke Chrzan)
The Fargo Film Festival is excited to share the screening schedule for March 21 -25 at the Fargo Theatre. Please note, times and locations are subject to change.
Tuesday Afternoon, March 21, Theatre 1 1:30pm Luce and the Rock 1:45pm Black Slide 1:55pm The Record 2:05pm Rips 2:20pm Red Line 2:35pm Steakhouse 2:45pm Chaperone 3:00pm Break 3:10pm Kassandra 3:30pm Triggered 3:50pm Legs 4:05pm Blue Room 4:20pm The Queen of the Foxes 4:30pm I’m Late 4:40pm Act of God
Tuesday Afternoon, March 21, Theatre 2 1:30pm Menina Casilda 3:00pm Break 3:10pm Stranger at the Gate 3:40pm Oyate
Tuesday Evening, March 21, Theatre 1 7:00pm JessZilla
Wednesday Morning, March 22, Theatre 1 10:00am Ed’s Last Will 10:05am Rockin’ Baker 10:20am Western Exit 10:35am Negatives 10:50am SONAR 10:55am The Ever Hours 11:05am Stalking the Bogeyman 11:15am A Night in the Cósmico 11:30am Wei Lai 11:45am Past Life
Wednesday Morning, March 22, Theatre 2 10:00am Aaron With 2 A’s 10:20am Brutal Season
Wednesday Afternoon, March 22, Theatre 1 1:30pm Lii Bufloo Aen Loo Kishkishiw 1:45pm Rerouted 1:55pm Cruise 2:05pm Bring Back the Whistle Dog 2:20pm The Long Rider 3:50pm Break 4:00pm The Merry Widow 4:10pm CANS Can’t Stand 4:30pm The Panola Project 4:45pm Eco-Hack!
Wednesday Afternoon, March 22, Theatre 2 1:30pm Loren & Rose 2:50pm Break 3:00pm An Umbrella in Case It Rains 3:15pm La Corriente
Wednesday Evening, March 22, Theatre 1 7:00pm Period Drama 7:05pm Night of the Living Dread 7:15pm In Search of Boozers and Schmucks 7:30pm Can’t Stop Me 7:45pm AJ Goes to the Dog Park: Part One 8:15pm Brutal 8:30pm The Diamond
Thursday Morning, March 23, Theatre 1 10:00am Babel 10:10am The Color of Life 10:30am blk 10:35am Demi-Gods 10:40am Tear 10:50am Light Leak 11:00am Beware of Trains 11:15am Blue Room 11:25am Ouroboros 11:30am Country Roads 11:40am 2:26 p.m. 11:45am House of the Unholy
Thursday Morning, March 23, Theatre 2 10:00am Eating the Silence 10:25am Dear Audrey
Thursday Afternoon, March 23, Theatre 1 1:30pm My Hatton 1:45pm Liquid Gold: From the Midwest to the Mediterranean 2:40pm 13th Ave Fargo Mine Cart 2:55pm Break 3:05pm How Small! 3:15pm A Bite of Bone 3:25pm The Voice Actress 3:40pm Long Line of Ladies 4:05pm Big Crow
Thursday Afternoon, March 23, Theatre 2 1:30pm Free to Care 1:40pm Jack Has a Plan 2:55pm Break 3:05pm Escape 3:20pm Aperio 3:35pm A Dire Strait 4:00pm I’m Lina 4:20pm You Forgot Your Wallet? 4:35pm Sunshine State 4:40pm All That Glitters 5:05pm The Boy Who Couldn’t Feel Pain
Thursday Evening, March 23, Theatre 1 7:00pm Iron Opera 9:15pm 2-Minute Movie Contest
Friday Morning, March 24, Theatre 1 10:00am Runelight 10:05am Murder Tongue 10:25am Dismay 10:55am Freedom Swimmer 11:10am The Hunt 11:35am Black
Friday Morning, March 24, Theatre 2 10:00am A Peculiar and Unfortunate Birth 10:10am Moles 10:25am Wild Card 10:35am The Family We Chose 10:45am All Is Vanity
Friday Afternoon, March 24, Theatre 1 1:30pm The Thief Collector 3:20pm Break 3:30pm A Mind Cannot Touch 3:55pm Red Line 4:10pm CANS Can’t Stand 4:30pm In Search of Boozers and Schmucks 4:40pm Past Life 4:50pm Hey Toby Hey Owen: This Is Not Sponsored by Valvoline
Friday Afternoon, March 24, Theatre 2 1:30pm You’ll Be Happier 1:50pm Dismay 2:20pm Living All of Life 2:50pm The Concubine 3:10pm Sparrow Song 3:20pm Break 3:30pm blk 3:35pm Kylie 3:40pm The Merry Widow 3:50pm I’m Late 4:00pm Queen of Hearts
Friday Evening, March 24, Theatre 1 7:00pm The Princess Bride: An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes
Saturday Morning, March 25, Theatre 1 10:00am Kylie 10:05am The Voice Actress 10:20am Legs 10:35am Chaperone 10:50am Kassandra 11:10am Steakhouse 11:20am All That Glitters 11:45am The Panola Project
Saturday Morning, March 25, Theatre 2 10:00am Amerikatsi
Saturday Afternoon, March 25, Theatre 1 1:30pm Northern Shade 3:25pm Break 3:35pm Presentation of the Margie Bailly Volunteer Spirit Award to Dinah Goldenberg 3:43pm 2-Minute Movie Contest Winner 3:45pm Black Slide 3:55pm Rips 4:20pm Freedom Swimmer 4:35pm Stranger at the Gate 5:05pm Warsha
Saturday Afternoon, March 25, Theatre 2 1:30pm Every Diaspora Poem Is About Mangos 1:35pm The Record 1:45pm The Queen of the Foxes 1:55pm The Boy Who Couldn’t Feel Pain 2:15pm Long Line of Ladies 2:35pm Act of God 2:55pm Night of the Living Dread 3:10pm The Diamond 3:25pm Break 3:35pm Everybody Wants to Be Loved
Saturday Evening, March 25, Theatre 1 7:00pm An Evening with Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel
The Fargo Film Festival is excited to announce the F-M premiere of “Iron Opera”, the new documentary feature from directors Mike Scholtz and Marius Anderson. The film will screen at 7pm on March 23rd as the Festival’s Thursday Night Showcase. Director Mike Scholtz and musician Steve Solkela will both appear on stage for a Q&A after the film. Solkela will also perform live at the Fargo Theatre before the documentary. Passes for the Fargo Film Festival are currently on sale. Individual tickets for this session will go on sale later this month.
About Iron Opera: It’s not easy to stage an opera in the middle of northern Minnesota. But this is the Iron Range where the people are stubborn and the music of the Old World still runs deep in their veins. Watch as a renowned concert pianist teams up with an Ojibwe language teacher, a skateboarding accordionist, and talent imported from every corner of the Earth to pull off the impossible. Here you’ll find small towns with big dreams.
Steve Solkela in the documentary “Iron Opera”
About the filmmaker:
Mike Scholtz is a documentary filmmaker who lives in the woods of northern Minnesota. He was born just across the river in Moorhead. But he tells people that he actually grew up here in the Fargo Theatre watching Silent Movie Nights, My Life as a Dog and the greatest double feature screening in the history of cinema: Lost Boys and Fright Night. His first feature-length film was the Arctic crime caper Wild Bill’s Run. Since then, he’s produced and directed films like Wicker Kittens, Lost Conquest and Riplist. He also founded the Free Range Film Festival in a 100-year-old barn outside of Duluth, Minnesota.
The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce that the documentary feature “JessZilla” will screen as the Opening Night Showcase on Tuesday, March 21st at 7 p.m. at the Fargo Theatre. Director Emily Sheskin and producer Ben Kainz will both attend the Festival as special guests; they will appear live on stage for a Q&A immediately following the film. Fargo Film Festival passes are currently on sale. Individual tickets for Opening Night go on sale later in February.
“JessZilla” premieres at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in February before continuing its festival run in Fargo. Emily Sheskin previously attended the 2018 Fargo Film Festival with her documentary short about Jesselyn Silva.
About JessZilla: Jesselyn Silva is a fighter. Known as JessZilla, the young athlete has climbed the national ranks in youth boxing. With her eyes set on joining the US Olympic team, Silva is determined to compete in the world’s biggest rings. However, she is forced to take on a very different fight when an unthinkable diagnosis changes everything. Visit the film’s website: https://www.jesszillathefilm.com/
Emily Sheskin is a director and editor who has worked on award-winning documentaries, TV specials and advertising campaigns. Her work has been featured in numerous publications such as (but not limited to) The New York Times, National Geographic, and The Atlantic. She holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is a member of New York Women in Film & Television, and IFP.
Ben Kainz is a producer based in New York City. He’s produced several short films, directed by Emily Sheskin, which have been featured as a New York Times Op-Doc and screened at festivals like the Hamptons International Film Festival, DOC NYC, and IFF Boston. Currently, Ben is producing a feature-length documentary about Jesselyn Silva, a young boxing phenom who has dreams of becoming an Olympic Boxer.
Each year, the Fargo Film Festival commissions an original piece of art from a local or regional artist. The Fargo Film Festival is excited to share the official cover art for the 2023 program guide designed by artist Emma Hagemeier.
Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel will participate in an on-stage conversation as part of the Fargo Film Festival’s Closing Night showcase at 7:00pm on Saturday, March 25. Seating is reserved for An Evening with Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel. Tickets on the floor are $35 and tickets in the balcony are $25. Click the button below to purchase your tickets.
The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce the slate of movies selected for the 2023 event. The Festival will be held March 21-25 at the Fargo Theatre. Congratulations to all the filmmakers; we look forward to sharing your talents with our audiences.
Selections for the 2-Minute Movie Contest will be announced in the coming weeks.
Animation
Winner: Black Slide (Uri Lotan)
Honorable Mention: Period Drama (Anushka Tina Nair and Lauren Anthony) Honorable Mention: The Record (Jonathan Lasker)
Official Selections Beware of Trains (Emma Calder) A Bite of Bone (Homani Yano) The Color of Life (Preston Owen) Ed’s Last Will (Lisa Wen Dou and John Wang) Hey Toby Hey Owen: This Is Not Sponsored by Valvoline (Owen Dennis) How Small! (Charlene Xu) I’m Late (Sawako Kabuki) Luce and the Rock (Britt Raes) Night of the Living Dread (Ida Melum) The Queen of the Foxes (Marina Rosset) Runelight (Matt O’Donnell) Steakhouse (Spela Cadez)
Documentary Feature
Winner: Jesszilla (Emily Sheskin)
Honorable Mention: Big Crow (Kris Kaczor)
Official Selections Dear Audrey (Jeremiah Hayes) Iron Opera (Mike Scholtz and Marius Anderson) Jack Has a Plan (Bradley Berman) The Long Rider (Sean Cisterna) Oyate (Brandon Jackson and Emil Benjamin) Queen of Hearts (Chema Ramos)
Documentary Short
Winner: Stranger at the Gate (Joshua Seftel)
Honorable Mention: Eco-Hack! (Josh Izenberg and Brett Marty) Honorable Mention: Free to Care (Chris Temple and Owen Dubeck)
Official Selections Bring Back the Whistle Dog (Bob Simpson) CANS Can’t Stand (Matt Nadel and Megan Plotka) Freedom Swimmer (Olivia Martin-McGuire) In Search of Boozers and Schmucks (Hrag Yedalian) Kylie (Sterling Hampton IV) Long Line of Ladies (Shaandiin Tome and Rayka Zehtabchi) The Merry Widow (Jason Jakaitis) The Panola Project (Rachael DeCruz and Jeremy S. Levine) Rockin’ Baker (Ringo Jones) You’ll Be Happier (Daniel Lombroso)
Experimental
Winner: Light Leak (Nate Dorr)
Honorable Mention: Demi-Gods (Martin Gerigk) Honorable Mention: House of the Unholy (Daniel Merlot)
Official Selections blk (Na Forest Lim) Country Roads (Ryan Clancy) Every Diaspora Poem Is About Mangos (Eden Sabolboro) Lii Bufloo Aen Loo Kishkishiw (Dianne Ouellette) Ouroboros (Toko Shiiki) Tear (Krzysztof Chodorowski) 2:26 p.m. (Arnaud Feret) 13th Ave Fargo Mine Cart (Raymond Rea)
Invited Films
AJ Goes to the Dog Park: Part One (Toby Jones) Blue Room (Merete Mueller) Liquid Gold: From the Midwest to the Mediterranean (Derek Chirstopher Fletcher and Tracy Briggs) My Hatton (David Kuznicki) The Thief Collector (Allison Otto)
*Additional titles may be added to this list in the coming weeks.
Narrative Feature
Winner: Northern Shade (Christopher Rucinski)
Honorable Mention: Everybody Wants to Be Loved (Katharina Woll) Honorable Mention: La Corriente (Jesús Lloveras)
Official Selections All Is Vanity (Marcos Mereles) Amerikatsi (Michael Goorjian) Brutal Season (Gavin Fields) Loren & Rose (Russell Brown) Menina Casilda (Eric du Bellay)
Narrative Short
Winner: The Voice Actress (Anna J. Takayama)
Honorable Mention: A Dire Strait (Liang-Chun Lin) Honorable Mention: Kassandra (Ivar Wigan)
Official Selections Aaron With 2 A’s (Michael Goldburg) Act of God (Spencer Cook and Parker Smith) All That Glitters (Dan Bronzite) Babel (Alejandro San Martín) Brutal (Sam McConnell) Can’t Stop Me (Scott Piggott) Chaperone (Sam Max) Cruise (Sam Rudykoff) The Diamond (Vedran Rupic) Eating the Silence (Joël Jent and Ali Al-Fatlawi) Escape (Oren Brimer) The Ever Hours (Ella Vance) The Family We Chose (Justin Schaack and Kristin Schaack) The Hunt (Yann Reuzeau) I’m Lina (Juli Suàrez) Legs (Celine Cotran) A Mind Cannot Touch (Geoffrey Prather) Murder Tongue (Ali Sohail Jaura) A Night in the Cósmico (Luis De Val and Diego Herrero) Past Life (Rose O’Shea) A Peculiar and Unfortunate Birth (S.J. Sánchez) Red Line (Jake Bistrong) Rerouted (Kelsey Andries and Noah Fallis) Rips (Major Dorfman) SONAR (James Hughes) Stalking the Bogeyman (Markus Potter and Jack Dorfman) Sunshine State (Kate Enge) Triggered (Tara Westwood) An Umbrella in Case It Rains (Andrew Howell) Warsha (Dania Bdeir) Western Exit (Scott Ballard) Wild Card (Tipper Newton) You Forgot Your Wallet? (Brandon Blackmon)
Student
Winner: The Boy Who Couldn’t Feel Pain (Eugen Merher)
Honorable Mention: Living All of Life (Marlén Ríos-Farjat) Honorable Mention: Wei Lai (Robin Wang)
Official Selections Aperio (Patrick Hanser) Black (Moritz Geraldo Scherzer) The Concubine (Maks Michorczyk) Dismay (Joanna Helena Szymańska) Moles (Vanja Victor Kabir Tognola) Negatives (Thomas Broadbent) Sparrow Song (Christina Yoon)
