The Fargo Theatre and Presenting Sponsor Bell Bank are proud to announce the theatrical premiere of the new comedy Preschool as part of the 2026 Fargo Film Festival. North Dakota native Josh Duhamel, who directed and stars in the film, will attend the premiere and participate in a live Q&A. Duhamel will accept the 2026 Ted M. Larson Award, the Festival’s highest honor, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the cinematic arts. Preschool will screen at 7:00pm on Wednesday, March 18.

Synopsis:
In London, two dads (played by Josh Duhamel and Michael Socha) set their sights on the last open spot at an ultra-posh preschool. What begins as a simple application snowballs into a wildly escalating rivalry packed with big-hearted laughs, outrageous one‐upmanship, and surprising consequences. As schemes spiral and families get pulled into the madness, both fathers discover what they’re willing to do for their kids—and what it means to be a parent.

Tickets for Preschool with Josh Duhamel will go on sale at 11:00 a.m. on February 24. All seats $25. General admission seating. Tickets will be available for purchase at FargoTheatre.org or in-person at the Fargo Theatre box office.

The screening schedule for the 2026 Fargo Film Festival is here!

 Please note, times and locations are subject to change.

Tuesday Afternoon, March 17th, Theatre 1
1:30 — Grit & Grace
2:25 — I Died in Irpin
2:35 — One Day I Will Hug You
2:55 — Autokar
3:10 — *Break*
3:25 — Poreless
3:40 — The Floaters

Tuesday Afternoon, March 17th, Theatre 2
1:30 — Chasing Tables
2:30 — Unraveling the Ribbon
3:05 — *Break*
3:15 — Ha Ha Ha
3:30 — Ali Eats America

Tuesday Evening Showcase, March 17th, Theatre 1
7:00 — We Were the Scenery
7:15 — Tiny Movements
7:55 — Shanti Rides Shotgun
8:05 — Babka
8:35 — The Sentry

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Wednesday Morning, March 18th, Theatre 1
10:00 — Denmark
10:05 — The Gun
10:15 — Dustsceawung
10:35 — Skin on Skin
11:05 — Randy as Himself
11:20 — Negative Space

Wednesday Morning, March 18th Theatre 2
10:00 — Bittersweet
10:05 — To Write the Ending
10:20 — Rainbow Girls
10:35 — Between Goodbyes

Wednesday Afternoon, March 18th, Theatre 1
1:30 — Medora: Empress of the Badlands
3:45 — *Break*
3:55 — Dead End
4:25 — At See

Wednesday Afternoon, March 18th, Theatre 2
1:30 — The Little Ancestor
1:45 — Brief Somebodies 
2:00 — Purgatorio 
2:10 — Blossom Needs a Ride Home
2:20 — Under
2:30 — Choice
2:50 — Two Sisters
3:10 — *Break*
3:20 — Vital
3:35 — Luca and Johnny
3:45 — Generation Well
4:05 — The Edge of Existence

Wednesday Evening Showcase, March 18th, Theatre 1 
7:00 — Preschool

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Thursday Morning, March 19th, Theatre 1
10:00 — Snowbugs
10:05 — Murmuration
10:15 — Winkie
10:40 — Advent
11:30 — Who Are You, Nanu?

Thursday Morning, March 19th, Theatre 2
10:00 — Deluge
10:15 — City in Observation
10:25 — Toil and Spin
10:30 — Geography of Memory
10:40 — Vox Humana
11:00 — *Break*
11:10 — Jones Street
11:20 — God Is Delighted When We Are In Motion
11:35 — Purgatorio
11:40 — Monument

Thursday Afternoon, March 19th, Theatre 1
1:30 — Scrap Works
2:00 — Becoming Ruby
2:10 — Fan
2:20 — Brief Somebodies
2:35 — *Break*
2:45 — Words of War

Thursday Afternoon, March 19th, Theatre 2
1:30 — What We Dreamed of Then
3:15 — *Break*
3:25 — Extinguished Lives
3:40 — Invisible Enemy
3:55 — Razeh-del
4:25 — A Great Love
4:35 — Salt Cured Life 

Thursday Evening Showcase, March 19th, Theatre 1
7:00 — The Librarians

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Friday Morning, March 20th, Theatre 1 
10:00 — Shanti Rides Shotgun
10:10 — Fargo Theatre: The First 100 Years
11:00 — Middle Grounds

Friday Morning, March 20th, Theatre 2
10:00 — The Heart of Texas
10:15 — Mad Bills to Pay

Friday Afternoon, March 20th, Theatre 1
1:30 — The Only Way Out Is Through
3:15 — *Break*
3:25 — Whale Math
3:50 — Like Father
4:10 — Zastava Brothers
4:45 — Hide

Friday Afternoon, March 20th, Theatre 2
1:30 — We Were the Scenery
1:45 — Kim Novak’s Vertigo
3:15 — *Break*
3:25 — Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong

Friday Evening Showcase, March 20th, Theatre 1
7:00 — Brooklyn, Minnesota
9:30 — 2-Minute Movie Contest

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Saturday Morning, March 21st, Theatre 1
10:00 — The Night Boots
10:15 — Silent Rebellion

Saturday Morning, March 21st, Theatre 2
10:00 — Pipestone Carver
10:45 — Birds of a Feather
11:05 — Mother Pearl
11:20 — 9 Million Colors
11:35 — Typo

Saturday Afternoon, March 21st, Theatre 1
1:30 — Bigfoot Woods
3:20 — *Break*
3:30 — Bound for the Last Continent
4:00 — The Finger Wife
4:20 — Tiger
4:35 — Planetwalker

Saturday Afternoon, March 21st, Theatre 2
1:30 — Nani
1:40 — Call Gloria!
2:00 — Gallina
2:15 — Crazy for You
2:35 — There Will Come Soft Rains
2:50 — Becoming Ruby
3:00 — A Night at the Rest Area
3:15 — *Break*
3:30 — Arrest the Midwife

Saturday Evening Showcase, March 21st, Theatre 1
7:00 — Presentation of the Margie Bailly Volunteer Spirit Award to Janet Brandau
7:15 — 2-Minute Movie Contest Winner
7:20 — The Gnawer of Rocks
7:35 — No Skate!
8:00 — I Wanted to Hear Your Voice
8:30 — Check Please

The Fargo Film Festival is happy to announce the participating films and visiting filmmakers for this year’s Closing Night Best in Fest Showcase. This collection of films includes Category Winners and Honorable Mention Winners across multiple festival categories.

The Closing Night Best in Fest Showcase screens at 7:00pm on Saturday, March 21st as part of the Fargo Film Festival. Featured filmmakers will appear in person after their respective screenings for a Q&A and conversation about the making of the film.

FEATURING: I Wanted to Hear Your Voice (Documentary Short Honorable Mention) with Writer/Director James Pellerito

Born and raised in Italy, James Pellerito (Pop Star On Ice, American Cheerleader, Anatomy of a Male Ballet Dancer) is a highly accomplished filmmaker whose work includes fiction and documentary filmmaking. His films have screened at over 200 festivals (including Berlin, Outfest, NewFest, Frameline, Hot Docs, Full Frame, DOC NYC, AFI Docs and BFI Flare) and won over 30 awards worldwide. He currently teaches film and media in Atlanta.

Synopsis:

After eight years of caring for his mother with severe dementia, a son struggles through their daily care routine. Recorded voicemails serve to show the progression of the disease, underscoring the frustration, isolation and burnout that comes with intensive caregiving.

FEATURING: Check Please (Narrative Short Honorable Mention) with Writer/Director Shane Chung

SHANE CHUNG is a Korean-American filmmaker who enjoys challenging mainstream narratives around Asians and Trojan-Horsing thorny emotions and complex topics into genre films.

His latest short, Check Please, is part tribute to ’90s Hong Kong action flicks, and part bighearted reflection on the “in-betweenness” of holding an Asian-American identity. The short has screened at Fantastic Fest 2024, Palm Springs International Shortsfest 2025, the Chicago International Film Festival 2025, and won a ‘Best Director’ prize at the BFI Future Film Festival 2025.

Synopsis:

Two headstrong Koreans can’t agree on who’s treating who to dinner, causing their casual restaurant outing to spiral into a martial arts deathmatch.

Other films included in the Opening Night Showcase:

No Skate!, directed by Guil Sela (Narrative Short Category Winner)

The Gnawer of Rocks, directed by Louise Flaherty (Animation Category Winner)

The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce our Opening Night Showcase featuring a fantastic selection of award-winning shorts and in-person filmmaker Q&As. This collection of five short films highlights human connection and individual identity, and spans across documentary, realistic fiction, and fantasy genres.

The Short Stories Showcase screens at 7:00pm on Tuesday, March 17th as part of the Fargo Film Festival. Featured filmmakers will appear in person after their respective screenings for a Q&A and conversation about the making of the film.

FEATURING: Babka with Writer/Director Serena Dykman

At just 23, Serena directed her debut feature documentary NANA, about her grandmother’s survival of Auschwitz, and in 2024 alone, she directed three shorts—BABKA, M.U.B., and AT SEE.

Synopsis: 

In the heart of Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a newly blind Jewish Orthodox baker forms an unlikely friendship with a Queer Catholic Latino guide dog trainer, embarking on an eye-opening journey to overcome personal and cultural barriers in his quest to reopen his beloved bakery.

FEATURING: Tiny Movements with Director Laura Sweeney and film subject Jenn Green

Laura Sweeney is a screenwriter, director, and actress whose work includes both narrative pieces and documentaries, and seeks to highlight and uplift women’s voices. Her work has been selected by multiple film festivals, including Vail Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, and HollyShorts.

Synopsis:

Jenn Green, a professionally trained modern dancer and mother of two, discovers video recordings of her husband raping her after drugging her with high doses of Ambien. After escaping with her children, she created the social media project “Tiny Kitchen Dances” to help break her isolation, share her story, and heal day by day.

Other films included in the Opening Night Showcase:

We Were the Scenery, Directed by Christopher Radcliff

Shanti Rides Shotgun, directed by Charles Frank

The Sentry, directed by Jake Wachtel (Narrative Short Honorable Mention)

Kim A. Snyder’s consequential documentary The Librarians is making its North Dakota premiere at the Fargo Film Festival. The award-winning film digs deep to expose how being a librarian, a role not typically considered threatening, can now be an alarmingly dangerous line of work.

The feature film originally premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, and is the 2026 Fargo Film Festival’s Best Documentary Award winner.

The Librarians screens at 7:00pm on Thursday, March 19th as part of the Fargo Film Festival. Academy Award nominated Director Kim A. Snyder will appear in person at the Fargo Theatre for a Q&A immediately following the screening.

Synopsis:

As an unprecedented wave of book banning largely addressing race and LGBT issues is sparked in Texas, Florida, and beyond, librarians under siege join forces as unlikely defenders fighting for intellectual freedom on the front lines of democracy. Filmmaker Kim A. Snyder (Newtown, Us Kids, 2025 Oscar-nominated Death by Numbers) takes us to an unexpected front line where librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and free access to information.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykll4MWltsQ

The Fargo Theatre is proud to announce the North Dakota premiere of the feature film Brooklyn, Minnesota. The award-winning, Minnesota-made film is an entertaining and dramatic love letter to lake land.

Writers and directors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen are now based in Brooklyn, but have ties to the state of Minnesota: Blank attended college in the Twin Cities, and Jensen originally hails from Detroit Lakes.

Brooklyn, Minnesota screens at 7:00pm on Friday, March 20th as part of the Fargo Film Festival. Filmmaker Erik Jensen will appear in person after the screening for a conversation about the making of the film.

Synopsis:

When the grandfather she never knew dies, headstrong 14-year-old Maisie and her single artist dad Kurt leave their Brooklyn bubble to go back to his childhood home. In Minnesota, channeling the Riot Grrrl spirit of her late mom, Maisie will upend family patterns, fall in love, and force her family to confront each other and themselves. Married filmmaking duo Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen (The Exonerated, Almost Home) direct their real life daughter Sadie Jensen-Blank in her first leading role. 

Also starring Oscar nominee Amy Madigan (Weapons, Field of Dreams) this family drama is “a story of profound forgiveness and a reminder for all of us to love even harder than we think possible.”

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1045416953?fl=pl&fe=vl