The 2021 Virtual Fargo Film Festival program is available now! Click the image below to open the PDF, which includes descriptions of each film , as well as links to purchase tickets.

Join the conversation at the 2021 Virtual Fargo Film Festival with live panel discussions broadcast on the Festival’s Facebook page at 1pm on Saturday, March 20th and at 3pm on Saturday, March 27th. Watch the panels live on Facebook and you can suggest questions for the panelists in the comments on the video.

Get to Know Our Panelists:

Panel 1: Film Exhibition and Production During the Pandemic

1pm, Saturday March 20th Live on Facebook

Brian Owens became Artistic Director of the Calgary International Film Festival in 2018. Prior to that, he served as Artistic Director for the Nashville Film Festival for a decade. After seven years as an online critic, he began his career in the film festival world when he founded the Indianapolis International Film Festival (now Indy Film Fest) in 2004. He has served on film festival juries across the world including Slumani Film Festival in Iraqi Kurdistan, Heartland Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, Oxford Film Festival and more.

Producer and Entrepreneur Ryan Donnell Smith has emerged as a leader in the entertainment industry over the last few years, lending his expertise in line production and tax equity structure to some of the most critically acclaimed films in the business today. As Partner and President of Production and Development at Streamline Global and Co-owner of Thomasville Pictures (based in the burgeoning area of Thomasville, Georgia), Smith has successfully financed and produced a slew of A-list independent projects, garnering Executive Producer credits along the way. Smith’s most recent films include Executive Producing Netflix’s Academy Award nominated historical drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with Aaron Sorkin directing. Smith wrapped production on “One Way” starring Colson Baker a.k.a. Machine Gun Kelly, and is gearing up for his latest feature “Supercell” starring Alec Baldwin. The disaster action film
will be co-produced by Thomasville Pictures and financed by Streamline Global. In addition to his film projects, Smith serves as a producer on Broadway’s musical comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which is set to resume performances following the coronavirus epidemic.

Sabrina Doyle is a writer and director based between Los Angeles and London. Her feature directing debut, Lorelei, starring Pablo Schreiber and Jena Malone, was an Official Selection of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. It won the Jury Prize at the 2020 Deauville American Film Festival, along with Audience and Jury Awards at the 2020 Mannheim-Heidelberg Filmfestival. It’ll be released theatrically and on VOD by Vertical Entertainment in the US in Summer 2021. The late Sir Alan Parker called Sabrina’s work “outstanding […] refreshingly intelligent, serious and lyrical. Much needed in tomorrow’s cinema.”

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nora Mariana studied English and Creative Writing at Stanford University and subsequently worked in documentaries around the world — on subjects as diverse as Daft Punk to Korean pro-gamers — before turning her focus to narrative storytelling. She recently worked as a staff writer on the upcoming Sam Esmail-produced miniseries Angelyne and is currently a 2020 Fellow at the Jewish Film Institute, where she is developing a feature film. Nora is an alumna of the Sundance Feature Film Program and previous finalist in the HBO Access Screenwriting Competition. She is the writer and producer of Alina, screening in the Fargo Film Festival.

Panel 2: Personal Narratives and Empathy in Film

3pm, Saturday March 27th Live on Facebook

Cristian Gomes is the director of the documentary short Road to Roxham. Gomes is an emerging documentary producer, director and cinematographer based in Toronto, Canada. His work often focuses on exploring identity, politics and economics in North America. In 2018, he graduated from the Film Production major at York University, Canada’s oldest film school. Since then he has been independently producing, directing and shooting short docs, commercials and music videos and is in development on his first feature length documentary.

Tiffany Hsiung is a Peabody award-winning filmmaker based in Toronto, Canada and is listed as one of DOC NYC’s 40 under 40. Her film ‘Sing Me a Lullaby’ (2020) won the Oscar qualifying Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary film festival, along with the inaugural Toronto International Film Festival ‘Share Her Journey Short Cuts Award’ during her world premiere at TIFF. ‘Sing Me a Lullaby’ went on to winning The Directors Guild of Canada Best Short Film Award, and is Listed as one of TIFF Canada’s Top Ten of 2020. In 2018 Tiffany received the prestigious Peabody award for her debut feature ‘The Apology’ (2016) (Produced by the NFB) along with the DuPont Columbia Award, the Allan King Memorial Award and over 15 international awards. Tiffany’s work has been screened in over 150 film festivals around the world, theatrically distributed in Asia and Canada and broadcasted by PBS and world-wide by Al Jazeera. Tiffany currently sits on the board of DOC Canada Ontario chapter, Hot Docs Executive Board and is second vice-chair of the Directors Guild of Canada Ontario Executive Board and is a member of the National BIPOC committee for the DGC.

Miles Levin has had intractable epilepsy since he was very young and has been a passionate advocate for many years. Miles now serves as a board member for the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California, where he advocates for the use of Cinema to break down stigma that has plagued the epilepsy community for so long. Miles’ new film ‘Under the Lights’ has been used by the community to include the general public in the conversation. He is currently working on the feature length version of Under the Lights. You can help Miles’ efforts by subscribing at www.underthelightsfilm.com or @underthelights on instagram.

Doug Roland‘s film ‘Feeling Through’ is the first film to star a DeafBlind actor and is nominated for the Oscar for Best Live Action Short film. Featured on The Daily Show, in The New York Times, and LA Times, Feeling Through is executive produced by Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin, and has won 17 awards at film festivals including Slamdance, San Diego International, and Portland. Doug also made Feeling Through in partnership with Helen Keller Services and created a fully accessible screening event around it called ‘The Feeling Through Experience,’ which he has shared with organizations, schools, and universities as SEL curriculum, and has been featured at numerous events and conferences including the India Inclusion Summit and Pac Rim Conference.

In March, Fargo Theatre Film Club is going to the 2021 Virtual Fargo Film Festival! Our selection for the month is Narrative Shorts 1, a collection of award winning live action short films. The Shorts Program is streaming on the Fargo Film Festival Eventive page beginning on Thursday, March 18th. Click here to learn more and buy your tickets: https://bit.ly/3cFybbt

This month, we will host our discussion on Zoom at 7pm on Wednesday, March 24th!

The films in Narrative Shorts Block 1 will make you think and help you to experience the world from new perspectives. This collection includes 2021 Academy Award Nominee Feeling Through. It also features a Q&A with Doug Roland, the writer/director of Feeling Through.

Sign up to learn more about Fargo Theatre Film Club here: https://fargotheatre.org/fargo-theatre-film-club/

The 2021 Fargo Film Festival proudly announces the thirty-nine films — representing many states and countries — selected to screen in the annual 2-Minute Movie Contest, one of the longest-running festival presentations of its kind.

The 2-Minute Movie Contest films will be available to view as a single session during the virtual Fargo Film Festival from March 18 to 28. First, second, and third place winners will be announced at the conclusion of the festival.

Congratulations to all the moviemakers.

20 Mississippis (Eduardo Moreno Fernandez)
99 Days (Alberto Calvet)
414 Years Later (W. Scott Olsen)
Abscessed (Isaac Rodriguez)
Alestorm Shit Boat (Simon Norton)
Bet (Luis Alberto Martin)
Betula (Jenni Nelson)
Breath (Armin Monibi)
Cabin by the Bay (Freddy Moyano)
Cautionary Tales for Wayward Children (Scott Farrell)
Coronavirus Lockdown with a Baby (Lyr Ben-Ari) 
Dark Passage (Roshni Bhatia)
Deerly Beloved (Laurie Garner)
Dental Cleaning (Thomas Pickarski)
Dog’s Life (Edoardo Maria Brighenti)
Don’t Shoot the Messenger (Bianca Malcolm)
Dream Song: The Tao of Bobo (Daniel Appleby) 
Durga’s Lockdown (Mitesh Take)
Ghost Inc. (Sidney Thompson)
The Guard at the Entrance of the Train Station (Maya Yadlin)
In Perpetuity (Myra Vitela)
Life of a Soap (I.B. Karthikeyan)
Milicent (Laurie Garner)
The Monkey (Allesandro Sassi)
Mother (Kevin McGuiness)
The New World (Hong Ning and Zhao Xiaofeng)
Paddy’s Day ‘90 (Jonny Farrelly)
Pelican Spirit (Freddy Moyano)
Powerlessness (Neno Belchev)
Quarantine (I Keep You Company) [Massimiliano Nocco]
Regeneration (Cameron Carr)
Sad, But True (Lutz P. Kayser) 
Schism (Valerie Steinberg and Jack McDonald)
The Seeker (Rassoul Edji)
Sometimes It’s Just Not Your Day (Naama Freedman)
Stage (Kazuya Ashizawa)
Stay Home, Stay Safe, Stay Sane? (Nick Hales)
Sundae Afternoon (Lauren Hammersly)
Theater in Dramatic Time (Aaron Crume)

The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce the winners of the Best in Show Awards for the 2021 Virtual Fargo Film Festival:

Best in Show Best Picture: PAPER TIGER (Narrative Feature)

Best in Show Best Director: Anthony Giacchino for COLETTE (Documentary Short)

Best in Show Best Cinematography: Lukas Gut & Ramón Königshausen for THE GAME (Documentary Short)

Pat Hansen Award for Best Screenplay: Deepak Sethi for COFFEE SHOP NAMES (Narrative Short)

Best Actor: Pablo Schreiber in LORELEI (Narrative Feature)

Best Actress: Krisha Fairchild in FREELAND (Narrative Feature)

The Ruth Landfield Award is presented to ALINA (Narrative Short)

The Rusty Casselton Award is presented to MY OTHER SUIT IS HUMAN (Student Short). 

Congratulations from all of us at the Fargo Film Festival!

For the health and safety of our community, the 2021 Fargo Film Festival will be held virtually. The Festival will once again be hosted on the streaming platform Eventive. The 2021 Virtual Fargo Film Festival will run March 18th to March 28th.

Every year, the Fargo Film Festival commissions an original piece of cover art from a local or regional artist. This year, the FFF Cover Artist is Jack Machacek. The Fargo Film Festival is proud to reveal the official Cover Art for the 2021 Virtual Festival. 

Festival Director Emily Beck says, “We are extremely proud to showcase the work of such a talented young artist based right here in Fargo-Moorhead. Jack’s vibrant interpretation of the Fargo Film Festival reflects the dynamic joy and exciting energy the festival brings to our community every year.”

The Fargo Film Festival jurors are proud to announce the slate of movies selected for the 2021 event. Congratulations to all the filmmakers for sharing your talents with our audiences.

Animation 

Winner: The Winter (Xin Li) 

Honorable Mention: Gon, The Little Fox (Takeshi Yashiro) 
Honorable Mention: Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad (Camrus Johnson and Pedro Piccinini)

Official Selections
Hudson Geese (Bernardo Britto)
Kapaemahu (Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, and Joe Wilson)
Sad Beauty (Arjan Brentjes)
Tales from the Multiverse (Magnus Igland Møller, Mette Tange, and Peter Smith)
Waste Away (Elly Stern)
Wet and Soppy (Cliona Noonan)

Documentary Feature 

Winner: Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse (Iara Lee) 

Honorable Mention: Missing in Brooks County (Jeff Bemiss and Lisa Molomot)

Official Selections
Fighting Over Sioux (Matt Fern) 
Newtopia (Audun Amundsen) 
Red Heaven (Katherine Gorringe and Lauren DeFilippo)
Sleeze Lake: Vanlife at Its Lowest and Best (Andrew J. Morgan and Nick Nummerdor)

Documentary Short 

Winner: The Game (Roman Hodel)

Honorable Mention: Colette (Anthony Giacchino)
Honorable Mention: Garden Shark (Anna Cooley)

Official Selections
The City Behind Us: The Story of the Elmora Troopers (Iwonka Swenson and Bob Burnett)
Crossing Market (Brandon Krajewski and Michelle Opitz)
Dying in Your Mother’s Arms (John Beder)
Quiet No More (Eléonore Hamelin) 
The Red River Runs Through It (Micah Dahl)
Road to Roxham (Cristian Gomes)
Viewfinder (Melody GIlbert) 

Experimental

Winner: Beyond Noh (Patrick Smith) 

Honorable Mention: Haiku (Martin Gerigk)

Official Selections
Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit (Eric Butler) 
Fluorescent (Avner Pinchover)
Two (Vasilios Papaioannu)
Wild Heart 1981/2020 (Zach Dorn)

Invited Films

Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa (Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Mike Attie)
Huntsville Station (Jamie Meltzer and Chris Filippone)
Major Robinson (Andrew Klein)
Sing Me a Lullaby (Tiffany Hsiung)

Narrative Feature 

Winner: Paper Tiger (Paul Kowalski) 

Honorable Mention: The Badger (Kazem Mollaie)

Official Selections
Freeland (Mario Furloni and Kate McLean)
Lorelei (Sabrina Doyle)
Murder Bury Win (Michael Lovan) 
The Outside Story (Casimir Nozkowski)

Narrative Short 

Winner: Feeling Through (Doug Roland)

Official Selections
Alina (Rami Kodeih)
Blocks (Bridget Moloney)
Breton (Christophe Switzer)
Coffee Shop Names (Deepak Sethi)
The Devil’s Harmony (Dylan Holmes Williams)
Dustin (Naïla Guiguet)
In the Mirrors (Merlin Camozzi)
Matriochkas (Bérangère Mc Neese)
My Hero (Logan Jackson)
NEUL未知ND: The Unknown (Eddie Shieh)
Photo Op (Dava Whisenant)
Rhinestone Blue (Aisha Schliessler)
So What If the Goats Die (Sofia Alaoui)
Split Second (Julianne Donelle)
Transfer (Sage Mears and Aaron Pagniano)
Under the Lights (Miles Levin)
Where Is the Wolf? (Jonathan Norberg)
You Need Help (Barbara Elbinger)
Zoo (Will Niava)

Student 

Winner: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Shiyue Xu)

Honorable Mention: Terry (Alexander Hagani)

Official Selections
Bittu (Karishma Dube) 
Heights (Major Dorfman)
Into the Honeycomb (Nick Dugan)
Mirror (Christina Yoon) 
My Other Suit Is Human (Andrew Paul Montague)
Sweet Potatoes (Rommel Villa Barriga)

Reimagined as a virtual event, the 2020 Fargo Film Festival will be held August 26-30.  Pass and ticket holders will be able to stream a selection of FFF 2020 titles using Eventive, a virtual film festival and event platform.  Festival audiences will be able to watch on their TVs with the Eventive  app found on Apple TV and Roku streaming devices.  Viewers can also watch or cast on their computers/other devices.

The virtual festival will consist of 44 short films and two features. A complete lineup of titles will be announced on Wednesday, August 12.

The programming will be divided into sessions for ticketing purposes. These sessions will consist of either a block of short films or a single feature, and many will include a special pre-recorded Q&A with a filmmaker.  Patrons may purchase tickets for individual sessions ($15) or a comprehensive pass that covers the entire virtual festival ($80).  After purchasing a ticket/pass, patrons can stream the content at their leisure over the next 48 hours. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, August 19.

The Fargo Film Festival proudly and exclusively accepts entries on FilmFreeway, the world’s best way to enter film festivals. The 21st Fargo Film Festival will be held March 16-20, 2021.