The Fargo Film Festival sincerely thanks all the talented artists who submitted work to the 2020 2-Minute Movie Contest. We are heartbroken that the cancellation of our beloved event this year meant that we could not share these movies with you.

Please know that we intend to be back, stronger than ever, in 2021.

An Address to a President (Neno Belchev)
Allaire Community Farm (Zach Weisenstein)
American Meals (Haruka Motohashi)
The Annunciation (Rosanna Cuellar)
Ante Meridiem (Zachary Howett and Kyle Odefey)
Ascending Double Helix (Vito Rowlands)
Bound (Jeff Vande Zande)
Burying Chekhov (Paul Kelly)
Charlotte’s Daydream (Marlies van der Wel)
Chasing My Friend, Mr. Cormorant (Freddy Moyano)
Chocolate Moon (Amanda Bonaiuto)
Cilen the Victim (Nick Chunn)
The Curious Duckling (Alex McGillvrey)
Dead Man’s Party
The Dreamer (Patrick Simmons)
The Drunk (Jason Hensel)
Edge of Asbury (Sidney Washington)
Experiment #1 (Christian Schneider) 
Flying through the Water (Ariel Neo)
Fort Monmouth (Vaughn Battista)
Good Ol’ Greg (Sara Huang)
I Really Can’t Tell (Vaughn Battista)
Ice-cream and Freedom (Neno Belchev)
Insecure (Jack Hester)
Invocation of Kali (Jason DeFreitas)
Irae (Nathalie Veck)
It’s Not Over Yet (Chiara Spillo)
A Job to Do (Charles Hinton) 
John (Shihyun Wang)
Julian’s Birthday (Charles Hinton)
Khanak: The Sweet Sound of Bangles (Rishiraj Agarwal)
La mer a boire (Charlotte Arene)
LAX to Vancouver (Zach Dorn)
Love (Mark Mos)
Mi Di Worm No. 10 (Barbara Peikert)
The Original Fifty Cents (John Akre)
Pippindustriali (Matin Akravi)
The Pointe (Rachel Evans)
Quail (Grant Kolton)
Quick Thoughts About Rainbows (Ian Johnston)
Rethink (Jelle Bleyenbergh)
Rugs for Women (Paul Brennan)
Senior Assassin (Jack Hester)
Sonata (Zachary Howett)
Spooky Talent Agent (Vince Breheny) 
Sting Theory: Monday (Dan Britt)
That Hat (Jon Tan)
There’s No Such Thing as Monsters (Matty McCabe)
Threat Count: The Tao of Bobo (Daniel Appleby)
Trains, Wolves and Other Hazards (Aaron Crume)
Unravelled (Christopher Cosgrove)
Wacipi (John Gigrich)
A Year (Nick White)

The Fargo Film Festival is excited to announce the 2020 screening schedule for March 17 -21. Please note, times and locations are subject to change.

Tickets are now on sale at the Fargo Theatre box office and are also available to purchase online here.
Please note that a service charge of $1.25 will be added to every ticket purchased online.

You can view the complete glossy program guide for the 2020 Fargo Film Festival here.

Tuesday Afternoon, March 17, Theatre 1
1:30pm The Kite
1:45pm Blueberry
2:00pm Extra Innings
2:10pm A Sidewalk Becomes a Street
2:25pm The Girl in the Hallway
2:35pm Brotherhood
3:00pm BREAK
3:10pm Hors Piste
3:15pm Don’t Feed These Animals
3:30pm Change
3:35pm Dead Animals
3:45pm Traffic Separating Device
4:00pm Norm
4:25pm Wild Love
4:35pm Made Public
4:50pm Peggy

Tuesday Afternoon, March 17, Theatre 2
1:30pm False Confessions
3:05pm BREAK
3:15pm Alice

Tuesday Evening, March 17, Theatre 1
7:00pm Mind My Mind
7:30pm The Neighbors’ Window
7:50pm R.A.W. Tuba

Wednesday Morning, March 18, Theatre 1
10:00am Daughter
10:15am Birds of Paradise
10:30am The Pollinators

Wednesday Morning, March 18, Theatre 2
10:00am Racing the Sunset
10:05am Butterfly
10:30am The Inuring
10:40am The Minors
10:50am Let Mercy Come
11:10am Moonwalk with Me
11:25am Jack and Anna
11:40am Dead Animals
11:50am Everything You Wanted to Know About Sudden Birth

Wednesday Afternoon, March 18, Theatre 1
1:30pm Ghazaal
1:45pm Reverb
2:05pm Tuesday
2:20pm In My Eyes
2:45pm BREAK
2:55pm Two
3:00pm The Fox and the Bird
3:10pm Sometimes I Think About Dying
3:25pm Extra Innings
3:35pm The Christmas Gift
4:00pm Green
4:10pm Kanari
4:25pm Unkept
4:40pm The Field

Wednesday Afternoon, March 18, Theatre 2
1:30pm Prey
2:55pm BREAK
3:05pm Progeny
3:35pm The Wretched

Wednesday Evening, March 18, Theatre 1
7:00pm Balkowitsch

Thursday Morning, March 19, Theatre 1
10:00am Big Wolf and Little Wolf
10:15am Unleashed
10:25am Book Week

Thursday Morning, March 19, Theatre 2
10:00am 25 Texans in the Land of Lincoln
10:30am Prey

Thursday Afternoon, March 19, Theatre 1
1:30pm Red Rover
3:10pm BREAK
3:20pm The Iron Grandmother
3:30pm The Litas
3:40pm Decoding the Driftless

Thursday Afternoon, March 19, Theatre 2
1:30pm The Lonely Orbit
1:40pm King Wah (I Think I Love You)
1:50pm Patron
2:00pm Anna Karenina
2:15pm Spring II
2:25pm Blooming
2:40pm Chairs
2:50pm Symbiosis
3:05pm Distinguished Feelings
3:15pm BREAK
3:25pm Floating
3:35pm Lost Bayou

Thursday Evening, March 19, Theatre 1
7:00pm Sounds of the Criterion Collection with Ryan Hullings

Friday Morning, March 20, Theatre 1
10:00am A Sidewalk Becomes a Street
10:15am Saint Frances

Friday Morning, March 20, Theatre 2
10:00am Undue Burdens
10:30am Changing the Game

Friday Afternoon, March 20, Theatre 1
1:30pm 20th Fargo Film Festival Retrospective
3:00pm BREAK
3:15pm The Garden Left Behind

Friday Afternoon, March 20, Theatre 2
1:30pm Hearts and Bones
3:20pm BREAK
3:30pm R.A.W. Tuba
4:00pm 25 Texans in the Land of Lincoln
4:40pm Fraser Syndrome and Me

Friday Evening, March 20, Theatre 1
7:00pm Scream, Queen! with special guest Mark Patton
9:30pm 2-Minute Movie Contest

Saturday Morning, March 21, Theatre 1
Saturday Morning Cartoons … For Adults.
10:00am The Kite
10:15am Sister
10:25am The Girl in the Hallway
10:35am Flowing Through Wonder
10:50am The Bird and the Whale
11:00am The Fox and the Bird
11:10am Flower Found!
11:20am Coaster with animators Dan Lund and Amos Sussigan

Saturday Morning, March 21, Theatre 2
10:00am Aziza
10:15am The Christmas Gift
10:40am Occupied
11:15am Brotherhood
11:40am The Neighbors’ Window

Saturday Afternoon, March 21, Theatre 1
1:30pm Ted M. Larson Award Presentation to Tom Brandau
1:50pm Florence
2:05pm Change
2:20pm Made Public
2:35pm Peggy
2:45pm BREAK
3:00pm The Planters

Saturday Afternoon, March 21, Theatre 2
1:30pm The Pollinators
3:00pm BREAK
3:10pm Lost Bayou

Saturday Evening, March 21, Theatre 1
7:00pm Margie Bailly Volunteer Spirit Award presentation to Jenny Jensen and Peg O’Neill
7:10pm 2-Minute Movie Contest Winner
7:15pm International Falls

Plan your visit to the 2020 Fargo Film Festival using Sched.

Download the free app or visit the website to learn more about films and special events. Each post on Sched features movie summaries, photos, showtimes and locations.

Sched can be found in the App Store and the Google Play Store. Get the app now to make the most out of your Fargo Film Festival experience.

https://fargofilmfestival2020.sched.com/

The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce a special lineup of award-winning animated short films in a session titled Saturday Morning Cartoons for Grown-ups. Special guests Amos Sussigan and Dan Lund will be in attendance.

This animation showcase features acclaimed shorts from around the world, including 2020 Academy Award nominee “Sister.”

The complete animation showcase line-up includes:
10:00 a.m. “The Kite”
10:15 a.m. “Sister”
10:25 a.m. “The Girl in the Hallway”
10:35 a.m. “Flowing Through Wonder”
10:50 a.m. “The Bird and the Whale”
11:00 a.m. “The Fox and the Bird”
11:10 a.m. “Flower Found!”
11:20 a.m. “Coaster” with animators Dan Lund and Amos Sussigan

The screening of “Coaster” will be followed by a presentation and Q and A with filmmakers Amos Sussigan and Dan Lund.

The Saturday Morning Cartoons for Grown-Ups animation showcase will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 21 at the Fargo Theatre.

Tickets are now on sale at the Fargo Theatre box office and are also available for purchase online.

About “Sister”
“Sister” is an Academy Award-nominated animated short in which a man recalls childhood memories of growing up with an annoying little sister in 1990s China. What would his life have been like if things had gone differently?

About “Coaster”
“Coaster” is a coming-of-age animated short about a recent graduate experiencing the literal ups and downs of adulthood after moving into his first house, which happens to be built atop a roller coaster in sync with his emotions.

Amos Sussigan (“Coaster” director/producer/writer)
After working at Paramount Pictures, Disney, Fox, DreamWorks and Netflix, Amos is now an artist for Ryan Coogler’s “Space Jam 2” at Warner Brothers. Outside his studio work, Amos is a published author and has been awarded for writing and directing “Broken Wing” (2012), “Swan Cake” (2013), and art-directing and co-producing “Aria for a Cow” (2015), which features one of the last songs of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin”) which has been screened at more than 60 International Film Festivals.

Dan Lund (“Coaster” producer/writer)
Dan Lund has been a Disney effects animator/designer as well as an independent filmmaker for 30 years. His role as EFX Design Lead on “Frozen” was to conceptualize and animate effects traditionally and then work with the CGI animators in following it through to completion. Dan began his career at Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1989 as a production assistant and then went on to learn Disney
effects animation while working on the Oscar-nominated “Beauty and the Beast.” He has worked on such films as “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” “Mulan,” “The Princess and the Frog,” “Moana,” and “Frozen 2.”

Dan directed the documentary “Dream on Silly Dreamer” in
2005, for which he received a certificate of Merit from ASIFA. He was awarded Best Director from the York Film Festival for his feature length documentary “Death Becomes Them: The Musical.” He also directed the animated short “Aria for a Cow,” based on the
never-before-heard song from Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.

He is very active outside of the studio system with his own independent filmmaking projects, including the animated shorts “Hildy Hildy” and the web series “Jeffrey: The Series.”

The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce the 2020 opening night showcase: Award-Winning Short Films with special guest Richard Antoine White.

This world-class trio of award-winning films includes 2020 narrative short and Academy Award winner “The Neighbors’ Window,” animated short winner “Mind My Mind,” and documentary short winner “R.A.W. Tuba,” followed by a Q and A with that film’s featured subject, Dr. Richard Antoine White.

About R.A.W. Tuba
“R.A.W. Tuba” tells the triumphant story of Richard Antoine White (R.A.W.). As a child in Baltimore, he experienced poverty and homelessness, but went on to become a world-class symphony musician and professor.

Growing up, Richard found shelter wherever he could, sometimes in
abandoned rowhomes where rats would chew on him as he slept. Now in his 40s, he still bears scars from their bites. But despite enormous challenges, Richard went on to become the first African-American in the world to receive a Doctorate in Music for Tuba Performance. He is now a tenured professor at the University of New Mexico and the principal tubist of the New Mexico Philharmonic.

“R.A.W. Tuba” will screen as a part of the opening night Shorts Showcase at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17 at the Fargo Theatre.

Richard Antoine White will appear live on stage for a Q and A immediately following the film.

The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce Tom Brandau as the 2020 recipient of the Ted M. Larson Award.

Given in recognition of an outstanding career in film production, film preservation, and/or film education, the Ted M. Larson Award is the festival’s highest honor.

Tom Brandau is a graduate of the American Film Institute (Directing Fellow) and holds an MFA in theatre from Towson University in Baltimore. He has won numerous awards as an independent filmmaker, including a Regional Student Academy Award for his documentary “Whales, Ltd.”

Tom has more than 25 years of experience as a commercial writer, producer, director, and professor in Baltimore. His dramatic short “Sonny and Cornblatt” won several awards, including the Retirement Research National Media Award, the Barry Levinson Arts Award, the Rosebud Award, and a national Telly Award. 

In 2003, Tom wrote, produced and directed the award-winning “Cold Harbor,” a dramatic feature film about four brothers coming to terms with the suicide of their estranged father.

Since moving to Moorhead, Minnesota, films by Brandau that have enjoyed heavy festival distribution include “Heavenly Sight,” a short drama that deals with a young boy’s first experience with death; the documentary short “Mr. Brown,” which took top honors in the Minnesota Historical Society’s 2008 Moving Pictures competition; “The Cleaning Lady,” a short drama which deals with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King; and “Home Delivery,” a short drama focusing on the relationship between two paper boys working in the same newly integrated Baltimore neighborhood. 

His latest project, “Sadie Breaks the Silents,” explores a woman’s attempt to rise in the ranks of the silent film industry, and is currently in post-production.

Brandau has served as a member of the Fargo Theatre Board of Directors. He also served as a committee member of the Fargo Film Festival for nine years, including three years as festival co-chair. 

Tom is Professor Emeritus of Film Production at Minnesota State University Moorhead where he taught for fifteen years. While there he not only educated but engaged students in many initiatives, such as filming the Moorhead Public Access TV show “Underexposures,” which featured student productions; hosting Alumni Summits; encouraging study abroad to the Lincoln University School of Media in England and the Eurospring program, which he led; creating service-learning coursework; advising the Cinethusiasts student organization; and hiring students as crew and cast members on his productions. He continues to actively support and connect with his former students who work in the industry and create art around the world.

Tom lives in Moorhead with his wife and creative partner Janet, their non-ironically-named cats Noir and Orson, and his perfect stepchildren Kate and Daniel Aarness.

The Fargo Film Festival will congratulate Tom Brandau with the presentation of the Ted M. Larson Award on Saturday, March 21, 2020, at 1:30 p.m.

Movie lovers, rock music enthusiasts, and fans of the Criterion Collection are invited to the Fargo Film Festival’s Thursday Evening Showcase: Ryan Hullings on the Sounds of the Criterion Collection. 

A passion for fidelity and years of experience in audio post-production for film, television, and music led Ryan Hullings to the Criterion Collection, where he began as an audio restoration engineer in 2007 and is now supervisor of the audio department.

His work involves not just conducting digital film audio restoration but also keeping pace with cutting-edge restoration technology and evaluating the sound quality of various film elements, all with the mission of upholding the company’s lofty technical standards for film sound and allowing viewers to faithfully experience soundtracks as their makers intended them to be heard. 

In 2019, Ryan spearheaded the restorations of such landmark films as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious,” Elaine May’s “Mikey and Nicky,” John Waters’ “Polyester,” Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Teorema,” and Jim Jarmusch’s “Stranger Than Paradise.” Currently, he’s proud to be busy restoring a selection of Bruce Lee films.

The Fargo Film Festival is excited to welcome Ryan Hullings, who will discuss his work on several landmark rock films: Richard Lester’s “A Hard Day’s Night,” starring John, Paul, George, and Ringo, the most influential quartet in 20th century popular recording; D. A. Pennebaker’s “Dont Look Back,” the electrifying portrait of music icon Bob Dylan; Franc Roddam’s “Quadrophenia,” the 1979 British drama based on the Who’s potent rock opera; and David Byrne’s “True Stories,” the cult classic “celebration of specialness” featuring the unforgettable magic of the Talking Heads.

Hullings takes audience members inside the Criterion Collection’s fascinating audio restoration process, addressing in an engaging and accessible manner the work that goes into preparing movies for release or re-release on big screen and small.

Sounds of the Criterion Collection with special guest Ryan Hullings will take place on Thursday, March 19 at 7:00 p.m. at the Fargo Theatre. Tickets are available starting February 24 at noon at the Fargo Theatre. 

The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce a special screening of the award-winning documentary “Balkowitsch,” with very special guests Shane Balkowitsch, Gregory DeSaye, and Chelsy Ciavarella.

The film received honorable mention in the Fargo Film Festival’s Documentary Feature category, and is also the 2020 recipient of the festival’s Prairie Spirit Award.

About the film:
Everyone has a purpose, but most spend their lives searching. For one man, his mission came late in life and has been fueled with passion, spreading like wildfire across the prairies and now the world.

Shane Balkowitsch has a singular desire to reach deep into the past to imprint a moment in time, held firm for future generations. He is at once a preservationist, an archivist, and an artist through the lost art of wet plate photography. Balkowitsch is quickly becoming one of the world’s most prolific artists in the genre, with more than 3,000 plates captured to date.

Balkowitsch’s 2019 photo of climate activist Greta Thunberg went viral, captivating the world. It is now archived at the Library of Congress in Washington. Many of his Native American photos have been permanently curated by the North Dakota Historical Society and a plate of Evander Holyfield was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.

He also operates a globally-renowned natural light wet plate studio in Bismarck, ND. With a single 10 second exposure pressed with silver on glass, Balkowitsch captures his enduring visions.

“Balkowitsch” will screen at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18 at the Fargo Theatre. The film’s subject Shane Balkowitsch and directors Chelsy Ciavarella and Gregory DeSaye will appear live on stage for a Q and A immediately following the film.

Tickets go on sale at 12:00 p.m. on February 24 at the Fargo Theatre.

The Fargo Film Festival is proud to announce a screening of “Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street,” with very special guest Mark Patton.This highly acclaimed, crowd-pleasing documentary premiered at Fantastic Fest in September and has taken the festival circuit by storm ever since.

At the time of release, The Advocate dubbed 1985’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” the “gayest horror film ever made.” For the film’s closeted young star, Mark Patton, such a tag was a stark reminder about the homophobia rampant in Hollywood at the time—and the painful experience he had making the high-profile film and living through the polarizing critical aftermath.

This new documentary highlights Patton’s time in the horror spotlight and gives him the chance to set the record straight about the controversial sequel, which ended his acting career just as it was about to begin.

“Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street” follows Patton as he travels to horror conventions across the United States. Each new city unwraps a chapter from his life as he attempts to make peace with his past and embrace his legacy as cinema’s first male “scream queen.”

“A touching, poignant film about how one man took control of his narrative and used it to empower not only himself, but millions of queen horror fans around the world.” — Trace Thurman, Bloody Disgusting

“Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street” will screen at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 20 at the Fargo Theatre. Mark Patton will appear live on stage for a Q and A immediately following the film.

The Fargo Radisson is offering discounted rooms for film festival guests again this year.

To book a room in the Fargo Film Festival discount block, guests can use one of the following methods:

1. Call the hotel directly at 701.232.7363 and ask for the Fargo Film Festival rate.
2. Go to www.radissonfargo.com and enter FILMFB in the promotional code field after selecting the appropriate dates.

Guests need to book by February 21, 2020 to get the promotional rate.