Where in the World Are We: MSPIFF 2015

by Joyless Staff

The Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival descends on the Twin Cities once again, turning the cliché "that there is something for everybody" into a reality. With over 190 features and nearly as many shorts, MSPIFF makes us wish we didn't have lives, day jobs, laundry and family commitments--at least for the 16 days between April 10-25.

We've taken the opportunity to pretend that MSPIFFing might be our full time job (or perhaps that it's yours) and give you our daily recommendations on how to potentially navigate the schedule, based on movies we've seen, movies we desperately want to see, and movies that may never return to the Twin Cities again. In addition to these daily recommendations, we'll be dropping in reviews for films as we see them. Read, watch, repeat, and we will see you at the Festival.

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Day 1: Friday, April 10

In the Basement
(Austria)
d. Ulrich Seidl
12:15 pm

---

Alive
(South Korea)
d. Park Jung-bum
2:15 pm

---

Tired Moonlight
★★★★½
(USA)
d. Britni West
7:10 pm

---

Free Fall
(Hungary)
d. György Pálfi
10:15 pm

Also screening:

• 52 Tuesdays (Australia)
• Beatles (Norway)
• Betibú (Argentina)
  

• Dukhtar (Pakistan) ★★★★½
• El crítico (Argentina)
  
• The Fool (Russia)
• Life of Riley (France)
• Los Hongos  (Columbia)
  
• Magical Girl (Spain)
  
• Marshland (Spain)
  
• Monument to Michael Jackson (Serbia)
  
• NN (Peru)
  
• The Owners (Kazakhstan)
• The Royal Road (USA)
  
• Speed Walking (Denmark)
  
• Tokyo Fiancée (Belgium)
  
• Victoria (Germany)
  
• Voice Over (Chile)
  

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Day 2: Saturday, April 11

Afterlife
(Hungary)
d. Virág Zomborácz
1:00 pm

---

The Royal Road
(USA)
d. Jenni Olson

5:00 pm

---

Madame Bovary
(Germany)
d. Sophie Barthes

7:50 pm

---

Love at First Fight
(France)
d. Thomas Cailley

9:50 pm

Also screening:

• 1000 Rupee Note (India)
• Breakup Buddies (China)
• Cub (Belgium)
  
• Dukhtar (Pakistan) ★★★★½
  
• Every Face Has a Name (Sweden)
• Fiddlesticks (Germany)
  
• For Grace (USA)
• Girlhood (France) ★★★★★
• Labyrinthus (Belgium)
  
• Language Matters (USA)
• Lola on the Pea (Germany)
  
• Nena (Netherlands)
• Out in the Night (USA)
  
• Pot (the movie) (USA)
• Poverty, Inc. (Haiti)
  
• The Second Life of Thieves (Malaysia)
• The Second Mother (Brazil)
• The Unearthing (USA)
• Virtuosity (USA)
  
• Wildlike (USA)
  

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Day 3: Sunday, April 12

La Sapienza
★★★★
(France/Italy)
d. Eugène Green
11:10am

---

Ghadi
(Lebanon)
d. Amin Dora
3:20 pm

---

The Dinner
(Italy)
d. Ivano De Matteo
6:00 pm

---

The Kindergarten Teacher
(Israel)
d. Nadav Lapid

9:30 pm

Also screening:

• 1000 Rupee Note (India)
  
• All of Me (Mexico)
• Belle and Sebastian (France)
  
• Clouds of Sils Maria (France) ★★½
• Corn Island (Georgia)
• Decor (Egypt)
  
• The Dinkytown Uprising (USA)
• Every Face Has a Name (Sweden)
• The Fool (Russia)
  
• For Grace (USA)
• I Am Here (China)
  
• Madame Bovary (Germany)
• Medicine of the Wolf (USA)
  
• No One's Child (Serbia/Croatia)
• Out in the Night (USA)
• Pot (the movie) (USA)
  
• Poverty, Inc. (Haiti)
• Secrets of War ( Netherlands)
• Shana: The Wolf's Music (Canada)
• Shorts programs 2 & 3
  
• These Are the Rules (Croatia)
• Virtuosity (USA)
• W (Thailand)
  
• Zemene (Ethiopia) ★★★★

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Day 4: Monday, April 13

Tales
(Iran)
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
3:10 pm

---

Amour Fou
★★★½
(Austria)
d. Jessica Hausner
7:20 pm

---

Black Coal, Thin Ice
(China)
d. Diao Yinan
9:35 pm

Also screening:

• A Borrowed Identity (Israel)
• Cheatin' (USA)
• Cowboys (Croatia)
• Difret (Ethiopia)
  
• Don't Think I've Forgotten (Cambodia) ★★★
• Every Face Has a Name (Sweden)
  
• Ghadi (Lebanon)
• Lobby (USA)
  
• Marie's Story (France)
• The Strongest Man (USA)
  
• That Sugar Film (Australia)
  
• They Are All Dead (Spain)
• Unlikely Heroes (Switzerland)
  

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Day 5: Tuesday, April 14

Zemene
★★★★
(Ethiopia)
d. Melissa Donovan
4:45 pm

---

Cheatin'
(USA)
Bill Plympton
7:10 pm

---

The Reaper
(Croatia)
d. Zvonimir Juric
9:45 pm

Also screening:

• Breakup Buddies (China)
  
• The Connection (France)
• The Creator of the Jungle (Spain)
  
• The Dark Horse (New Zealand)
• Felix and Meira (Canada)
  
• Finding Gaston (Peru)
  
• Free Fall (Hungary)
• The Golden Era (China)
  
• Good Things Await (Denmark)
  
• Iris (USA)
• Operation Popcorn (USA) ★★½
• The Owners (Kazakhstan)
• Papusza (Poland)
  
• Red Amnesia (China)
• Shorts program 4
• The Sound of Redemption (USA)
  

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Day 6: Wednesday, April 15

Songs of Rice
(Thailand)
d. Uruphong Raksasad
3:00 pm

---

52 Tuesdays
(Australia)
d. Sophie Hyde
4:40 pm

---

Margarita, with a Straw
(India)
d. Shonali Bose
9:50 pm

Also screening:

• All of Me (Mexico)
  
• Best of Enemies (USA)
• A Brilliant Young Mind (UK)
• Clouds of Sils Maria (France) ★★½
• Cub (Belgium)
  
• The Farewell Party (Israel)
• Gods (Poland)
  
• Los Hongos (Columbia)
  
• I'm Not Him (Turkey)
• The Mask You Live In (USA)
  
• NN (Peru)
• Next to Her (Israel)
• Nowhere in Moravia (Czech Republic)
  
• The Sound of Redemption (USA)
• Shorts program 5
• The Second Life of Thieves (Malaysia)
  
• Speed Walking (Denmark)

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Day 7: Thursday, April 16

Corn Island
(Georgia)
d. George Ovashvili
2:40 pm

---

The Iron Ministry
(China)
d. J.P. Sniadecki
4:45 pm

---

Girlhood
★★★★★
(France)
d. Céline Sciamma
9:30 pm

Also screening:

• Ciudad Delirio (Columbia)
• The Creator of the Jungle (Spain)
  
• The Decade of Discovery (USA)
• The Grump (Finland)
  
• The Kindergarten Teacher (Israel)
  
• La Sapienza (France/Italy) ★★★★
• Life of Riley (France)
• Love Marriage in Kabul (Afghanistan)
  
• Marshland (Spain)
  
• Operation Popcorn (USA) ★★½
• The Russian Woodpecker (USA/Ukraine) ★★★★½
• Shorts program 6
• Tangerines (Estonia)
• That Sugar Film (Australia)
  
• These Are the Rules (Croatia)
• Tokyo Fiancee (Belgium)
• Veve (Kenya)
  
• The Wolfpack (USA)
  

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Day 8: Friday, April 17

The Look of Silence
★★★½
(Denmark)
d. Joshua Oppenheimer
2:30 pm

---

Don't Think I've Forgotten
★★★
(Cambodia)
d. John Pirozzi
4:45 pm

---

The Russian Woodpecker
★★★★½
(USA/Ukraine)
d. Chad Garcia
7:00 pm

---

The Keeping Room
(USA)
d. Daniel Barber
10:00 pm

Also screening:

• All the Time in the World (Canada)
• Beatles (France)
• Black Coal, Thin Ice (China)
  
• Cartoonists: Foot Soldiers of Democracy (France)
• Chagall - Malevich (Russia)
  
• The Dark Horse (New Zealand)
  
• Happy Times (Mexico) ★★★
• Hand Made with Love in France (France)
• Hello! Junichi (Japan)
• Kebab & Horoscope (Poland) ★★★★½
• Magical Girl (Spain)
• Margarita, with a Straw (India)
  
• Natural Resistance (Italy)
• Nena ( Netherlands)
  
• No One's Child (Serbia)
• Patchwork Family (France)
  
• Results (USA) ★★★★½
• Shorts program 7
  
• Tales (Iran)
  
• W (Thailand)
  

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Day 9: Saturday, April 18

Exit
(Taiwan)
d. Chienn Hsiang
12:15 pm

---

Things of the Aimless Wanderer
(Rwanda)
d. Kivu Ruhorahoza
3:45 pm

---

3 Hearts
(France)
d. Benoît Jacquot
8:00 pm

---

In Order of Disappearance
(Norway)
d. Hans Petter Moland
10:15 pm

Also screening:

• Almost There (USA)
• The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (USA)
  
• Bread and Butter (USA)
  
• Cartoonists: Foot Soldiers of Democracy (France)
• Crescendo! The Power of Music (USA)
• The Day After (Spain)
  
• Decor (Egypt)
• The Grandad (Iceland)
  
• H2Omx (Mexico)
  
• Hand Made with Love in France (France)
• Happy Times (Mexico) ★★★
• A Hard Day (South Korea)
• Labyrinthus (Belgium)
• Lola on the Pea (Germany)
  
• Miss Tibet - Beauty in Exile (USA)
• Monument to Micheal Jackson (Serbia)

• El Niño (Spain)
  
• School of Babel (France)
• Shana: The Wolf's Music (Canada)
  
• Shorts program 8
  
• Slow West (UK)
• Tired Moonlight (USA) ★★★★½
  
• Tu Dors Nicole (Canada)
  
• The World's Largest Ball of Twine (USA)
  

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Day 10: Sunday, April 19

Accused
(Belgium)
d. Paula van der Oest

11:15 am

---

Difret
(Ethiopia)
d. Zeresenay Berhane Mehari

1:30 pm

---

Behavior
(Cuba)
d. Ernesto Daranas

3:45 pm

---

Nuoc 2030
(Vietnam)
d. Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo
9:00 pm

Also screening:

• About A Girl (Germany)
  
• Almost There (USA)
• Belle and Sebastian (France)
  
• Beyond the Divide (USA)
• The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (USA)
  
• A Borrowed Identity (Israel)
• Crescendo! The Power of Music (USA)
• Gods (Poland)
• Good Things Await (Denmark)
  
• The Grump (Finland)
• Fiddlesticks (Germany)
• H2Omx (Mexico)
  
• If I Give My Soul (USA/Brazil)
• Iris (USA)
  
• Letter to the King (Norway)
• Life in a Fishbowl (Iceland)
• Love Marriage in Kabul (Afghanistan)
  
• Magicarena (Italy)
  
• Marie's Story (France)
• The Mask You Live In (USA)
  
• The Okee Dokee Brothers' Through the Woods (USA)
  
• The Outrageous Sophie Tucker (USA)
• The Sacred Arrow (China)
• To See the Sea (Czech Republic)
  

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Day 11: Monday, April 20

Dinkytown Uprising
(USA)
d. Al Milgrom

2:00 pm

---

Theeb
(Jordan/Qatar)
d. Naji Abu Nowar
4:45 pm

---

Next to Her
(Israel)
d. Asaf Korman

9:40 pm

Also screening:

• Alive (South Korea)
  
• All the Time in the World (Canada)
• Capturing Grace (USA)
  
• The Cut (Germany/Armenia)
• The Dinner (Italy)
• The Farewell Party (Israel)
• Felix and Meira (Canada)
  
• The Fort (India)
• The Hunting Ground (USA)
  
• I Am Here (China)
• Kebab & Horoscope (Poland) ★★★★½
• The Outrageous Sophie Tucker (USA)
• Shorts program 9
• The Second Mother (Brazil)
  
• The Songs of Rice (Thailand)
  
• They Are All Dead (Spain)
• Venice (Cuba)
  
• Voice Over (Chile)
  

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Day 12: Tuesday, April 21

Pervert Park
★★★½
(USA)
d. Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors
5:30 pm

---

Welcome to Leith
(USA)
d. Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker
7:20 pm

---

I Touched All Your Stuff
(Brazil)
d. Maíra Bühler, Matias Mariani
9:40 pm

Also screening:

• About a Girl (Germany)
• Beyond the Divide (USA)
  
• Capturing Grace (USA)
  
• The Cut (Germany/Armenia)
• A Hard Day (South Korea)
• I'm Not Him (Turkey)
  
• The Lesson (Bulgaria)
• Love at First Fight (France)
  
• Natural Resistance (Italy)
• Red Amnesia (China)
  
• Results (USA) ★★★★½
• School of Babel (France)
  
• To Life! (Germany)
• The Treatment (Belgium)
  
• Venice (Cuba)
  
• Wildlike (USA)
  

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Day 13: Wednesday, April 22

History of Fear
(Argentina)
d. Benjamin Naishtat
5:15 pm

---

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
(USA)
d. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
7:00 pm

---

Alléluia
(Belgium)
d. Fabrice Du Welz

10:00pm

Also screening:

• 3 Hearts (France)
  
• 1001 Grams (Norway)
  
• Amour Fou (Austria) ★★★½
• Antarctic Edge: 70° South (USA)
  
• Call Me Lucky (USA)
  
• Finding Gaston (Peru)
• In Order of Disappearance (Norway)
  
• In the Basement (Austria)
  
• Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story (Canada) ★★★★
• Letter to the King (Norway)
  
• Mr. Kaplan (Uruguay)
  
• Nowhere in Moravia (Czech Republic)
• Nuoc 2030 (Vietnam)
  
• Patchwork Family (France)
• Revivre (South Korea)
  
• Warren MacKenzie (USA)
  
• White Shadow (Tanzania)

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Day 14: Thursday, April 23

Summer of Sangaile
(Lithuania)
d. Alanté Kavaïté

2:30 pm

---

Red Knot
(USA)
d. Scott Cohen
7:00 pm

---

Hello! Junichi
(Japan)
d. Katsuhito Ishii

10:00 pm

Also screening:

• Accused (Belgium)
  
• City of Gold (USA)
  
• El crítico (Argentina)
  
• Exit (Taiwan)

• El Niño (Spain)
• The Golden Era (China)
  
• The Grandad (Iceland)
  
• Heart of Wilderness (USA)
  
• How to Dance in Ohio (USA)
• The Keeping Room (USA)
• The Look of Silence (Denmark/ Indonesia) ★★★½
• Not Ready to Die (Sweden)
  
• Red Knot (USA)
• The Sacred Arrow (China)
  
• Shorts program 10
• Sunshine Superman (USA)
  
• Things of the Aimless Wanderer (Rwanda)
  

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Day 15: Friday, April 24

Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story
★★★★
(Canada)
d. Grant Baldwin
2:20 pm

---

Tu Dors Nicole
(Canada)
d. Stéphane Lafleur
5:00 pm

---

Two Shots Fired
(Argentina)
d. Martín Rejtman
7:10 pm

---

The Center
(USA)
d. Charlie Griak
10:00 pm

Also screening:

• Antarctic Edge: 70° South (USA)
• Betibu (Argentina)
• Call Me Lucky (USA)
  
• The End of the Tour (USA)
• The Fort (India)
  
• I Touched All Your Stuff (Brazil)
• History of Fear (Argentina)
  
• The Iron Ministry (China)
  
• Knucklehead (USA)
• Life in a Fishbowl (Iceland)
• No Man's Island (Hungary)
  
• Pervert Park (USA) ★★★½
• Red Knot (USA)
• Revivre (South Korea)
  
• Slow West (UK)
• The Strongest Man (USA)
• The Treatment (Belgium)
  
• Unlikely Heroes (Switzerland)
  
• Veve (Kenya)

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Day 16: Saturday, April 25

White Shadow
(Tanzania)
d. Noaz Deshe
11:30 am

---

I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story
(USA)
d. Dave LaMattina, Chad N. Walker
2:10 pm

---

Chagall - Malevich
(Russia)
d. Aleksandr Mitta

4:15 pm

---

My New Girlfriend
(France)
d. François Ozon
7:00 pm

Also screening:

• 1001 Grams (Norway)
  
• Afterlife (Hungary)
• City of Gold (USA)
  
• Cowboys (Croatia)
• Heart of Wilderness (USA)
  
• How to Dance in Ohio (USA)
• Knucklehead (USA)
• Labyrinthus (Belgium)
  

• Love & Mercy (USA)
• No Man's Island (Hungary)
  
• Not Ready to Die (Sweden)
• The Reaper (Croatia)
• Secrets of War (Netherlands)
  
• Shorts program 11
• Summer of Sangaile (Lithuania)
• Sunshine Superman (USA)
  
• Theeb (Jordan/Qatar)
• To See the Sea (Czech Republic)
  
• Two Shots Fired (Argentina)
• Welcome to Leith (USA)