Zeitgeist Minnesota Film Festival now a leading light

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DULUTH — The Minnesota Film Festival has always been presented by Zeitgeist, but that wasn’t always obvious.

Tony Cuneo, the nonprofit’s executive director, remembered “reading interviews or hearing a three-minute discussion on the radio about the film festival, and never hearing the word ‘Zeitgeist.’ We thought, ‘You know what? We’ve got to put it in the title.'”

Now officially titled the Zeitgeist Minnesota Film Festival, the

fifth annual event

kicks off Wednesday, April 22, and runs through Sunday, April 26. Festival locations, in addition to Zeitgeist’s own complex, include the St. Louis County Depot and Blacklist Brewing.

Zeitgeist’s event now stands as Northeastern Minnesota’s most prominent annual film festival. Four years ago, that wasn’t the case.

In 2022, the Duluth Superior Film Festival and the Catalyst Content Festival were preparing to

combine under the North Star Story Summit umbrella,

bringing Minnesota WebFest up from the Twin Cities to complete a convergence the likes of which Duluth had never seen.

That April, the North by North International Film Festival launched with a self-described mandate to platform “filmmakers that are working in their own communities and outside of major film industry hubs. We are excited about films that are being made with limited budgets, from small towns, and from resourceful filmmakers.”

Over the years, the festival has expanded. In 2023, it was renamed the Minnesota Film Festival to “speak to the whole region,” Cuneo explained.

“It has grown every year,” Cuneo said. “It has become more and more integrated with our education programs, and it has become more and more integrated with economic development in the region.”

The North Star Story Summit evaporated after last taking place in 2024, leaving Zeitgeist’s festival as the biggest show in town for filmmakers and audiences alike.

“Each year, more people learn that film festivals are for them,” Cuneo said. “It’s not just for industry people. It’s for anyone who loves to see movies and then loves to see art with the artists there.”

Festival director Vera Bianchini, who joined Zeitgeist in 2023, pointed out that the festival

debuted at the same time

as the organization’s Media Arts School. By integrating the school with the festival, “you’re providing a place for emerging filmmakers and experienced filmmakers to connect, to support each other.”

One of those experienced filmmakers, Leya Hale, is being honored this year with the festival’s Minnesota Filmmaker Award. The documentarian will be at the festival to present her latest feature, “Medicine Ball.”

Hale, a West St. Paul resident from the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Diné Nations, has focused on Indigenous stories. The award “makes me very proud and honored,” Hale said, “that I’m able to connect with people and audiences, especially outside of the Native community, that really appreciate the work and feel that it does provide a new layer of information and insight to our history.”

When she previously appeared at the festival in 2022, presenting “Bring Her Home,” Hale was impressed with the care organizers took. For example, festival organizers ensured supportive services were available for any audience members who might be triggered by the content of the film about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

“That was really awesome to see, and get to know those people that were providing that service,” Hale said. “I haven’t seen (that) at other festivals.”

Organizers have their work cut out for them, selecting the features and short films to be screened each year. “We see 300-plus films getting submitted from 25 countries,” Cuneo said. “We have this amazing 40-person committee that is volunteering their time to watch many, many movies and help us select the ones that fit into the festival.”

Not only do young filmmakers have the opportunity to show work at the festival, but the event itself is also “literally an on-site training opportunity for burgeoning filmmakers in the region here,” Cuneo said. “We’ve got an intern program where filmmakers are actually filming the festival with trained filmmakers, and then they’ll be editing summary video.”

The emphasis on education is something Zeitgeist’s festival has in common with other successful fests. “The biggest and more prominent festivals lean into their education,” said Bianchini, with the goal “to foster that ecosystem. If you look at Tribeca (for example), they have a very big education pitch competition.”

Zeitgeist’s pitch competition is “the only one in the Midwest that offers cash,” Bianchini said. “The highest prize is $3,000. For some filmmakers, that’s a big chunk, and for others, it’s like $3,000 of $1 million.”

“Medicine Ball” screens Saturday at the Depot Theatre, just before the Spotlight Celebration and award presentation. Sunday, Maria Bamford will be present for a Depot screening of the documentary “Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story.”

The latter film previously played at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. Bianchini was present in Minneapolis to observe the audience interaction and to personally greet Bamford ahead of the

Duluth-raised

comedian’s return trip north.

Bianchini said it was an “intentional decision” to schedule Zeitgeist’s festival after MSPIFF, which will only book feature films if the festival screening will mark a Minnesota premiere. The fact that Duluth’s festival comes second allows filmmakers to participate in both.

“We collaborate,” said Bianchini, who is in regular contact with MSPIFF director Jesse Bishop. Similarly, Zeitgeist organizers are close with colleagues across the Northland.

“The film industry has been working pretty collaboratively across northeast Minnesota,” Cuneo said. “A production in Ely is good for Duluth, and a production in Duluth is good for all of St. Louis County and all of northeast Minnesota. Production on the North Shore and (in) Cook County is good for all of us.”

Zeitgeist’s festival opens Wednesday with a Zinema screening of “Bigfoot Woods,” a comedy-drama made in the Ely area. It deals with themes of gender identity.

“That project not only is a wonderful story, but it is a great example of the production itself taking the right steps to make sure the set is a safe space, consulting with Trans Northland because a lot of the cast is queer. The main actor is a trans person,” Bianchini said. “It’s a beautiful example of what could be made up here, and it’s kind of changing the game for filmmaking.”

Rumor has it the celebrity guests on Wednesday might even include Sasquatch. “We’re partnering with Hucklebeary and Northland Special Events to turn our space into a magical woods,” Bianchini said. “There might be a Bigfoot sighting.”

Zeitgeist will also be rolling out a new membership program that “should be a fun way for people to get to experience everything Zeitgeist offers across visual and performance art and film and creative placemaking, everything that we do,” Cuneo said.

Despite the loss of the North Star Story Summit, the growth of the Northland film industry is continuing apace.

“The ecosystem is getting more diverse. People are telling more stories,” Cuneo said. “I hope that there is a momentum growing. It feels that way. We’re certainly doing everything we can to support it.”