Movie-lovers have the chance to check out some incredible films at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival this week.
The St. Anthony main theater will screen films on all five screens, all week long, featuring filmmakers from more than 70 different countries. About 50,000 spectators are expected to come out for the event.
“It’s a really special thing to have a film festival in your city, it’s a tradition here and we’re very lucky to have it,” said Linda Foster, who is attending this year’s festival.
This is the festival’s 38th year celebrating the art of film, and bringing some very unique movies to the silver screen, some of which you may not be able to see anywhere else.
This year, the festival is showing more than 270 different films, ranging from dramas to documentaries, and everything in between.
Coordinators say, this year, there’s a special focus on women.
“Women are wholly underrepresented in the filmmaking industry, especially in Hollywood some 1, 2 percent of major Hollywood films that have come out in the past few years were directed by women,” said Jesse Bishop, the festival’s programming director.
“This year we are highlighting women in film bigger than we ever have before; we have 102 features and shorts directed by women this year,” said Bishop.
The Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival runs through Saturday.