Northern Minnesota is under a new alert until Friday at 7 p.m.

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Solo musician Lyla Abukhodair of Duluth, Minn., has fond memories of seeing Laura Sellner perform with her band Superior Siren shortly before the pandemic closed venues. She’s excited to share about 

, called “Kill Your Darlings.” Abukhodair admires how hard Sellner works, the way she encourages fellow musicians and her “dreamy” music.

Sellner will be doing a Minnesota tour with her new music this summer, including a stop in Two Harbors at Castle Danger Brewery at 6 p.m. Thursday and in Minneapolis at Utepils Brewing at 1 p.m. Sunday.

 has followed the work of Yeej Moua for the past few years and looks forward to the premiere Thursday of his short film, 

“The Wind Always Strikes the Highest Mountain.”

 The film was written and directed by Moua and funded by 

 as part of the final weekend of this year’s two-week festival.

The short film tells the story of a Hmong American teenager grieving after her brother dies of COVID-19. The family was unable to perform a traditional Hmong funeral.

Ko praised Moua as a “jack of all trades” who creates music as well as writes and directs and wants to see how Moua will bring those skills together to inject a sense of youthfulness, joy and community on a difficult subject matter. The film is in Hmong with English subtitles, followed by a bilingual Q&A. It screens online at 7 p.m. Thursday, 9 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.

Jon Skaalen of Stillwater is interested in 

“Sharing Stories on Issues of Disability and Theater.”

 It’s a combination short live performance and an interactive discussion, featuring four actors with disabilities telling their stories as artists. 

The show runs for 90 minutes, with English closed captioning and ASL interpretation, at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.

Emily Bright

Author

Yeej Moua debuts his short film, “The Wind Always Strikes the Highest Mountain,” for the Northern Spark festival’s final weekend. Minnesota artists explore issues of disability and theater at Full Circle. And Laura Sellner has a new EP. 

Yeej Moua debuts his short film, “The Wind Always Strikes the Highest Mountain,” for the Northern Spark Festival’s final weekend; Minnesota artists explore issues of disability and theater at Full Circle, and a new EP by Laura Sellner of Duluth. 

Art Hounds: COVID-19 and mourning on film, plus other emotion-provoking performances

Go Deeper.

Like this?