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

 will host MNmicro Film Festival: Indigenous. The film festival will showcase six feature presentations by local filmmakers starring Indigenous voices and stories. The event is in celebration of Native American Heritage Month. 

Stacey Thunder, a Red Lake Nation and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe actress, will moderate the film fest. She has hosted 

 and has appeared in several films and series, including Paramount Network’s Yellowstone. 

Thunder also stars in one of the film fest’s six featured films, “The Jingle Dress.”  

“The film was shot locally in Minneapolis in 2013,” Thunder said. “The majority of the cast is Indigenous.” 

“The Jingle Dress” follows the story of a family moving from their rural northern Minnesota reservation to urban Minneapolis after learning their relative, Uncle Norton, has died. Main character, John Red Elk, vows to discover what really happened to him. 

Thunder plays the character of Elise Red Elk, John’s wife.  

“I’m just hoping that people will go and watch the films, and celebrate our culture and support Native filmmakers,” Thunder said. 

Jatin Setia is Twin Cities Film Fest’s founder and executive director. He says the film fest is about community.  

“It’s all about coming together and learning about something that we think we know versus things that we want to explore,” Setia said.  

The film festival will take place at the Marcus West End Cinema in St. Louis Park with films running from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Organizers say screenings are free and open to the public. 

Twin Cities Film Fest was established 15 years ago and hosts film fests throughout the year. The organization will host another MNmicro Film Festival during Black History Month in February. 

Chandra Colvin

Author

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, Twin Cities Film Fest will host MNmicro Film Festival: Indigenous. The six featured films center on Indigenous stories and voices. 

Indigenous stories to be featured in film festival, celebrating culture and community

Go Deeper.

Like this?