Past Programs
Curious about what we've done in the past? Read programs from our previous festivals to get a sense of the films we play, events we host, & partners we work with.
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2022
Opening Night Presentation: The Infernal Machine
Director: Andrew Hunt (in attendance)
Cast: Guy Pierce, Jeremy Davis, and Alice Eve.
Minnesota Made (Post)
USA / 112 min / 2022
Reclusive and controversial author Bruce Cogburn is drawn out of hiding by an obsessive fan, forcing the novelist to confront a past that he thought he could escape, and to account for events set in motion by his bestseller decades earlier. Cogburn’s search for who is behind the manipulation and mental torment he encounters leads to an emotional roller-coaster ride full of fear and danger, where things are not always as clear as they seem to be, and where past deeds can have dire consequences.
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2021
Opening Night Presentation: Malni - towards the ocean, towards the shore
Director: Sky Hopinka (in attendance!)
USA/80 min/2021/Northland Premiere
Presented by: American Indian Community Housing Organization
This film follows Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier's wanderings through each of their worlds as they wonder through and contemplate the afterlife, rebirth, and the place in-between. Spoken mostly in chinuk wawa, their stories are departures from the Chinookan origin of death myth, with its distant beginning and circular shape.
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2019
Opening Night Presentation: Riplist
Director: Mike Scholtz (in attendance!)
A celebrity death pool is an unusual game in which players pick famous people they think will die in the next year. It’s like a fantasy football draft, but with elderly presidents and ailing musicians. Riplist follows seven friends from Fargo over the course of a year as they make their selections and live with the consequences. Society often frowns on any unusual or excessive attention to death. Some people have called this hobby “morbid” and “weird” and “just plain wrong.” But for these seven competitors, this game of death has taught them the value of life.
As five-time Riplist champion Matt Olien says in the film, “Who wakes up every day and thinks ‘I wonder how Olivia de Havilland is doing today?’ We do.” In Riplist, you’ll learn what kind of a person it takes to compete in this contest. You’ll also get tips on drafting your own celebrities, in case you ever want to play along at home. And you’ll get a definitive answer to the most important question of all: “What happens to us when we die?” (The answer: Somebody gets a point for that.)
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2018
Opening Night Presentation: Virginia, Minnesota
Writer/Director: Daniel Stine (in attendance!)
Cast: Aurora Perrineau, Rachel Hendrix (in attendance!)
Childhood friends Addison and Lyle are reunited years after a tragedy that robbed them of their mysterious and inspirational little friend Virginia. The three young girls had lived at Larsmont Bluff, the grand, forbidding mansion overlooking Lake Superior, which served as a private home for children from troubled families. Now Moira Phoebus, the surviving owner of Larsmont has died, and she has left instructions to bring back all the girls who had lived there at the time of the tragedy, so they can be present for the reading of her will. Addison, who had feared and hated Moira, refuses to join the others, forcing Lyle to drive to Grand Marais and convince her to come. After an awkward reunion, Addison finally agrees, and the two girls set off on a strangely illuminating, overnight journey where they revisit childhood memories and mystical local legends, and discover the long-forgotten gifts that young Virginia had shared so many years before.
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2017
Opening Night Presentation: Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
Director: Catherine Bainbridge
Co-Director: Alfonso Majorana
RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World tells the story of a profound, essential, and, until now, missing chapter in the history of American music: the Indigenous influence. Featuring music icons Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Randy Castillo, and others, RUMBLE shows how these talented Native musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives.
Opening Night Presentation is made possible with the support of the Consulate General of Canada in Minneapolis, in celebration of #Canada150 and the Canada-Minnesota partnership.
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2016
Opening Night Presentation: The Seventh Fire
Director: Jack Riccobono
Executive Producers: Terrence Malick, Natalie Portman, and Chris Eyre
When Rob Brown, a Native American gang leader on a remote Minnesota reservation, is sentenced to prison for a fifth time, he must confront his role in bringing violent drug culture into his beloved Ojibwe community. As Rob reckons with his past, his seventeen-year-old protégé, Kevin, dreams of the future: becoming the most powerful and feared Native gangster on the reservation.
Executive Producers Terrence Malick, Natalie Portman, and Chris Eyre present this haunting and visually arresting nonfiction film about the Native American gang crisis.
The Seventh Fire was made in Minnesota and has screened at the most prestigious film festivals in the world, including a World Premiere at The Berlin International Film Festival and Closing Night presentation at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2015
Opening Night Presentation: What We Do in the Shadows
Writer/Directors: Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
Housemates Viago, Deacon, and Vladislav are three vampires who are trying to get by in modern society; from paying rent and doing housework to trying to get invited into nightclubs, they’re just like anyone else - except they’re immortal and must feast on human blood.
When their 8000 year-old roommate Petyr, turns 20-something human hipster Nick, into a vampire, the guys must guide him through his newfound eternal life. In return, they are forced to learn a thing or two about modern society, fashion, technology, and the internet.
But it’s the introduction of Nick’s human friend, Stu, that really changes the vampires’ lives and attitudes towards the world around them. When Stu’s life is threatened, the vampires discover that humans are worth fighting for, and that even though a heart may be cold and dead, it can still have feelings.
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2014
Opening Night Presentation: Expedition to the End of the World
Director: Daniel Dencik
A real adventure film – for the 21st century. On a three-mast schooner packed with artists, scientists and ambitions worthy of Noah or Columbus, we set off for the end of the world: the rapidly melting massifs of North-East Greenland.
An epic journey where the brave sailors on board encounter polar bear nightmares, Stone Age playgrounds and entirely new species. But in their encounter with new, unknown parts of the world, the crew of scientist and artists also confronted the existential questions of life. Curiosity, grand pathos and a liberating dose of humour come together in a superbly orchestrated film where one iconic image after the other seduces us far beyond the historical footnote that is humanity.
A film conceived and brought to life on a grand scale - a long forgotten childhood dream lived out by grown artists and scientists.
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2013
Opening Night Presentation: The Last Gladiators
Director: Alex Gibney
Academy Award® winning Director Alex Gibney takes an unprecedented look at the National Hockey League’s most feared enforcers and explores the career of Chris "Knuckles" Nilan.
The role was simple: protect their teammates no matter the cost. ‘If fans embrace Slap Shot as the Casablanca of hockey films, The Last Gladiators is Apocalypse Now.’ –Sports Illustrated.
Duluth Superior Film Festival, 2012
Opening Night Presentation: King Curling
Director: Ole Endresen
Billed as the best Norwegian comedy of the year, King Curling is the feature debut of one of Norway's top TV new wave writer/directors. This take on sports underdogs has once-great curling star Truls Paulsen deciding to compete again despite a ban from competition owing to mental instability and obsessive/compulsive disorder. All for the sake of a cash-strapped old friend and coach in need of money for a life-saving operation, Truls leaves his his wife and starts gathering his rugged old teammates in hopes of leading them all to victory.
Local Legendary curling champions in attendance!