Lynn Blumenthal

Fortysomething Jane Messina is forced to re-evaluate her life after returning home to visit her two sisters and her sick father, making her wonder what could have been with her first love.

Fleeing her abusive ex, Jess hires a fishing boat captain to take her across Lake Superior to a new life in Canada. When an accident leaves her washed up on shore, she’s taken in by a reclusive lighthouse keeper. As Jess is nursed back to health, she realizes she’s wandered into another trap altogether.

A woman who excels at reading body language realizes that something is deeply wrong during a quiet night at home, turning a peaceful night into a terrifying fight for her own survival.

In a world where Santa is real and wants to drum up some holiday spirit, two of Santa’s elves, Chuck and Debbie, devise a plan to grant one human on Earth three wishes to kickstart the holidays. Unfortunately, that human is Erin, who has lost all affection for the season. Even a blind date set up by her sister, with the affable and charming Sam, won’t change her mind about Christmas. But when she makes the mistake of wishing Christmas would “just disappear,” Erin wakes up to a world where the holiday never existed! Horrified, she realizes that she’s taken away everyone’s joy, so she enlists Sam to help her reinvent the festivities from scratch. In the process, Erin learns just how much this holiday and its traditions have meant to everyone around her - and how much Sam has come to mean to her.

In 1983 Owl, North Dakota, the lives of three residents – elderly Horace, who spends his afternoons reminiscing in the local coffee shop; teenage Mitch, depressed backup quarterback star player-power-horse; and newly appointed high school English teacher Julia – along with those of the town's other residents, are upended by a historic whiteout blizzard.

A newlywed couple cancels their honeymoon and returns to the snowy Midwest to make the funeral arrangements for their best man, who died unexpectedly after their ceremony.

The truth of the past come to light in a series of haunting visions in this drama. The strange visions grow more vivid with each passing day, a young woman of Native American heritage begins piecing together a Catholic priests diabolical plot to prevent her mother from revealing the atrocities that unfolded at a Native Indian boarding school.

When strangers Frank Delano and his Uncle Bobby purchase the local amusement park of a "peaceful" resort town they stir up guilt and suspicion among the locals over a murder and suicide the town would rather forget.

Set in 1920, Inge travels from Germany to rural Minnesota in order to meet the man destined to be her husband.

Host Scott Forrest presents a curated compilation of eight independent short films in this rapid-fire science-fiction feature. Genres collide, narratives twist, aesthetics clash, and even humor, both campy and dystopian, showcase the vast creative possibilities of each story's individual world, offering the viewer a brief glimpse into the lives of every character's attempt to survive the otherworldly chaos around them. Released in 2001, the selected shorts span original creation dates of 1997 to 2001; most of the featured filmmakers also appear as themselves in short video interviews to talk about their inspirations, creative process and motivations while working on their individual shorts.

In this quirky romantic comedy inspired by a true story, an influx of women invade the small town of Herman, Minn., to get their hands on a surplus of bachelors yearning for female companionship. When the persuasive "cry from the heart" of Herman's lonely men becomes a big-time news story, it unwittingly attracts a swarm of single women from 38 states and four different foreign countries, adding 1,500 residents to the tiny hamlet of 485.

Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 million in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their simple plan to retain the money while avoiding detection opens a Pandora's box when the fear of getting caught triggers panicked behavior and leads to virulent consequences.

After signing her divorce papers, a woman heads out to her Minnesota airport with her sister and daughters for a flight to her mother's home. At the airport, her sportswriter husband shows up to catch a flight to Miami to visit his father. When a blizzard hits, the two suddenly find they have time to re-evaluate their relationship with assistance from an older couple.

Two men--a gay, HIV-positive artist and an adopted garbage collector--struggle in the face of stigma and loss to find meaning in work, love, and family.

It's got that Purple Rain feeling through and though. And it's got The Kid, too! For the first time since Purple Rain, Prince is back as The Kid. And where he goes, there's music! With Thieves in the Temple, New Power Generation, Elephants and Flowers and more red-hot Prince tunes from the Platinum-selling Graffiti Bridge soundtrack. What time is it? Party time! Morris Day and the Time play Release It, Shake! and more. And you'll also see and hear George Clinton, Tevin Campbell, Robin Power, Mavis Staples and other hot performers, too. Graffiti Bridge is where the movie meets the music. Cross over on it now.