The 45th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival has officially wrapped up. Perhaps the string of nice weather, with no snow in sight, attracted record-breaking crowds that shattered their previous daily attendance record—twice!
I only managed to catch 11 films (two of them online), which is four fewer than I had hoped for. The reason? I came down with a cold 🤧 on Thursday night after seeing John Carney’s latest Power Ballad (which was great, so it was well worth it). The bug I got was a doozy, hence I was absent from blogging for the past couple of days.
I’m really bummed that I missed two films directed by women on Friday, and I had taken a day off to see those, but I ended up pretty much bedridden. One of the films I was supposed to see on Friday was In-I in Motion, a French doc directed by and featuring Juliette Binoche, which tells the story of her 2008 dance-theater project with choreographer Akram Khan. It’s become a tradition for me to watch a Binoche film at MSPIFF almost every year.
In any event, MSPIFF announced its 2026 jury and audience award winners, most of them directed by women. Woot!!! 🎉 ✨ Some of these were the ones I recommended in this post. I sure hope they’ll get distribution soon!
MSPIFF45 Jury Award for Feature Documentary: TO HOLD A MOUNTAIN – Directed by Biljana Tutorov & Petar Glomazic
MSPIFF45 Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker: COTTON QUEEN – Directed by Suzannah Mirghani
Audience Choice Award for Documentary Feature: UNCLE ROY – Directed by Keri Pickett
Audience Choice Award for Fiction Feature: COLORS OF TIME – Directed by Cédric Klapisch
FLIXCHATTER’S TOP 5 FAVES
So out of the 11 films I saw at MSPIFF45, here are my top 5 picks (in alphabetical order):
Broken English* (read my Letterboxd review)
Don’t Call Me Mama*
Honeyjoon*
Primavera (review upcoming)
Power Ballad (review upcoming)
Out of those five, three of them are directorial debuts: Don’t Call Me Mama (Nina Knag), Honeyjoon (Lilian T. Mehrel), and Primavera (Damiano Michieletto). That makes it all the more impressive! That’s what I love about film festivals; it’s the perfect place to discover new voices in cinema.
Stay tuned for more MSPIFF reviews in the coming days and weeks!
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
MSPIFF is thriving (Attendance records broken!) thanks to passionate and talented filmmakers such as yourself. Impressive coverage of this 2026 round! Despite catching the illness at the end. I do hope you continue to recover smoothly. Rest my friend, and Bravo📽️🎬🥂
Hey thanks EF! Yeah, it’s wonderful to see MSPIFF continue thriving. I love international films, I just hope those films would get distribution. There are great films I saw even a couple of years ago that haven’t even got a streaming release!
Well my cold has turned into bronchitis 😬 I just have to let it run its course in a couple of weeks!
Get well soon, Ruth. Make yourself comfortable with a hot drink in hand and watch a fave movie. The right movie at the right time is a balm to the soul.
Thanks Patrick! Yeah, lots of ginger + honey + respiratory herbal drinks for me the past few days. I’ve actually been catching Daredevil: Born Again S2, but No Other Choice arrives in Hulu tomorrow, so I can finally watch that!
Ruth, thank you for your astute reviews and hard work bringing us your valued thoughts on the films at MSPIFF. I love your care and thoughtfulness. I hope you feel better soon!
Hello there Louise! Thanks so much for your lovely comment and well wishes! Did you see any good films at MSPIFF this year? Glad I got to see quite a few great films before I got sick… and I sure hope I’ll be able to see the others at some point. I’m still coughing a lot, but I’ll be on the mend soon. Thank you, my friend!
Thanks for the wrap up, Ruth!
I look forward to more reviews.
Are you all better from the virus? What a drag. Yet, you are still beautiful.
Take that you stinky ol’ virus! Ruth is beautiful and you are just pain mean and ugly.
ꨄ︎XOXOXOXOꨄ︎
Awww, you are so sweet, my dear Resa. I sure don’t feel beautiful when I’m coughing so much… my cold has turned into bronchitis 🥴 I sure hope I’ll get better soon as my hubby and I are going to Japan in mid May!
The virus sure is ugly, hope you don’t get it, Resa! I wish you and Norm good health this summer and beyond!
🌼💐🌸🌷˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌿˚🌞🐝˚˖𓍢ִ🌿˚.🌞🐝🌸🪴🐌˚˖𓍢ִ໋💗
Bronchitis…oh no!
2-3 weeks is the usual bronchitis run, so you should be better, but you must hunker down now.
GET WELLL!!!!!
🤧XOXOXOXOX😷OXOXOXOXO🤒
Yeah, it’s mild bronchitis, but it’s a viral infection, not bacterial, so it has to run its course; you can’t take antibiotics for it.
I’m taking it easy, haven’t been to the movies for nearly 2 weeks, but hopefully I can see The Sheep Detectives screening on Saturday, as it looks so darn cute!! 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Thank you, Resa!! Love ya!! XOXOXOXO
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