It’s less than a week away until the 2026 Twin Cities Film Fest (TCFF) launches! 🎉 The fest runs from October 15 – 24, and the forecast seems to be perfect to experience all the films and film-related festivities this fall! The visual arts celebration, now celebrating its 17th anniversary, is set to return for in-person events and screenings at The Shops at West End’s Marcus West End Cinema and Edina Mann 4 Theatre at 50th and France. More than 60 films will simultaneously stream online via the TCFF STREAMS platform at TwinCitiesFilmFest.org.
✨ Festival Highlights
Executive Director Jatin Setia is delighted to announce an outstanding roster of filmmakers and actors who will be in town to support their films by taking part in pre-screening red carpet appearances and participating in post-screening Q&A sessions.
Opening Night – Thursday, Oct. 15
You Belong Here
Steve Zahn (Minnesota Native, Producer), Chef Ouita (Executive Producer), Rick Gomez (Director), and Coby Toland (Producer/Editor)
Screening Time: 5 p.m. at Marcus West End Cinema
Film Synopsis: “You Belong Here” is an exploration of memory, generational legacy, and the seasonality of life through the eyes of Chef Ouita Michel. In this series, she will delve into universal human themes while celebrating the food, people and places that are the fundamental ingredients of her community.
Sunday, Oct. 18
Welcome to the Fishbowl
Jeremy Swift (Actor), Natalie Gold (Actor), Sheryl Glubok (Director/Writer), and Iana Dontcheva (Producer)
Screening Time: 4:45 p.m. at Marcus West End Cinema
Film Synopsis: With 40 receding in the rearview mirror, Elizabeth Ford, a Denver mother of two and an aspiring writer, gets a career-making offer. All she has to do is chaperone a spoiled, narcissistic literary legend by the name of Storm Grandquist across the Rockies to an awards ceremony in Telluride. What could possibly go wrong?
Wednesday, Oct. 21 – Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation.
Centerpiece Film: “Out of the Woods”
Screening Time: 5:15 p.m. at Marcus West End Cinema
Frances Fisher (Actor) and Sal Bardo (Writer/Director) will be in attendance
Film Synopsis: Max is slowly losing her memory. When she reunites with an old friend, Diana, a long-hidden part of herself is reawakened, and she’s forced to choose between spending the precious time she has left with the woman she’s always loved or remaining faithful to her husband.
Frances Fisher will receive the Twin Cities Film Fest Lifetime Achievement Award after the screening. TCFF is hosting a Q&A with the acclaimed actress for an intimate conversation about her remarkable film career, her passion for storytelling, and her reflections on receiving the 2026 TCFF Lifetime Achievement Award.
With a career spanning film, television, and theater, Fisher is best known for memorable performances in Titanic, Unforgiven, House of Sand and Fog, and The Lincoln Lawyer, as well as acclaimed television roles in The Shield, Eureka, Resurrection, and Watchmen.
Get tickets »
Wednesday, Oct. 21
Boris is Dead
Micah Brandt (Producer) and Chris Mulkey (Actor)
Screening Time: 7:45 p.m. at Marcus West End Cinema
Film Synopsis: A struggling actor, working as a waiter (Dane Cook) unwittingly becomes involved in a violent heist gone wrong, where his boss – deep in debt – has been stealing from employees and running the restaurant as a front for the mob.
Spotlight Closing Night Film – Saturday, Oct. 24
Not Dead Yet
Filmmakers Eric Weber (Writer/Director), Nick Weber (Co-Director), Michael Goodin (Producer), and Paul Raci (Actor)
Screening Time: 7:45 p.m. at Marcus West End Cinema
Film Synopsis: Ousted from his agency by a youth-obsessed culture, a veteran ad man (Richard Kind) teams up with a rebellious Hamptons senior breakfast club to launch a bold new venture—proving it’s never too late to rewrite your story and start a second act.
🎬 10 INDIE FEATURES + DOCUMENTARIES
(listed in alphabetical order)
I really appreciate how TCFF strongly supports independent films and independent filmmakers. TCFF’s HER Series shows films created by women, telling stories about women, and made for women. It brings attention to stories that encourage empowerment in film and other areas. At FlixChatter, I regularly highlight films directed by women as part of my yearly #52FilmsByWomen challenge. These films have a * next to their titles.
Ashes – Get Tickets!
Directed by: Diego Luna
I didn’t realize that actor Diego Luna has been directing multiple features before this one. Ashes (Ceniza en la boca) is his fourth narrative feature, and Luna also directed a documentary about legendary Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez for his debut in 2007. Ashes explores global migration, xenophobia, racism, parental abandonment, and the heavy emotional cost of displacement.
Lucila, 21, moves to Spain with her brother to reunite with their mother, who left 8 years ago. Facing discrimination and family duties, she struggles to find independence while dealing with her past wounds.
Clarissa – Get Tickets!
Directed by: Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri
Across a single day in Lagos, Nigeria, Clarissa (Sophie Okonedo) prepares to host a high society party at her home, as her complicated past begins to consume her in the form of now-distant friends and loves from her youth. Simultaneously, Septimus (Fortune Nwafor), a young soldier, is haunted by his own memories of the horrors he has witnessed and endured. As the perspectives traverse past and present, across the bourgeois class and those too easily forgotten by society, a delicate portrait of contemporary Nigeria emerges.
Directors Arie and Chuko, adapting ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf, take the renowned source material and deliver a unique and deeply felt story.
Comedy Through Chaos* (Doc) – Get Tickets!
Directed by: Miss Shannan Paul and Buffie Blesi
Welcome to COMEDY THROUGH THE CHAOS, a storytelling and stand-up comedy series where laughter heals. Hosted by comedian and community builder Miss Shannan Paul, this show invites audiences to embrace the messy, imperfect sides of life through humor, honesty, and deep connection. Life isn’t always polished, and neither are the best stories. Before you dive deeper, take a glimpse into a show that embraces the beautiful, messy chaos we all live through.
Fork in the Road– Get Tickets!
Directed by: Vivian Sorenson & Jonathan Nastasi
Featuring Nick Offerman, a passionate champion of regional agriculture and the American farmer, this film highlights stories from independent farmers across the United States, from Alaskan kelp harvesters to dairy farmers in Kentucky, revealing the lived realities and growing challenges faced by those resisting the tide of industrialized agriculture.
Give Me the Ball* (Doc) – Get Tickets!
Directed by: Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff
This uniquely intimate portrayal of tennis legend and trailblazer Billie Jean King reveals the inner turmoil behind her immense sacrifices to transform her sport and the world. It’s the story of selflessness, struggle, and triumph that shines light on a figure who is widely admired but, until now, never properly understood.
Josephine* – Get Tickets!
Directed by: Beth de Araújo
This film was one of the female-directed films I really wanted to see, fresh out of Sundance. Glad it finally screened at TCFF!
JOSEPHINE follows the psychological fallout after 8-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves) witnesses a crime in Golden Gate Park. As she acts out, her parents (Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan) struggle with helping their daughter cope, while facing their own fears around the topic and how to address it with their child.
Morelife – Get Tickets!
Directed by: CJ Renner
A young man’s plan to jump into an icy river at night is interrupted by a half-man half-fish there for the same reason. These two strike a bargain to find a rare Morel mushroom hoping it will provide something worth living for.
Noxturne* – Get Tickets!
Directed by: Kristina Klebe
Days before a solo performance at Carnegie Hall, world-renowned pianist Mia Nox suffers a spine-shattering accident. Without the ability to press the pedals and in the care of her increasingly duplicitous boyfriend, Mia’s wounds begin to creep more than skin-deep as she is forced to endure a waking nightmare – one in which she must learn to embrace her shadow to press the pedals again.
One in A Million – Get Tickets!
Directed by: Itab Azzam and Jack Macinnes
Filmed over 10 years, one girl’s epic journey from Syria to Germany and back again. She and her family navigate war, exile, and heartbreak in a foreign land, illuminating the complexities of the refugee experience.
Small Town Girl – Get Tickets!
Directed by: Bill Cooper
I’m so proud of my friend Bill Cooper, a personal friend of mine who used to be TCFF’s managing director. Bill has always worn many hats—he was an actor and acting teacher, and now he’s become a seasoned Minnesota filmmaker! Check out the latest film he’s directed that’ll be playing at TCFF on Friday, 10/16 @ 5:30 PM.
In a burned-out wilderness that feels both familiar and otherworldly, Jim lives alone, bound to routines and rituals that keep him from confronting a past he can’t escape. His days are marked by small victories that ring hollow and quiet defeats that seem endless—until a stranger named Zac unexpectedly arrives.
🎞️ 5 MUST-SEE STUDIO FEATURES
A Talent For Murder
(Get Tickets!)
Directed by Anton Corbijn
The film follows a mysterious young man from a New York publisher (Ehrenreich) who is sent to Switzerland to persuade the renowned writer Patricia Highsmith (Mirren) to write one final installment of the Ripley anthology.
ELSINOR
(Get Tickets!)
Directed by Simon Stone
The deeply emotional and inspirational true story of Ian Charleson, a gifted actor whose greatest challenge becomes his greatest triumph. Facing his own mortality with unflinching honesty, wit, and grace, Charleson delivers a courageous performance that becomes a source of healing and inspiration for those around him.
I Play Rocky
(Get Tickets!)
Directed by Peter Farrelly
The film is an electrifying true story about an unknown actor with an unshakable belief that he wasn’t just meant to write Rocky—he was meant to be Rocky Balboa. Told “no” at every turn, Sylvester Stallone bets everything on himself, holding the line on playing the lead against seemingly impossible odds. The result is the ultimate underdog story behind the ultimate underdog movie.
La Bola Negra
(Get Tickets!)
Directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi
From Cannes-winning directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi—popularly known as Los Javis — LA BOLA NEGRA follows three generations of men across pivotal moments in Spanish history, bound by pain, desire, and love. Carlos (Milo Quifes) longs to belong in a fractured Spain. Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente) finds connection across enemy lines. And Alberto (Carlos González) uncovers a long-buried family secret — one that finally gives voice to truths the past tried to erase.
Queen At Sea
(Get Tickets!)
Directed by Lance Hammer
Amanda and her stepfather Martin struggle with a moral issue that divides them. Has Amanda’s mother, Leslie, who is experiencing advanced dementia, lost the ability to make critical decisions in her own best interest? If so, who is responsible – a spouse, a child, an institution – for making such a determination? As Amanda and Martin are forced to make increasingly difficult choices, the repercussions spiral out of their control.
Ticket prices range from $10 online to $15 in person. Opening/Centerpiece/ Closing/Spotlight film events will all be $30, with a handful of non-matinee films also available to view at no cost.
Can’t make it to the theaters? You can buy a Streaming Pass and get access to ALL of TCFF’s films available online.
La Bola Negra, Elsinor, Ashes, and Clarissa are the films I would want to see.