April 17th, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@hpr1.com
References to more than 200 films and dozens of insights from scholars, programmers, filmmakers, authors and others justify the more than three-hour running time of Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies founder Kier-La Janisse’s engrossing documentary “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror.”
Originally conceived by the director as a much shorter bonus featurette to accompany Severin’s restoration of “The Blood on…
April 2nd, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
Baseball Hall of Fame slugger and living legend Reggie Jackson is the subject of Alexandria Stapleton’s eponymous feature documentary, now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. No stranger to interviewing outsize personalities with egos to match – the director’s feature debut was the Roger Corman biography “Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel” – Stapleton fashions a sturdy evaluation of Jackson’s career and legacy, with the…
March 26th, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
Kevin Armento’s play “Killers” inspired both Stefanie Abel Horowitz’s 2019 short film “Sometimes, I Think About Dying” and Rachel Lambert’s 2023 feature “Sometimes I Think About Dying” (no comma this time).
Both movies were Sundance Film Festival selections. The former, which was also programmed in the pandemic-derailed 2020 Fargo Film Festival, can currently be viewed on Horowitz’s Vimeo page.
The latter, which stars Daisy Ridley…
March 20th, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
On Saturday, March 25, filmmaker Mike Flanagan returns to the Fargo Film Festival, where “Absentia,” his debut feature, made its world premiere in 2011. This time, he will be joined by his wife and regular collaborator Kate Siegel to talk about projects including “Hush,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” “Midnight Mass,” and others. Flanagan and Siegel will receive the Ted M. Larson Award, the festival’s…
March 17th, 2023
By Kay Erickson
merick19@cord.edu
For years, movies have successfully transported audiences to different dimensions and universes. There are stories to explore, characters to meet and root for, and people to connect with who share a similar passion for cinematic storytelling.
From the dark tones of “A Dire Strait” (directed by Liang-Chun Lin) and its look at motherhood to the isolating world of "Light Leak” (directed by Nate Dorr), films are able to grasp a viewer and allow them to…
March 12th, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
New York City-based director Emily Sheskin’s work has been featured in “The New York Times,” “The Atlantic,” and “National Geographic,” among others. In 2017, Vimeo named Sheskin one of “ten groundbreaking women in film to watch.” Previous commercial clients include Disney, Microsoft, and Pokemon.
The director’s cut of her NYT Op-Doc featuring boxer Jesselyn Silva was a Vimeo Staff Pick that played in numerous film festivals,…
February 20th, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
In January, Anna Hints brought “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” to the 2023 Sundance Film Festival for the movie’s world premiere. It was the first time Sundance programmed a documentary feature made by a filmmaker from Estonia. By the end of the event, Hints would receive a well-deserved directing award in the festival’s World Cinema Documentary category. Viewers are invited inside the dark and intimate confines of the title location, a quiet and…
February 12th, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
One of the most buzzed-about movies at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival was “Magazine Dreams,” the sophomore feature from writer-director Elijah Bynum. The film, starring Jonathan Majors as a rage-prone bodybuilder, is not a home run, but it is a significant improvement over the filmmaker’s 2017 debut “Hot Summer Nights,” a disappointing neo-noir thriller.
“Magazine Dreams” owes a heavy debt to “Taxi Driver,” but Bynum flips the…
February 5th, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
The unbelievable fate of one of the world’s largest collections of physical movie media is the subject of “Kim’s Video,” a fizzy and entertaining nonfiction cocktail mixing essay-like asides on the power of cinephilia with an oddball odyssey involving the Italian Mafia.
Directed by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin, the feature premiered as part of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
In some ways, the timing is always right for a consideration of…
January 29th, 2023
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
Beth de Araújo’s stunning “Soft & Quiet” plays out in real time, moving swiftly from its carefully calculated opening section to pick up speed as it rockets from one deeply unsettling sequence to the next. It is as terrifying as any film of 2022, a gripping thriller exposing grotesque anger and the jaw-dropping gears of the persecution complex embraced by the far-right. The first-time feature filmmaker wrote the screenplay after being inspired…
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By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…
By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu I would like to recognize some of the scholarly Germans from Russia from Canada and USA shared on the GRHC website. There are additional names not included here. If you have suggestions…
Friday, October 31, doors 8 p.m. show starts at 8:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe annual Aquarium Halloween Cover Show is back and it is stacked. And this time there are a limited amount of presale…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comA Supreme Court umpire should call for replays on every actFor more than 20 years I have been wondering what makes Chief Justice John Roberts tick. During a Senate confirmation hearing he slid and…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…
By Rick Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com As a reflection on our perilous political landscape, “Bugonia,” from the ever curious and boundary-stretching auteur Yorgos Lanthimos, joins several other 2025 releases that have something…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Gallery 4 downtown recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary, making it one of the longest consecutively running galleries in the country. With different membership tiers, there are 17 primary…
Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…
By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…
By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …
By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…
By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…
