Duluth Superior Film Festival

01/30/2025

🚨We are so excited to help promote that the winner of our "Best Narrative Feature" award, "Cash for Gold", will be available for streaming on ALL platforms this February 4th!
📽 “A courageous repudiation of the cruel path this country has committed itself to…
[Cash for Gold] asks us to exchange our worst America for a better one.”
-Chicago Reader
💰 Pre-order on *Apple TV! Order early and help the film break through!
📺*Pre-orders are an important indicator to Apple and may result in them recommending the film beyond what we could ever hope to reach ourselves. A subscription to Apple TV is not required to own/rent films there.
😍**The number of views they get in their first week is critical. A strong showing will significantly affect how many other people the algorithm reaches via “New” and “Recommended for You” feeds on Amazon and Apple TV. Now is the time to show strong support for our filmmakers and artists.
https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/cash-for-gold/umc.cmc.p3m18j8qizm3gebc6o5nae7x

robert Robert Enriquez, Co-Director, Producer
Ahmos Hassan, Producer
Deborah Puette, Co-Director, Writer, Lead Actor
North American Distribution

As Christmas nears, while struggling to provide for her young son, an Army widow with a dark secret finds work with the town's only Muslim family. As …

10/16/2024

Thank you to .salmela for these fabulous BTS photos of the summit. Please continue sharing your photos with us and take our survey so that we may collect your experiences so that we can keep re-growing the summit in a positive direction. We miss it already! How has it been nearly 2 weeks?

10/12/2024

We have festival photos! Here is are a few more from the opening night screenings. Thank you so much to JoAnn Jardine at for her brilliant captures of the summit! You can purchase copies through her studio link https://conta.cc/4f0cAcm
Please also take a moment to fill out our summit survey https://forms.gle/Ur7FRaTwfDsRKzJ89

10/11/2024

We have festival photos! Here is a small batch from Opening Night. Thank you so much to JoAnn Jardine at for her brilliant captures of the summit! We will be posting throughout the next few days. You can purchase copies through her studio link https://conta.cc/4f0cAcm
Please also take a moment to fill out our summit survey https://forms.gle/Ur7FRaTwfDsRKzJ89

10/09/2024

🤩Hello fabulous-filmmaker-friends!👏
https://forms.gle/Ur7FRaTwfDsRKzJ89
We have had a few days since we wrapped up our 2024 summit and now we want to hear all of the things good and bad from you! Please take our anonymous survey so that we may make note of all the spaces that worked, that maybe didn't and that definitely didn't. Your experiences and opinions are very valid and valuable. We cannot continue this event without you! No matter at what level you participated in, we want to hear from you. Thank you all so much again! It was truly amazing to see everyone come together to celebrate their art. We hope to see you all again soon. Stay in touch!
https://forms.gle/Ur7FRaTwfDsRKzJ89

10/06/2024

And for our final shorts collection of 2025, screening in Zinema 1 @ 4:30 PM is
Ruins & Reveries (Various, 91min)
https://dsfilmfest.org/attend

This program takes you on a journey through evolving landscapes, where past dreams and modern realities intersect. It explores the complex dynamics of identity and architecture both within and beyond American borders. From an abandoned resort in the Catskills that invites reflection on history, culture, and healing, to a 1968 urban renewal project where concrete utopias clash with grassroots resistance, the films offer a diverse perspective. In a small Virginia town, the passage of time is captured through super-8 film, documenting subtle yet profound changes in a community’s built environment. Together, these films provide a poetic and provocative meditation on aspirations, ruins, and the continuing impact of dreams on our world.

THE FILMS

All-American Ruins: Nevele Grand Hotel (Angel Gates, USA, 2024, 15min)
Filmmaker Present!

The abandoned Nevele Grand Resort in Ellenville, NY, now a crumbling relic, serves as both a dreamscape for artist Blake Pfeil to explore American history, culture, and mental health, and an invitation for viewers to use their imagination as a tool for healing.

Brutal Utopias (Morgan Adamson, USA, 2023, 34min)
Filmmaker Present!

Brutal Utopias explores the clash between architect Ralph Rapson's 1968 urban renewal project and the neighborhood's countercultural resistance, using archival material, interviews, and motion graphics to reflect on the evolving dreams of modernity and their impact on current residents.

Of Time and the Town (David Ellsworth, USA, 2024, 28min)

Of Time, and the Town poetically captures twenty years of change in Farmville, Virginia, using Super-8 film to document the evolution of its built environment, from a young couple renovating a 19th-century school to the transformation of a former Black high school into a civil rights museum, with evocative soundscapes and radio excerpts enriching the narrative.

Eighteen Mill Street (Josh Weissbach, USA, 2024, 14min)

This film follows Ukrainian artists Marianna Tarish and Nikita Gryshko after their relocation to Sweden due to the Russian invasion, exploring how their experiences in Kherson and their new environment have reshaped their relationships with intimate and domestic spaces.

10/06/2024

Screening this afternoon in Zinema 1 @ 2:30 PM;

🎞 The Dells - Feature Documentary -https://www.nelliekluz.com/wisconsin-dells

🎢 Dive into the wild and whimsical world of The Dells (Nellie Kluz, 2024), where international student workers in the Wisconsin’s favorite vacation hotspot navigate the absurdities of low-wage jobs and cultural missteps, revealing the bittersweet chase for dreams and genuine connections—don’t miss this unforgettable journey on Sunday, October 6 at 2:30PM!

🎟Purchase tickets and see details of each short film included on our website - https://dsfilmfest.org/attend

10/06/2024

Closing out the festival this year, we have in Zinema 1 @ 12:30 PM
☀️ Light Needs - Feature Documentary - https://jessemclean.com/light-needs
Get your tickets in advance - https://dsfilmfest.org/attend
🌱 Prepare to have your mind expanded with Light Needs (Jesse McLean, 2023), an experimental documentary that transforms houseplants into profound reflections on our relationships with the living world. This is no ordinary film—it's a deep dive into the unspoken dynamics between humans and plants, challenging everything you thought you knew about connection and care.

🎥 Paired with the inspiring Follow Your Feel Good: The Art of Sarah Seidelmann (Asher James Carlson, 2024), this program on Sunday, October 6 at 12:30PM will leave you questioning how we shape—and are shaped by—the world around us. Both filmmakers in attendance!

🎟Purchase tickets and see complete details of each film included on our website - https://dsfilmfest.org/attend

10/05/2024

SCREENING TONIGHT, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 @ 8:30PM - ZINEMA 2
A short film collection; In The Echoes (Various, 90min)
https://dsfilmfest.org/attend

This program explores the complex terrain of contested histories, where personal journeys intersect with collective memory and unresolved pasts. Through stories that span from intimate family secrets to broader communal legacies, the films examine the tensions between belonging and exclusion, the scars of displacement, and the silent witnesses of history embedded in the land. Whether uncovering forgotten mysteries or grappling with the remnants of colonialism, these narratives invite viewers to reconsider how we connect with our histories and the places we call home.

THE FILMS
Branching Narratives: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of the Tappan Oak

(Jennifer Proctor, USA, 2024, 12min)

A mighty oak's death on a college campus becomes a symbol for individual and collective struggles to find belonging and connection.

Rectangles

(Joshua Carlon, USA, 2024, 17min)

Filmmaker Present!

An old family mystery leads a filmmaker on a discursive journey to discover the past. Featuring true crime, Halloween costumes, microfilm, Scandinavia, the inescapable feeling of doom that creeps in when contemplating lost time, and machetes.

a fence is a fence but the clouds move freely

(Curtis Miller, USA, 2024, 8min)

This brief essay explores the origins of four small towns in rural Kansas and Oklahoma through their water towers, revealing tales of settler-colonialism, imperialism, and identity amidst severe weather and roadside signage.

What goes up

(Samar Al Summary, Saudi Arabia, 2024, 30min)

This short autobiographical nonfiction film dives into a Saudi-American’s poignant quest to return home, blending her contemplation of military enlistment with a dramatic search for Iraqi pilots' crash sites in the Arizona desert, ultimately unraveling the deep, complex connections between identity and place.

Bezuna

(Saif Alsaegh, USA, 2024, 7min)

Bezuna explores the complexities of fleeing a war-zone through the analysis of peripheral details. Through interweaving different narratives, the film presents the raw and broken feelings of a child and a cat whose lives will never be the same.

Used To Be

(Dan Schneidkraut, USA, 2024, 12min)

Capturing the final moments of Boulder’s legendary record store, this film chronicles the sights and sounds of a place that once defined the town’s music scene.

We are all necessary

(Manuel Seijo Domínguez, Spain, 2024, 5min)

This story is scriptless and characterless, unfolding anywhere, anytime, such as during a morning coffee in a building’s inner courtyard when a neighbor from the opposite floor appears.

10/05/2024

💫 Let's countdown to the festival with highlights from our 2024 selections;
🏕 Freedom, Wisconsin - Feature Narrative - https://www.facebook.com/freedomwifilm

😆 Brace yourself for Freedom, Wisconsin (Molly Preston, 2023)—the dark comedy of a lifetime! Penny’s monotonous small-town life is flipped upside down when a wild, struggling writer parks his tent in her front yard, sparking a series of laugh-out-loud, life-altering chaos. This film will keep you on the edge of your seat with its sharp wit, unpredictable twists, and heartwarming moments.
🎬 Screening Saturday, October 5 at 7PM, this is one you cannot miss—trust us, it’s the best ride you’ll take all year! https://www.freedomwifilm.com/

🎟Purchase tickets and see complete details of each film included on our website - https://dsfilmfest.org/attend

10/05/2024

💫 Let's countdown to the festival with highlights from our 2024 selections;

📽 Vulcanizadora - Feature Narrative https://www.factorytwentyfive.com/vulcanizadora

🎭 Brace yourself for a genre-defying thrill ride with Vulcanizadora (Joel Potrykus, 2024)—a darkly electrifying journey set in the haunting Michigan woods! Follow two friends (Potrykus and Joshua Burge) as their gripping mission spirals into chaos, forcing them to confront the profound consequences of their actions, and exploring the raw space between hope and despair.

🎬 With Potrykus’s fearless storytelling, heavy metal comedy, and outstanding performances, this film promises to challenge and captivate, leaving you on the edge of your seat. Don’t miss this unforgettable screening on Saturday, October 5 at 9PM!
🎟Purchase tickets and see complete details of each film included on our website - https://dsfilmfest.org/attend

10/05/2024

Screening tonight - 7 P.M. - Zinema 1
🐺A Good Wolf - Feature Documentary
🎞Get ready for a powerful exploration of nature and coexistence with A Good Wolf (Ramey Newell, 2024)—a riveting documentary that plunges into the rugged wilds on the edge of Denali National Park, where the fate of wolves and bears hangs in the balance!
🙌Over three years, join wildlife activists, a local hunter, and Denali biologists as they navigate fierce debates on conservation, hunting rights, and the very essence of wilderness, revealing the stark contrasts in how we value our wild spaces.
🎥Don’t miss this eye-opening screening on Saturday, October 5 at 7PM—with the filmmaker in attendance! - https://goodwolffilm.com/
🎟Purchase tickets and see complete details of each film included on our website - https://dsfilmfest.org/attend