Now in its forty-fourth year (which ranks it among some of the oldest in North America), the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival once again features a lineup featuring over 200 films from around the world. Abbredivated as MSPIFF and pronounced "EM-spiff," the festival will host the majority of its screenings at its home base of The Main Cinema, along with a smattering of events across the Capri Theater, Landmark Center, and Edina Mann Theatre.

Many of the marquee titles making their Minnesota premieres have already traveled the world as part of the other festival lineups. The Opening Night Presentation will be the documentary Free Leonard Peltier, which recently premiered at Sundance. Director Jesse Short Bull and Producer Jhane Meyers will be in attendance for the screening.

Another Sundance title that will be making an appearance is The Wedding Banquet, a queer remake of the 1993 Ang Lee film. Fire Island director Andrew Ahn directed and co-wrote the feature, which boasts a cast of Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, and Youn Yuh-jung. A24 will be bringing their Sundance hit The Legend of Ochi, as well as the Tim Robinson-Paul Rudd two-hander cringe comedy, Friendship.

Just in time for the announcement of this year's Cannes Film Festival is a group of films from last year's lineup. Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes took home the Best Director prize for Grand Tour, a Southeast Asian adventure I moderately enjoyed. I missed Jia Zhangke's Caught by the Tides at Cannes and TIFF last year, so I'm happy to see it as part of the MSPIFF lineup. I've only seen Ash Is Purest White from Zhangke, and I've been interested in diving deeper. I'll also be checking out Misericordia, which received rapturous reviews out of the Cannes Premiere section and got a decent amount of nominations at the most recent César Awards. Other titles that interest me include When Fall is Coming by François Ozon, By the Stream by Hong Sang-soo (a festival favorite), and Who by Fire by Philippe Lesage.

Speaking of Ang Lee, the famed director will be here to receive the festival's Milgrom Award. As part of his tribute, Lee will give an in-person conversation about his career, which includes accolades such as two Academy Awards for Best Direction and the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award. He'll also introduce a special screening for his film Brokeback Mountain, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Also screening on that day will be one of Lee's most celebrated films: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

I’ll be publishing full reviews for select titles, with others being condensed for my festival wrap-up article. You can take a look at the full slate of festival titles at the MSP Film Society website.