A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Arco is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-old boy from a peaceful, distant future who accidentally travels back to the year 2075 and discovers a world in peril. As Arco develops a charming and touching friendship with a young girl named Iris, they band together and along with her trusted robot caretaker Mikki, set out on a quest to get Arco home, while the two children may also be the only ones who can save our planet. A wondrous odyssey filled with hope and optimism for our future, Arco is an enchanting fable from breakout filmmaker Ugo Bienvenu.
Featuring an outstanding voice cast of Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Flea, Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, and Andy Samberg.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN | JAN 28–Feb 1, 2026
The Great Northern (TGN) unites communities through art, climate engagement, and outdoor experiences, with a bold winter festival and powerful partnerships. TGN champions climate leadership, celebrates Minnesota’s cultural and ecological vibrancy, and invites the world to experience our signature season in meaningful and inspiring ways.
Taking place Jan 28-Feb 1, The Great Northern Winter Festival transforms the riverfront at St Anthony Main into an unforgettable winter destination—featuring three music stages, chef demos, films, public art, a giant winter playground, vendor markets, films, and visionary climate conversations.
Relased 2025
Rated PG
Directed by Ugo Bienvenu
February 1, 2026 4:15 PM
Location: Theater 1 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
Lowland Kids follows the story of the last two teenagers living on the once thriving Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, their strikingly beautiful ancestral home that is now being swallowed by the sea. Surrounded by lush, crumbling landscapes, Howard & Juliette along with their Uncle Chris, navigate the emotional journey of growing up in a place that is soon to be lost forever.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN | JAN 28–Feb 1, 2026
The Great Northern (TGN) unites communities through art, climate engagement, and outdoor experiences, with a bold winter festival and powerful partnerships. TGN champions climate leadership, celebrates Minnesota’s cultural and ecological vibrancy, and invites the world to experience our signature season in meaningful and inspiring ways.
Taking place Jan 28-Feb 1, The Great Northern Winter Festival transforms the riverfront at St Anthony Main into an unforgettable winter destination—featuring three music stages, chef demos, films, public art, a giant winter playground, vendor markets, films, and visionary climate conversations.
Relased 2025
Directed by Sandra Winther
February 1, 2026 2:00 PM
Location: Theater 1 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
Millions of children around the world are frustrated by the dire lack of action to protect the planet and their future. Until now, their only avenue to express these concerns has been protesting on the streets. Director Damon Gameau (2040, THAT SUGAR FILM) invites eight children on an epic adventure across Europe in a school bus powered by biofuel. Their mission is to better understand the planet’s predicament, explore solutions and, most importantly, take the conversation from the streets, into the boardrooms of some of the world’s largest polluters and influential companies.
This inspiring and rollicking journey results in the children forming a ‘Future Council’ to advise and influence the world’s most powerful companies on their decisions that impact nature. It is a coming-of-age journey that dares to imagine a brighter future.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN | JAN 28–Feb 1, 2026
The Great Northern (TGN) unites communities through art, climate engagement, and outdoor experiences, with a bold winter festival and powerful partnerships. TGN champions climate leadership, celebrates Minnesota’s cultural and ecological vibrancy, and invites the world to experience our signature season in meaningful and inspiring ways.
Taking place Jan 28-Feb 1, The Great Northern Winter Festival transforms the riverfront at St Anthony Main into an unforgettable winter destination—featuring three music stages, chef demos, films, public art, a giant winter playground, vendor markets, films, and visionary climate conversations.
Relased 2025
Rated PG
Directed by Damon Gameau
February 1, 2026 12:00 PM
Location: Theater 1 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
A tale of resilience, hope and survival narrated by Lily Gladstone.
A hundred and fifty years ago, the Blackfoot people witnessed the near-extinction of bison, one of the most important links to their identity, culture and spirituality – an act that nearly destroyed the tribe. Since then, the Blackfoot have endured a century long campaign of oppression and persecution from the United States government – a brutal and violent experience that they are only now healing from.
Bring Them Home follows a small group of Blackfoot who are working to right these historic wrongs by returning wild bison to their lands – an act that would heal people, re-enliven traditional culture and bring economic opportunity to their community.
The film charts the course of this struggle from past to present – from the near-annihilation of bison and the Blackfoot people to the origins of the effort to restore wild bison and the present-day threats to their work and culture. It closely follows the tribal members who have given their lives and hearts to this struggle for the betterment of their people and is an intimate look at the willpower and resilience it takes to survive and thrive in the face of near-continuous hostility.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN | JAN 28–Feb 1, 2026
The Great Northern (TGN) unites communities through art, climate engagement, and outdoor experiences, with a bold winter festival and powerful partnerships. TGN champions climate leadership, celebrates Minnesota’s cultural and ecological vibrancy, and invites the world to experience our signature season in meaningful and inspiring ways.
Taking place Jan 28-Feb 1, The Great Northern Winter Festival transforms the riverfront at St Anthony Main into an unforgettable winter destination—featuring three music stages, chef demos, films, public art, a giant winter playground, vendor markets, films, and visionary climate conversations.
Relased 2024
Directed by Ivan MacDonald, Ivy MacDonald, Daniel Glick
January 31, 2026 8:45 PM
Location: Theater 1 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
Marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder has spent a lifetime exploring the ocean depths, which contain endless secrets. She made headlines for devising the camera system that captured the first footage of a giant squid in its natural habitat. But her greatest passion is studying the occurrence of bioluminescence — the awe-inspiring phenomenon of underwater organisms that produce their own light.
Widder first witnessed it for herself on an expedition in the 1980s when she ventured into the ocean twilight zone below the reach of the sun. At the time, women in oceanography were scarce. The sexism was so prevalent that some chauvinistic boat crews considered it bad luck to have a woman at sea. Widder overcame countless obstacles to become renowned in her field and chart a path for the next generation.
Filmmaker Tasha Van Zandt (After Antarctica) tells that backstory while following Widder on a contemporary expedition that she hopes can be a breakthrough for bioluminescence research. She teams with OceanX to use the latest technology of submersible vessels with the goal of capturing bioluminescence on camera like it’s never been documented before.
This special screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Tasha Van Zandt (Director / Producer) and Sebastian Zeck (Cinematographer / Producer).
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN | JAN 28–Feb 1, 2026
The Great Northern (TGN) unites communities through art, climate engagement, and outdoor experiences, with a bold winter festival and powerful partnerships. TGN champions climate leadership, celebrates Minnesota’s cultural and ecological vibrancy, and invites the world to experience our signature season in meaningful and inspiring ways.
Taking place Jan 28-Feb 1, The Great Northern Winter Festival transforms the riverfront at St Anthony Main into an unforgettable winter destination—featuring three music stages, chef demos, films, public art, a giant winter playground, vendor markets, films, and visionary climate conversations.
Relased 2025
Directed by Tasha Van Zandt
January 31, 2026 6:30 PM
Location: Theater 1 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
Join Trust for Public Land for a special showing of the documentary short Harvest.
Firearms always made this middle-aged Black woman nervous. She never imagined herself game hunting, let alone in the backwoods of Minnesota. In fact, the remote forests of Minnesota felt like the least safe place for her. But when she was invited to participate in a mentored hunting trip focused on diversifying and changing the narrative about the hunting community, her spirit told her to go. Confronted with internal conflict and questioning her motives, she embraced the experience and shared the journey. Harvest is a beautifully filmed documentary that walks viewers through the weekend transformation from reluctance to celebration and growth.
This special screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Nick Bancks, Keng Yang, Ronda Lee Chapman, Misty Blue, and Harvest director Tom Miller.
Event Presented in Partnership with Trust for Public Land.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN | JAN 28–Feb 1, 2026
The Great Northern (TGN) unites communities through art, climate engagement, and outdoor experiences, with a bold winter festival and powerful partnerships. TGN champions climate leadership, celebrates Minnesota’s cultural and ecological vibrancy, and invites the world to experience our signature season in meaningful and inspiring ways.
Taking place Jan 28-Feb 1, The Great Northern Winter Festival transforms the riverfront at St Anthony Main into an unforgettable winter destination—featuring three music stages, chef demos, films, public art, a giant winter playground, vendor markets, films, and visionary climate conversations.
January 30, 2026 7:30 PM
Location: Theater 1 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
Tracing Sacred Steps, The Cinematic Experience is an experimental performance film influenced by Ring Shout. Within an on ice modern dance framework, it engages elements of the sacred practice to illustrate how it continues to serve as a pathway to release and restoration within so many sacred Black spaces. Its intent is twofold: 1) to illustrate how this sacred practice continues to be relevant 2) to honor and pay homage not only to these important cultural and spiritual rituals, but also its practitioners: forcibly displaced Africans that found a way to work towards restoration and wholeness when the way had been stripped, stolen, and beaten out and from them. To these courageous spirits we owe so much.
This special screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring skating movement artists and performers: Roobi Gaskins, Joey Millet, Thomasina Petrus, and Deneane Richburg and moderated by Sandra Richardson.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN | JAN 28–Feb 1, 2026
The Great Northern (TGN) unites communities through art, climate engagement, and outdoor experiences, with a bold winter festival and powerful partnerships. TGN champions climate leadership, celebrates Minnesota’s cultural and ecological vibrancy, and invites the world to experience our signature season in meaningful and inspiring ways.
Taking place Jan 28-Feb 1, The Great Northern Winter Festival transforms the riverfront at St Anthony Main into an unforgettable winter destination—featuring three music stages, chef demos, films, public art, a giant winter playground, vendor markets, films, and visionary climate conversations.
January 30, 2026 5:30 PM
Location: Theater 1 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
A haunting portrait of obsessive love in a ruined world, Floating Clouds is set amid the bombed-out landscapes of postwar Japan. When a woman returns from working in French Indochina with hopes of resuming her relationship with a married man, both of their lives descend into a self-destructive spiral of suffering and anger.
Film Notes by Johan Nordström
A compelling romantic melodrama, Ukigumo was acclaimed both by the director’s colleagues in the film industry (Yasujiro Ozu hailed it as a masterpiece) and by the Japanese critical establishment, who voted it into first place in that year’s Best Ten critics’ poll for Japan’s leading film magazine, Kinema Junpo. In Japan, it is still generally regarded as, in the words of Naruse scholar Masumi Tanaka, “the pinnacle of his creative achievement.” The film was one of six that Naruse adapted from writings by the distinguished female author Fumiko Hayashi (1903-1951), and one of 17 in which he directed the great actress Hideko Takamine (1924-2010), whose sensitive yet determined screen persona ideally personified his unhappy yet resourceful heroines. Ukigumo is a perfect synthesis of Hayashi’s literary sensitivity and Naruse’s visual restraint, with Takamine serving as the essential bridge between these two artistic visions. The genius of Naruse lies in his ability to capture the fleeting emotions that cross Takamine’s face––those momentary hesitations, flashes of hope quickly extinguished, and the quiet determination that marks her character’s journey through postwar disillusionment. The film’s drama has long been interpreted as a microcosm of Japan’s wartime and postwar experience. Naruse and Takamine transform what could be a simple story of unrequited love into a profound meditation on the displacement experienced by an entire generation who had lost not only a war but their place in a rapidly changing social order. In Takamine’s nuanced performance, we witness the disillusionment of postwar Japan not as abstract concept but as lived emotional reality.
Copy from Toho. Restored in 4K in 2025 by Toho, from the 35mm positive master.
Presented by Archives on Screen
Archives on Screen (AoS) brings rare, unseen archival films from around the globe to Minnesota. Co-founded in 2022 by Michelle Baroody and Maggie Hennefeld, AoS has worked with international film archives and local film venues to expose students, diverse audiences, and underserved populations to the richness of cinema history. We screen everything from silent films to contemporary features, focusing primarily on counter-cinemas, such as feminist and queer films, world cinema, and anti-colonial productions. Our events facilitate public education, community engagement, and open conversation about how the archives of film history can help us to imagine different worlds and alternative futures. Archives on Screen’s flagship program, Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour, is a curated selection of films from Il Cinema Ritrovato, an annual international film festival that exhibits new restorations and rediscovered films in Bologna, Italy every summer. We also host a quarterly screening series at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis and regular screenings at the Heights Theater and other local venues. Learn more about Archives on Screen at archivesonscreen.org
Relased 1955
Directed by Mikio Naruse
February 15, 2026 7:00 PM
Location: Theater 3 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
Set in rural Sri Lanka, Sumitra Peries’ debut film is a heartbreaking, poetic tale of two sisters who face insurmountable class barriers. Filled with dreamy black-and-white imagery, The Girls is a lyrical exploration of two young girls whose fragile dreams are crushed by the heavy hand of tradition, morality, and patriarchy.
Film Notes by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
It was my long-time friendship with legendary Dr Lester James Peries who often drew me to Colombo first, but over time I discovered Sumitra Peries––editor, filmmaker, producer and diplomat. Referred to as the Poetess of Sri Lankan Cinema, she went on to make nine films after the success of her debut film Gehenu Lamai, all of which centred on female protagonists. Sumitra Peries often spoke about her wish to restore her films, but restoration seemed far-fetched, when the National Film Corporation was battling for the survival of the film’s elements. I knew that if we did not act soon, we could lose the film forever. Recognised as the Outstanding Film of the Year at the 1978 London Film Festival and described as “spare and restrained, with shimmering black-andwhite images,” by critic David Robinson who wrote “the film is a rarity, maybe unique, as a work of a wholly feminine sensibility.” Gehenu Lamai, set in rural Sri Lanka, is a lyrical film that tells the moving tale of two sisters whose dreams and aspirations come to nought in the face of rigid social conventions and insurmountable class barriers. The film beautifully captures the confusion and fragility of adolescent love and yearning, further elevated by an outstanding performance by a 16-year-old Wasanthi Chathurani as Kusum in her debut role. The restoration was the most challenging of the films that we had taken up so far at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory. The film literally had to be constructed from three different elements ranging in condition from average to poor to critical, with badly marred images, problematic sound and embedded subtitles. Working on the resurrection of her film was very emotional for me. I was struck by the imagery, the sensuality of the close-ups, the poetry of the cinematic language, the intensity of the performances and the many-layered complexity of the relationships between the characters… it made me marvel at the fact that it was her first film. I only wish that Sumitra Peries was still with us so I could show her the beauty of her film come to life again.
Copy from Film Heritage Foundation. Restored in 2024 by Film Heritage Foundation in association with Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, from the 35mm combined dupe negative and two 35mm prints preserved at National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka. Funding by FISCH: FranceIndia – Sri Lanka Cine Heritage – Saving Film Across Borders.
Presented by Archives on Screen
Archives on Screen (AoS) brings rare, unseen archival films from around the globe to Minnesota. Co-founded in 2022 by Michelle Baroody and Maggie Hennefeld, AoS has worked with international film archives and local film venues to expose students, diverse audiences, and underserved populations to the richness of cinema history. We screen everything from silent films to contemporary features, focusing primarily on counter-cinemas, such as feminist and queer films, world cinema, and anti-colonial productions. Our events facilitate public education, community engagement, and open conversation about how the archives of film history can help us to imagine different worlds and alternative futures. Archives on Screen’s flagship program, Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour, is a curated selection of films from Il Cinema Ritrovato, an annual international film festival that exhibits new restorations and rediscovered films in Bologna, Italy every summer. We also host a quarterly screening series at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis and regular screenings at the Heights Theater and other local venues. Learn more about Archives on Screen at archivesonscreen.org
Relased 1978
Directed by Sumitra Peries
February 15, 2026 4:00 PM
Location: Theater 3 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
Set in 17th-century China, the film depicts a young widow, Madam Tung, who lives a celibate life with her mother-in-law and daughter. Admired for her virtue, Madam Tung is honored by the village with a triumphal arch in her name. Shot in Hong Kong, this poignant film reveals the cruelty of social pressures placed on a woman whose voice has been taken away.
Film Notes by Alice Shih
Shu Shuen Tang (T’ang Shushuen) may not be familiar to mainstream movie lovers or even cinephiles of Chinese cinema, but she was actually the first internationally recognized, award-winning independent filmmaker in Hong Kong. In addition, she also happened to be a woman at a time when the Chinese film industry was controlled by studios run by men like the Shaw Brothers. The studios would only finance commercial films … Tang’s debut film, Dong fu ren, was self-financed and shot in Hong Kong on a limited budget. It garnered four Golden Horse Awards in 1971 including Best Actress (Lisa Lu), Best Cinematography, Best Artistic achievement and, most important of all, the Special Jury Prize of Creative Innovation created and awarded to Tang for this film … In the late 1960s, after her studies at USC, Tang returned to Hong Kong to prepare for the shoot of her first feature, Dong fu ren. The film is set in 17th century China; its protagonist, Madame Tung, is a widow for whom a triumphal arch is to be erected by the king to honour her contributions to her village––the arch being an ancient Chinese symbol of honour. A conflict arises when a young officer is billeted in her house and proceeds to show romantic attachment to both Madame Tung and her daughter. Madame Tung must choose between her own desire and her duty as a widow and mother, a situation that foregrounds the cruelty of societal pressure on a woman whose voice has been taken away from her after the passing of her husband … a similar expression of female suppression had never before been seen in Chinese films … Although Tang had been immersed in the American film scene, Dong fu ren does not resemble a Hollywood production as one might expect. [The filmmaker once argued that] “the subject matter is actually very cinematic. When I finished writing the script I gave it to my professor at USC to read, and he said that it was not a filmable script, because it was about the interior feelings of a woman who had no outlet to express them, and the plot had too few characters. But that is exactly why I thought it is good material for the cinema!”
Copy from M+. Restored in 4K in 2025 by M+ at Silver Salt Restoration laboratory, from a 35mm print preserved by University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and from a 35mm print preserved by BFI National Archive. The restoration of The Arch is made possible by the support of CHANEL, M+’s Major Partner.
Presented by Archives on Screen
Archives on Screen (AoS) brings rare, unseen archival films from around the globe to Minnesota. Co-founded in 2022 by Michelle Baroody and Maggie Hennefeld, AoS has worked with international film archives and local film venues to expose students, diverse audiences, and underserved populations to the richness of cinema history. We screen everything from silent films to contemporary features, focusing primarily on counter-cinemas, such as feminist and queer films, world cinema, and anti-colonial productions. Our events facilitate public education, community engagement, and open conversation about how the archives of film history can help us to imagine different worlds and alternative futures. Archives on Screen’s flagship program, Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour, is a curated selection of films from Il Cinema Ritrovato, an annual international film festival that exhibits new restorations and rediscovered films in Bologna, Italy every summer. We also host a quarterly screening series at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis and regular screenings at the Heights Theater and other local venues. Learn more about Archives on Screen at archivesonscreen.org
Relased 1968
Directed by T’ang Shushuen
February 15, 2026 1:00 PM
Location: Theater 3 115 SE Main Street Minneapolis, MN 55414
