Minnesota filmmakers at the festival

He began shooting the film in November 2005, in preparation for the tournament in January. He gathered interviews with local and international figures, everyone from Gov. Tim Pawlenty to professional hockey players Marian Gaborik and Wayne Gretzky. Other interviews were collected from Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Nova Scotia.

"It's been quite the journey," he says. There were about 600 players in the tournament at Lake Calhoun, and Haynes had no idea how to corral the event into a film, but he says the story unfolded as he interviewed many of the players about why they still play the game.

He produced and funded the film with his local production company, Northland Films. Minnesota Film Arts organizers contacted Haines after they viewed a rough cut and asked if they could screen it at this year's festival. Haines says he couldn't think of a more appropriate place to premiere the film, given the history of the sport.

"It's very Minnesota-centric, so it's nice to show it for a local audience," he says.

"We're excited to unleash this thing." —Andrew Newman

Pond Hockey will have its world premiere Thursday, April 24, at 7:15 p.m. at St. Anthony Main Theaters. It will also screen Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m. at Oak Street Cinema and Wednesday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Anthony Main.

FORGOTTEN
Chris Gegax

Director Chris Gegax's latest film tells the story of a prostitute named Suzie and her encounter with a nun, who is reluctant to sympathize with the young woman's plight. But it's also about the ways the faithful see the unfaithful, and the problems all of us have understanding one another. Gegax took some big risks in the production—first he gave the part of Suzie to Katie Rhoades, a woman with no acting experience, on the strength of her enthusiasm and a background working with victims of prostitution. Then, when it became clear a permit to shoot on the Stone Arch Bridge wouldn't be available in time to meet the production schedule, his intrepid team set up on the bridge anyway, leading to a bit of adrenaline when the police drove by several times...and did nothing.

But the risks paid off. And though Hollywood may be the place to turn a profit in film, Gegax says he's glad to be working in the Cities. "If you're out there making money, movies may not be the path that you'd be going down. But at least at this scrappy, independent level, I think Minnesota is a really supportive community for moviemaking." Unlike L.A. and New York, he says, the arts scene isn't saturated with the culture of film. "It holds a bit of novelty in the community, and hence they want to support people who are doing that kind of thing."

Gegax sees the inclusion of a "Minnesota Shorts" category in the international film fest as a chance for the local moviemaking community to springboard its efforts. "It's that kind of interest that'll spur development of locally grown, larger-scale projects and investment in filmmakers," he says. "Everyone who's doing a short film is really excited about moving on to the next level, which would be a feature film. That's our dream.' —Ward Rubrecht

Forgotten screens as part of the "Minnesota-Made Shorts" program Tuesday, April 29, at 7 p.m. at St. Anthony Main Theaters.

DIEGO'S TRIP TO GUATEMALA
Diego Luke

At nine years old, Diego Luke of St. Paul is surely the youngest film director at MSPIFF. His 12-minute documentary is essentially a very sophisticated home movie, filmed by his adoptive parents, about his trip to Central America to visit his birth family.

The quietly affecting film is a series of brief interviews with Diego, interspersed with scenes from his trip. As the film unfolds, the audience gradually begins to understand the true scope of the emotional journey Diego is being asked to make. He's reintroduced to his birth mother after meeting her several years ago; she works as a laborer in the coffee fields and lives in crushing poverty. He meets his paternal grandmother and aunts for the first time; they cry rivers of tears because his birth mother had told them he was dead after she gave him up for adoption. ("It was kind of weird," Diego says on film of his supposed death. "She [his mother] just wanted to protect me. She's a very kind woman.") We also learn that Diego's biological sister, Julia, who he met on his last visit (and who we see in an old film clip), has since been beaten to death by their absent father for stealing a mango.