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Carleton College Students and Alumni to Debut Films at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival

Carleton College Students and Alumni to Debut Films at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival

Two films with Carleton College connections are set to make their world premier at this year’s Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival.

Men With Arms, a film directed by current Carleton College students Matthew Spevack ’13 (New York) and Joey Fishman ’13 (Chicago) and alumnus Gabriel Loeb ’11 will be screened on Friday, April 12, at the St. Anthony Main Theatre at 6:45 p.m. The filmmakers have set up a website with trailers for the film at http://www.menwitharms.com. All three filmmakers majored in cinema and media studies at Carleton.

The film, entered in the category “Minnesota Made,” is described as:

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Sidney is a quiet and hard-working clock repairer and a loving yet distant single father constantly preoccupied with his work. His son, Lloyd, takes after his father’s qualities as well as his work. Helping his father all his life, Lloyd began working beside him full-time after high school. His sister, Martha, is a free-spirited high school graduate whose motherly role in the family is disrupted by a quick-moving serious relationship. After receiving a tape recorder from his sister Martha before she leaves, Lloyd discovers the sounds of New York City and his new-found obsession propels him from his father’s cloistered life and into the outside world.

Also entered in the “Minnesota Made” category is Girl Meets Bike, directed by former Carleton College cinema and media studies professor and Carleton alumnus Eric Tretbar (Class of 1986). Girl Meets Bike was shot in and around the Carleton campus in Northfield during the summer of 2011, with a cast and crew comprised primarily of Carleton students, faculty and staff.  Girl Meets Bike debuts on Friday, April 26, also at the St. Anthony Main Theater, at 6:30 p.m. Girl Meet Bike tells the story of:

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A young high school shop teacher buys her first motorcycle with her wedding dress money, leading her away from her controlling fiancée into a new circle of motorcycle friends who are attracted but threatened by her newfound sexual freedom. As she learns to ride, she must interpret their offers of advice and mechanical assistance: are they subtle forms of control? Or crucial knowledge, without which she might get herself killed?

An established independent filmmaker, Girl Meets Bike is the 7th feature film by Minneapolis-based Tretbar. His films have won the audience award at the Berlin Film Festival, received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and aired on the Sundance Channel, German TV, and NBC.  They've also screened in competition at world festivals, including London, Athens, Sao Paulo, Warsaw, Seattle, Toronto, Rivertown, Orlando, Vienna, Hong Kong, Melbourne, the American Film Institute, and Los Angeles Independent. 

A trailer is available on the festival website at http://www.mspfilmfest.org/MMXIII/content/girl-meets-bike.

Tickets for Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival screenings cost $12/person and are available via the festival’s website at http://www.mspfilmfest.org/MMXIII/individualtickets. A question-and-answer session with the directors will follow both of the screenings.

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