First-Ever Edina Film Festival Debuts this Week

Edina’s 50th & France can now claim a commonality with Cannes. 

October 20-22 marks the first (and likely first annual) Edina Film Festival.

John Swon, member of the Edina Art Center Board and chair of the Edina Film Festival Committee, explained how the weekend of entertainment supports the arts and the .  

Nearly Three Years in the Works 

Swon, who has experience running film festivals, first presented the idea of hosting one with a couple other members of the Edina Art Center board in 2009, with hopes of holding the inaugural Edina Film Festival in October of 2010. The City gave the go-ahead in April of 2010, but securing sponsors proved difficult. 

“Like any fundraising exercise, it’s difficult to get anyone to be the first money,” Swon said. 

After “a lot of hard work by a small, dedicated corps of people,” though, the Edina Film Festival is finally a reality—and with enough sponsors that the event is fully paid for, allowing the ticket proceeds to benefit the Edina Art Center. 

“Everybody who walks through the door is donating to the Art Center,” Swon said. 

The ultimate goal, Swon said, is for the Edina Film Festival to be an annual event—the cinematic equivalent of the Edina Art Fair—where people can expect to find independent films and quality movies screening at the historic Landmark Theatre each fall. 

Three Nights, Nine Films 

Each of the nine films selected for the Festival was chosen either for its local angle (one of the writers of Valley of the Sun is Edina native Mark Bremhorst, for example) or because it had screened extensively at other notable film festivals. 

Along with the films, some special guests will make appearances at the Edina Film Festival, including Valley of the Sun director Stokes McIntyre, The Telephone Game director Jason P. Schumacher, Of Dolls & Murder director Susan Marks and Absence/Presence director Jed Schledgelmilch. Noted film historian Bob DeFlores will introduce Orson Welles’ classic The Stranger. 

Technically, none of the films are rated, though tickets for Valley of the Sun are not being sold to guests under the age of 18. Descriptions of all nine films (some short films and the others feature length) can be found at the Edina Film Festival website. 

Be Part of the First Annual Edina Film Festival

Tickets for the Edina Film Festival can be purchased online or in person at the . The film festival is divided into six sessions, with film screenings at 7 and 9 p.m. from Thursday, Oct. 20 through Saturday, Oct. 22. A ticket for one session is $10, while all-Festival passes are available for $30. All-Festival passes are not available online and must be purchased at the Edina Cinema box office. 

Pick a film—or nine—to screen and be part of a new tradition in the Edina art scene.