"The Pantsless Detective"
Minnesota may not currently be a hotbed for Hollywood films, but that's not stopping our creative community from creating home-grown productions.
The second annual Minnesota WebFest, being held Friday and Saturday in downtown Minneapolis, shines a spotlight on 57 online series, five of which were shot in the state. That may not be a huge slice of the festival's slate, but founder George Reese hopes the entries will help inspire others to use the internet to produce low-budget fare.
"One of the goals is for us to be the best of the world at the format and exposing Minnesotans to the great stuff that's out there," said Reese, who also runs Seeka TV, a streaming platform for independent filmmakers.
The festival may not feature household names, but it can boast diversity. Nearly 25 percent of the series were created by people of color and almost half were developed by women.
Highlights include "Theatre People," the long-running comedy that takes you behind the curtain of local production;"Pantsless Detective," a noir-style laugher with a hero that will remind you of Guy Noir; "This Is Desmondo Ray," an animated series about a loner looking for love; and "Nemausus," a French entry about an office worker who runs into a time-traveling Roman gladiator.
The festival is free to the public and episodes will be screened Friday and Saturday at either Rock Bottom Brewery or the Hennepin Theatre Trust space, 900 Hennepin Ave. A full schedule can be found here
