Rash: More than just a night at the movies, Twin Cities Film Fest is a celebration of storytelling

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All the world’s a stage. Or a screen — at least starting Thursday at the Twin Cities Film Fest, which opens with “Hamnet,” the cinematic version of the superb novel by Maggie O’Farrell about events that inspired William Shakespeare’s eternal “Hamlet.”

The movie version awed audiences and critics alike at the recent Toronto Film Festival, winning the People’s Choice Award. It will open wide late November (just in time for awards season) but premiere locally at the fest on Thursday at the Marcus West End Cinema in St. Louis Park, which, along with the Edina Mann Theatre, will screen more than 150 films through Oct. 25.

“Hamnet” is getting Oscar buzz for best picture, best actress (Jessie Buckley) and especially best director and screenwriter (Chloé Zhao). Regarding the film festival, lightning may strike twice: The last Zhao film to open the fest was “Nomadland,” which then went on to win Best Picture.

Beyond “Hamnet,” another stage-inspired film, “Hedda,” an updated version of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler,” will have its local debut. Other hot Hollywood titles include “Christy,” about a boxer, starring Sydney Sweeney. Among several others is “Bugonia,” starring Academy-Award winner Emma Stone.

There are also many Minnesota-made (or -themed or -starred) feature films, documentaries or shorts, with some in key categories the film fest emphasizes, including the “HER series” — movies made by, for and about women. Another 40% of films focus on stories from Black and Indigenous people and people of color.

Some of those subjects are tough, like domestic trauma, which will be examined in the “TCFF Changemaker Series” of films, including a short, “The Seventh Turn,” from Minnesotan Eric D. Howell that will be followed by a community discussion — a key feature of the fest, Setia said.

Such conversations are part of what differentiate a film festival from just going to the movies, said Setia, who used one word to describe the dynamic: community.

“At the end of the day, that’s what we’re all about; we want to bring the community together in celebration of storytelling, and the way we do that is through film and physical connection.” While many of the titles can be screened through a streaming option, Setia said that “physical experiences are what we’re all seeking right now.”

It certainly was what he was seeking as a kid growing up in India, where he watched Bollywood films in a one-screen, 1,000-seat theater. “The soundtrack for those films had been out for like a month, so we all knew the songs that are going to be in it,” recalled Setia. “And everybody goes in and sits down, the lights go down, and that’s when equality happens, because you’re sitting in the theater with strangers, 1,000 of whom are dancing in the mezzanine level because they know this particular song.”

Despite a stratified society, Setia added, everyone paid the same price and forgot about their daily lives for a few hours. Even today, he said, “if there’s two people sitting there, I feel like I’m part of a community.”

“The more we put out there to the world from an arts perspective, the better the world becomes,” said Setia. “The more stories we share, the better we connect as human beings with each other. And for us, the Twin Cities Film Fest is not here as a competition to any of the other festivals and series and media organizations; we’re complementary.”