The Highway 61 Film Festival is an annual film festival held in

Pine City, Minnesota Pine City is a city in and the county seat of Pine County, in east central Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,130 at the 2020 census. A portion of the city is located on the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation. Founded as a railway town, ...

. The festival was established in 2011 to show movies representing excellence in filmmaking, particularly those rare independent films and documentaries by both noted and new filmmakers, that do not receive mainstream distribution. The name of the festival comes from and highlights

U.S. Route 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

, especially

U.S. Route 61 in Minnesota U.S. Highway 61 (US 61) is a U.S. Highway in southeast and east-central Minnesota, which runs from the River Bridge over the Mississippi River at La Crescent and continues north to its northern terminus at its junction with Interstate 35 ...

. The Highway 61 Film Festival is sponsored by a non-profit organization, Pine Center for the Arts, and is funded by businesses, community groups and individuals, plus ticket sales for the various film sessions. The festival is headed by a committee of Pine City area film enthusiasts, writers, directors, and creative professionals. The 2011 and 2012 Highway 61 Film Festivals were held over the span of three days, Friday through Sunday, and featured many independent shorts and features. They were shown at the Pine Technical & Community College Auditorium as well as at a supper club and events center called Beach Rocks on the north shore of Pokegama Lake. In 2011, the festival showed films taken by

Shane Bauer Shane Bauer is an American journalist, best known for his undercover reporting for ''Mother Jones'' magazine. He has won several awards including the Harvard's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the National Magazine Award for Best ...

prior to his detainment. In 2012, the

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival The Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival is a springtime film festival in the U.S. state of Minnesota that has been held since 1981. It began as the Rivertown Film Festival in Stillwater by Al Milgrom of Pine City and eventu ...

founder, Al Milgrom, presented some of his works and photographer

Wing Young Huie Wing Young Huie is an American photographer born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1955. Photographer Wing Young Huie attended the University of Minnesota, earning his B.A. in journalism in 1979. He became a full-time professional photographer in 1989. He i ...

attended to see some of his inspired works projected on buildings in an accompanying event called "Photos on Buildings" nearby.

Official selections

2014

*216 Months *Int. Café–Night * Little Things

2013

*Tales of the Road: Highway 61 *Les Esclaves *Useful. Valid. True *Sled Dogs to St. Paul *Honor Among Thieves *Maze *Our Killing Time *Two Stiffs *Rocket Surgeons *Deadly Love *The Healing Musical *Iter Ad Terram Promissionis *Coffea – The Coffee Fairy *Syren *The American Road *The Information Thief *Aakhir (At Last) *Not Like the Commercials *The Panhandler *McMeta *Small Steps *Lima Syndrome *The Elevator *For Ashley *Another Saturday Night *Problem Solving the Republic *Sunrise's Favorite Son *Escape from Schwartz's Bakery *Keeper *Misiek and the Bloody Monitor *Hairdo or DIE: The First Cut *The Giant Spider

2012

*Wild Bill's Run *The Long Push *Incidental *We Juke Up In Here! *Labor Day *Steele Vengeance *In Harm's Way *The Paper Jam *The Heart of a Book *Burmese Python *Adventure Under the Sea *Dangerous Days *Glory and Death: Amundsen and Scott's Race to the South Pole *The Highway Walkers *Restraint *The Interview *Memorial Day *Trade for Magic *Goin’ With the Flo *Shattered Glass *Foreign Love *Case #377 *Snow White *The Dream *The Cabin *House of Ghosts

2011

*What If? *Boundary Waters *Five Bucks Til Friday *Stories Next Door *Lumber Jill *Songs to Enemies and Deserts *Recreation *All Over the Walls *True Story of Peter Pan *Night Surf *Cocainine *Your Mother's a Hunt *Hunting Buddies *Rhythm Sticks *Spaceman from Space *Whistle *Underwater Ocean Visit *Welcome to America: 50 states in 50 days *Ink Blots *Out of Character *

Games Men Play ''Games men play'' is a 2006 Nigerian drama film directed by Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen. Plot The film looks at the indiscretions among several wealthy Lagosian couples. The main protagonist Tara (Kate Henshaw-Nuttal) decides to do a research on rel ...

*Cento *Sun Gods *Masquerade *Payback Time *Harold Crumb *Lambent Fuse *Love Notes *Stitches *Bloodshed Love *Roadside Assistance *Dope Sick *Birthmarked for Death *

Ghost from the Machine ''Ghost from the Machine'' is a 2010 independent supernatural thriller written and directed by Matt Osterman. It was filmed in and around Minneapolis, Minnesota, and made its festival debut at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal, Canada. ''Ghost fro ...

*The Missing Frame *Attack of the Moon Zombies *Some Fangs *Potpourri

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Site – Highway 61 Film Festival
Film festivals in Minnesota