independent films.
Time For Ilhan, Director
Ilhan Omar, a young, hijab-wearing, Somali refugee mother of three, takes on two formidable opponents in a highly contested race for a seat in the Minnesota State Legislature. If successful, she will become the first Somali Lawmaker in the United States. An intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait of one of America’s brightest rising political stars.
Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile, Director
A Tibetan teenager travels from Minneapolis to India to compete in a most unlikely beauty pageant. Long separated from their ancient homeland, Tibet’s exile community struggles to maintain a sense of tradition in the face of modernity, emblematic in the contradictions of the Miss Tibet pageant. While its suave organizer insists that he offers young Tibetans a chance to immerse themselves in their culture and language, critics take issue with the event’s decidedly un-Tibetan focus on outer beauty, replete with bikinis and catwalks.
If You Dare, Director
If You Dare follows a small theater company’s efforts to make a difference in the lives of inner city kids.
A Sacred Heart, Director
“A Sacred Heart” follows Minnesota poet Phebe Hanson on a journey back to her childhood hometown on the prairie. Her own historical artifacts, along with the observations of fellow Minnesota writers and friends, as well as her own poetry, evoke both the era in which she grew up, and her literary legacy.
Received Emerging Filmmaker Award, Minnesota History Center’s 2006 Greatest Generation Film Festival.