Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival features six Korea-related films among more than 200 offerings in this year’s line-up | By Martha Vickery (Spring 2026)
Six films made by Korean and Korean American directors will be part of the more than 200 recent films to be screened as part of the 45th annual Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF), to be held April 9 through 18, with five locations in the Twin Cities, and two in Rochester.
The Korean Institute of Minnesota is partnering with the MSPIFF to offer new films from a Korean perspective. One of the six films is a full-length feature What Does That Nature Say to You, by director Sangsoo Han, to be screened Wednesday, April 15, as part of the Asian Frontiers program.
What Does that Nature Say to You is a comedy drama by a famous and prolific South Korean director about a poet/photographer, Dong-hwa, who goes with his girlfriend Jun-hee to meet her parents. He is enraptured by the family home in a beautiful mountain setting, and Jun-hee’s father and Dong-hwa seem to bond. The situation begins to unravel when Dong-hwa is outed by Jun-hee’ sister as a spoiled and pompous poser with a privileged background, not the impoverished but principled artist he presents himself to be.
A new film short by (Korean American adoptee) director Dahee Kim, Rehearsal for an Encounter, depicts a young man getting ready to meet his birth mother for the first time in Korea. It is one of five shorts to be shown in a short film collection Oh, the Places We Will Go, to be shown Saturday, April 11 at the Main Cinema.
Other shorts by Korean/Korean American directors to be shown during the festival include : Follower, directed by Ryan Park (Tuesday, April 14 , as part of the Shorts 5: Chills program); Allergy, directed bySeyoung Kim (Sunday, April 19, as part of the Shorts 10: Meeting in the Middle program; Tiny Little Journey, directed by Jinwoo Lee (Saturday, April 18, as part of the Shorts 8: Animation Roundup program); and Sun and Wind, directed bySoyeon Kim and Todd Hemker, (Saturday, April 18, also part of the Shorts 8: Animation Roundup program).
Tickets for any of the MSPIFF films can be purchased here.
