Filmmaking
Healing
Community
We
nurture
&
cultivate
BIPOC
filmmakers
✶
We nurture & cultivate BIPOC filmmakers ✶
Our Programs & Offerings
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Film Fellowships
We offer two fellowships for BIPOC filmmakers.
StorySeeds is a 3-month screenwriting fellowship and FilmSparks is a year-long short film production & distribution fellowship.
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Cinefilmu Film Fest
Presented by TDM5 and Mamá Papaya, the film festival welcomes visionary QTBIPOC filmmakers and storytellers to a community focused celebration of our ancestral stories and cultures.
The free and open to the public event showcases powerful and brilliant cultural stories from immigrants, Black, Indigenous, Hmong, Somali, Latine, and the many peoples in our neighborhoods.
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Offerings
The BIPOC Filmmakers MN directory is a public resource to find and connect with local collaborators, mentors, apprentices, and crew.
We also offer services in script analysis & feedback, 1:1 film consultations, community catered screenings, and keynotes.
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Events & Workshops
Throughout the year, we offer events and workshops to grow, align, and nourish our local BIPOC film communities!
Our Values
Care
Interconnectedness
Accountability
Upcoming Workshops
We will examine the art of the narrative short film and embrace an art practice of personal storytelling, empathetic observation, and poetic visual expression.
Over the course of this workshop, participants will arrive with a selection of ideas for narrative shorts, develop one idea into a full draft of a short film screenplay and begin to ruminate on the visualization and execution of the short film.
In our sessions, we will strengthen our personal voice and storytelling perspective ; hold interactive exercises for the development of character, story, and visual language; and explore expansive and disruptive story structures.
Participants will also receive individualized feedback on their writing. (You should enter this workshop with a basic understanding of screenplay formatting and software.)
Everyone leaves this workshop with a draft of a short film that further develops their voice as an artist and storyteller.
4 Virtual Sessions
November 7th, 8th, 15th, 22nd
2 pm - 4 pm CST
Payment options include sliding scale or payment plan with 50% deposit upon registration.
Payment plan is only available for $100+ orders.
Every story worth telling is in conversation with something else. On Story: References in Film invites emerging filmmakers to look at how myths, plays, literature, folklore, personal stories and film traditions from around the world get transformed into original work instead of just echoed.
Through comparing finished works to the sources that inspired them, a walkthrough of a few foundational story structures, group discussion, and hands-on exercises, participants will practice separating a source's emotional core (its feeling, image, or dynamic) from its plot and characters, then shape it into something genuinely their own. Participants are encouraged to bring their own references and points of inspiration, in whatever medium they choose, and use them as a starting point for a new project. With individual feedback throughout, each participant develops and pitches an original premise.
You'll leave with the tools, references, and a story premise ready to keep developing into your next project.
Two Virtual Sessions
November 7th & 14th
11 am - 1 pm CST
Payment options include sliding scale or payment plan with 50% deposit upon registration.
Payment plan is only available for $100+ orders.
A script tells the story. A treatment depicts the film.
This two-part workshop is an introduction to the creative treatment, the document directors use to pitch their vision before shooting their first frame. We'll walk through what a treatment actually is and what goes inside it: the writing style, the visual references, the design, and the practices that separate a strong treatment from a stack of pretty images. You'll leave knowing how to build one from scratch.
Session two brings the cohort back with in-progress treatments for a video project (short film, music video, web series, etc). Together we'll workshop them in the open, naming what's landing and what isn't, always in service of your vision. You'll leave with a sharper document and a clearer sense of how to present your creative.
Come with questions, ideas, and friendly curiosity.
2 Virtual Sessions
November 8th & November 22nd
11 am - 1 PM CST
Payment options include sliding scale or payment plan with 50% deposit upon registration.
Payment plan is only available for $100+ orders.
Become a member!
Member Benefits
Extended application Deadlines for Fellowships and Programs
30% discount camera and studio rentals at Midcity Production Supply
Discount on Mamá Papaya Workshops
Access to Member Productions, Events, & Grants
Membership Eligibility
Open to MN based BIPOC filmmakers at all experience levels.
Committed to co-create a safer, joyful, and equitable film ecosystem.
It’s free!
Testimonials
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After being in enough art spaces where I felt really small and othered, I knew I wanted to learn about filmmaking in a space that centered community, healing, and connection.
Rio Pérez, FilmSparks Fellow 2025
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