The Film Society/Minnesota Film Arts, was born of a merger, in 2002, between the 40 year old U Film Society, the Twin Cities’ foremost exhibitor of art-house fare and longstanding producer of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, and the 10 year old Oak Street Arts, one of the most ambitious repertory cinema and community film access organizations in the country. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, the annual film event of the Upper Midwest, has a venerable 30 year history. The Film Society/MFA is located at the St. Anthony Main Theatre Complex on the Mississippi River, where it continues its tradition of year-round film exhibition and where it hosts the annual Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Film Festival. The Film Society is one of the most diversified film-arts organizations in the country and is the largest exhibitor of artistic films in the upper Midwest, exhibiting some 400 titles annually to an audience in excess of 100,000. Its inherited 50+ year operating history makes MFA one of the oldest film-arts organizations in the nation. The Film Society of Minneapolis/St. Paul presents the best of classic, contemporary and cutting-edge cinema from around the world, celebrating the diverse art of the motion picture as it was always intended—as a shared, community experience on the big screen. Our mission is to broaden the appreciation, accessibility and understanding of the art of film. Going beyond the movies, The Film Society provides a unique service to filmmakers and the community by bringing in experts in the field to discuss their work, presenting panel discussions and educational programs and producing world-class events like the annual Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival.