A ‘Bigger and Better’ Film Festival

Minnesota is not the most opportune place for star sightings. There's a chance you might bump into Garrison Keillor. And the Coen brothers must still have a relative around St. Louis Park that they visit from time to time. But that might be the breadth our state's celeb status. 

This week at the , however, a number of directors and actors will be on hand for the second-annual Twin Cities Film Fest. 

"One of our goals this year was to bring Hollywood to the festival," TCFF Executive Director Jadin Setia said. "We have premiere Hollywood films here that won't be shown to national audiences for months."

Alongside the advanced screenings of those big movies will be a handful of the folks who made them happen. Opening night's showing of "The Bully Project" will bring in director Lee Hirsch. In attendance for the closing night showing of "Like Crazy" will be writer-director Drake Doremus and co-star Anton Yelchin. 

"These are up-and-coming actors," Setia said. "Anton Yelchin is going to be the next big thing. It's like getting Robert Pattinson before -Twilight' comes out."

"We don't have the Brad Pitts coming to our Festival," development director Danielle Palmer added. "We have directors and actors that are building their career, just like we're building our fest."

Attendees of last year's festival will notice quite a change this year. Everything from the location to the events taking place have undergone a makeover.

"Everything is bigger and better this year," Palmer said. "We set the bar pretty high with the first year—(we) had a lot of publicity, a lot of traffic and a lot of directors. We all of sudden thought 'Oh no, what do we do? How do we top this next year?'"

Last year's festival took place at an array of theaters around Minneapolis. One of the biggest changes is perhaps moving the festival to the Icon Theater this year, a move that makes it easier for the events and screenings to be happening in one place. 

"The West End has been fantastic. They came on, really got behind the event and are one of our largest supporters," Palmer said. "Not to mention the Icon is beautiful. It's hands down the best theater in Minnesota."

This year's festival will also feature Q&A sessions, a panel discussion, a gaming lounge, a superhero parade for kids, pre-screening mixers and a free Sunday afternoon showing of Fargo, which was partially filmed in St. Louis Park by natives Joel and Ethan Coen. 

"What matters most is looking at the audience at a Thursday, 4 o'clock screening," Setia said. "I just love seeing people I don't know watching these amazing stories being told on the screen."

The Twin Cities Film Fest starts Tuesday night and runs through Sunday. For a complete schedule of all the screenings, see the festival's website.