Location of the Week: Minnesota

by MovieMaker Staff | Published May 6, 2007

Quick word association: What are the first two words that come to mind when you hear “Minnesota?” If you thought “cold” and “snow,” you’re not alone. Of course, it doesn’t help that some of the best-known Minnesota-shot movies back up those associations. Fargo takes place almost entirely in cold and snow; winter weather figures prominently into the plots of Jingle All the Way, Grumpy Old Men and A Simple Plan; and who can forget Apollonia’s dip into the freezing waters of one of Minnesota’s many lakes (that wasn’t Lake Minnetonka) in Purple Rain.

While those films make use of the frigid Minnesota climate to great effect, the Minnesota Film and TV Board knows the state is more than just freezing temperatures. The state has a lot to offer any moviemaker, says production services manager Christopher Grap. “You can be shooting an industrial site or urban setting in the morning and isolated farm country or river banks in the afternoon,” Grap says. “Something producers have commented on is the close proximity of diverse locations. You don’t have to travel far in Minnesota to get a great range of backdrops.”

Through the board’s new website, www.mnfilmtv.org, and the Minnesota state production incentive, Snowbate, which returns up to 15 percent of production costs to producers on eligible projects, Minnesota certainly has more to offer than snow angels.

Other notable productions from the Land of 1,000 Lakes:
Graffiti Bridge
Beautiful Girls
The Mighty Ducks trilogy
Grumpier Old Men
Pushing Tin
A Prairie Home Companion
North Country
Airport

Sound Off: Like many other states, Minnesota offers a tax incentive program to entice productions into the state. Besides tax breaks, what are some other important economic sweeteners that would entice you, the moviemaker, to a specific location?

â€”Dante A. Ciampaglia

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Comment by Jeevika on 5/08/07 at 1:27 am

Jeevika: South Asia Documentary Festival, which began in 2003, aims at capturing the livelihood challenges faced by the rural and urban poor and bringing it to the attention of current and future policy makers. Over the years, Jeevika has been successful in advocating for the cause of numerous entry-level entrepreneurs - rickshaw pullers, street vendors, prostitutes, child labour, farmers and forest-dwellers.

The premier event of the festival to be held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi will be the awards ceremony from 20-23rd July 2007, which will culminate four days of screening for the top films. The last date for the submitting the entries is May 31, 2007

In addition as part of the festival tour, the award-winning films will travel and be screened in premier schools and colleges in over 20 states in India and other organisations working on livelihood issues as well as in our South Asian neighbours.

Over the years, Jeevika has become an increasingly popular and news-worthy event as well as an important catalyst for positive social change. The Film-makers whose films have been showcased in the past include Rakesh Sharma (of the Final Solution fame), Sanjay Barnela (Turf Wars) and Shohini Ghosh (Tales of the Night Fairies).

For further details, please log on: http://www.ccs.in/jeevika
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