From Script to Screen

 
 

MAY 3 / 4:00PM - 5:00PM / WEEKEND 1

FROM SCRIPT TO SCREEN

TOMMY FRANKLIN, REYNA RIOS-STARR, CICI YIXUAN WU, SEBASTIAN SCHNABEL

PANEL MODERATED BY RYAN STOPERA

LOCATION: PF MAIN GALLERY 144

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Making a film is hard. From developing an idea, crafting a script, assembling a cast and crew, securing funding, navigating production, and completing postproduction with a story to be proud of — to gaining visibility, building an audience, and establishing the connections and resources needed to continue creating at an even greater scale is an ongoing challenge.

How do we do it? Maybe more importantly why do we do it?  

Join some of Minnesota’s most dedicated filmmakers as they discuss the passion behind their storytelling and the networks they’ve built to produce and showcase their films around the world.

Featured
RYAN STOPERA
RYAN STOPERA

Ryan Stopera is an award winning writer, director, photographer, and producer based in Minneapolis.  A self taught artist, he began his career working with individuals experiencing homelessness, children and families, and foster care youth, as well as in program development and affordable housing development.  He began documenting protests after the recession in 2008.  Ryan’s photos and films helped elevate narratives not seen in the mainstream media, and catalyzed his passion for documentary and narrative storytelling.  His background in social work and community organizing, and his relationships across communities make collaboration essential to his work, whether in creative projects such as filmmaking, or making space for connection, such as producing community events or program development.  Ryan’s latest short film serenity won the Audience Award at Twin Cities Film Fest and Best Short Film at Portugal Indie Film Festival in 2023.

REYNA RIOS-STARR
REYNA RIOS-STARR

Reyna Rios-Starr is a multi-hyphenate creative whose work spans acting, producing, and writing. Born in Gómez Palacio, Durango, Mexico, and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, she grew up in a family that instilled in her resilience and an unwavering work ethic values that continue to shape her approach to life and creativity. As someone who is bicultural, themes of identity naturally seep into her work, influencing the stories she tells and the characters she brings to life.

TOMMY FRANKLIN
TOMMY FRANKLIN

Tommy Franklin is a Minneapolis based filmmaker, writer, producer, creator of Weapon of Choice Podcast and Special Menu Productions. His documentary You Don’t Know My Name, currently in production, has received support from Sundance, ITVS, Firelight Media, Catapult Film Fund, The Marshall Project, The Just Trust, Jerome Foundation, and others. Tommy made four narrative short films, and he collaborates in grassroots organizing communities to produce nonfiction content he believes in. A survivor of incarceration (born in prison and having served time in adulthood), Franklin works along creative culture lines to radically reimagine power structures, focusing on Black liberation. 

CICI YIXUAN WU
CICI YIXUAN WU

Cici Yixuan Wu is a writer, director and producer from Zhengzhou, China. Her background is in architecture and design; after working two years as a set decorator, she joined her husband and filmmaking partner Sebastian Schnabel to run their company and produce fiction and documentary films together. She's passionate about film projects created in dialogue with the community. In 2022, Schnabel and Wu produced a short documentary on clean transportation funded by The Redford Center, which has been featured in publications and events nationwide including Forbes, StarTribune and Climate Week NYC. Wu is a 2024 FilmNorth Inclusive and Socially Conscious Filmmaking Lab Fellow and serves on the selection team of the EDU Film Festival.

SEBASTIAN SCHNABEL
SEBASTIAN SCHNABEL

Sebastian Schnabel is an immigrant writer-director, born and raised in rural Germany. Together with his wife and filmmaking partner Cici Yixuan Wu, Schnabel runs MindTwist Studio – a production company that uses character-driven storytelling to create positive social change. Their films have screened worldwide: “The Flour That Made Us'' was nominated for the Shibuya Diversity Award at the 2022 Short Shorts Film Festival in Tokyo. In the same year, Wu and Schnabel created a short documentary with The Redford Center, for which he received two Upper Midwest Emmy® Nominations. His work has been featured in Forbes, StarTribune, MPR News, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Climate Week NYC. Schnabel is a 2024. FilmNorth Inclusive and Socially Conscious Filmmaking Lab Fellow and a Short Film Programmer at Twin Cities Film Festival.

 
PanelPublic FunctionaryWeekend 1, May 3