Moonplay is more than a screening program. It is a place and space for radical generosity, growth, and sustainability.“When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.”
― Adrienne Rich Moonplay Cinema is an artist-run screening program featuring women and gender non-conforming filmmakers and moving image artists. We screen auteur-driven experimental, documentary, and innovative narrative works. We bring women and gender non-binary filmmakers together, not to isolate us as a group, but to create space for community and connection. Together we can empower one another to share our stories and experiences. Together we can organize events so that our projects are seen, represented, and appreciated, ultimately creating more opportunities for our careers. Because as it is, what's out there, isn't enough. Moonplay is for us for that very reason. Our events take place 1-4 times a year at Dreamland Arts, a 40-seat theater owned and operated by theater artists Zaraawar Mistry and Leslye Orr. The theater, named after a dilapidated movie theater in Secunderabad, India, is located in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. It is attached to the artists' house through an underground passage in the basement. We open our call for submissions once or twice a year. Our current deadline is May 29, 2020. Submit here. We are committed to paying our exhibiting artists and our venue appropriately for their contributions and time. Our goals are to access fiscal sponsorship so that we can increase our abilities to strengthen programming, access grant funding, offer tax-deductible donations, and build sustainability for our community and future. Moonplay is organized and curated by artist and filmmaker, Jes Reyes, the founder of the Altered Esthetics Film Festival. She directed the festival as an official ARTshare program at The Southern Theater for 4 seasons (2014-2017). She has been developing Moonplay Cinema for the last two years, so she is excited to get it off the ground and running. Moonplay's name comes from our goals to be boundless. It is also a nod to the act of pressing play and the movie screen's illumination and inclusive possibilities. Moonplay is also named after one of Jes's favorite filmmakers, Marie Menken. She made a short stopmotion animation film in the early 1960's called Moonplay. Her experimental films are endlessly inspiring! If you have questions, please reach out here. Submit to screen with us here. Moonplay Cinema is a fiscally sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts. 
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