Northern Film Alliance

The Northern Film Alliance (NFA) 501c3  effective date of exemption was May of 2016. It was formed as a partnership of film festivals in the northern region of the United States (The Duluth Superior Film Festival, The EDU Film Festival, and The Minnesota WebFest) with the mission to support the goals of its member festivals while serving as a conduit for film exhibition, education, and production.  NFA’s goal is to enhance the film festival experience for filmmakers and audiences; to engage with under-served and rural communities through high-quality cinema exhibition; and to support a network of regional and next-generation filmmakers through diverse screening options and enriching educational opportunities.

NFA’s formation was a direct result of the desire to move existing film festivals past Fiscal Sponsorship status and into their own Non-Profit organization. Although the NFA is a relatively new Non-Profit, its programming has been strong for more than a decade. The Duluth Superior Film Festival (DSFF) has been in operation since 2010, and The EDU Film Festival (EDU) since 2008. Minnesota WebFest (MWF) was developed from its inception as an NFA program in 2017. 

The NFA continues to grow. In 2019 NFA branched out into education/career development with the creation of the Horror High Film Camp, a week-long boot camp that pairs youth filmmakers with professional mentors to crew and produce a short horror film. In 2022, the NFA collaborated with fellow Duluth nonprofit Catalyst to form the North Star Story Summit, a 6-day industry and community event featuring film, TV, youth, and web content.