— Actor, writer and director Erik Jensen is bringing his 2024 movie, “Brooklyn, Minnesota,” back to the Midwest for a screening at the Fargo Film Festival on Friday, March 20, at 7 p.m.
For Jensen, the screening is a homecoming, as the film’s roots are deeply intertwined with his own youth. “Detroit Lakes introduced me to the rest of my life,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Tribune earlier this month.
Jensen, who was born and raised in Detroit Lakes, credits the local arts scene — specifically the now-defunct theater company Playhouse 412 — and a supportive community for kickstarting his career. “I have a great debt of gratitude (to the community),” he said.
He participated in numerous plays and voice and speech competitions during his childhood, fondly recalling a memorable performance of the riddle scene between Gollum and Bilbo from J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic tale, “The Hobbit,” for a high school speech competition when he was in seventh grade.
Actor Erik Jensen and his real-life daughter, Sadie Jensen-Blank, in a scene from “Brooklyn, Minnesota,” where they also play the roles of father and daughter.
Contributed / Jessica Blank
His roots in Becker County run pretty deep: Jensen’s great-grandfather, George Peoples, was the county judge for a long time. “Peoples Street in Detroit Lakes is named after him,” Jensen said, adding that his grandmother, a key figure in his childhood, lived near Island Lake on the northeast side of Becker County.
“I liked fishing with her,” he said, adding that he always wanted to make a movie centered around the area’s lake culture.
In October of 2024, that wish came true with the world premiere of “Brooklyn, Minnesota.”
Twin Cities suburbs form the backdrop for Jensen’s film
Jensen says the original concept for “Brooklyn, Minnesota,” was generated during a hike in Lake Como, Italy, with his writing partner, Han Shaw.
“After about two hours of hiking through the mountains there in Italy, we came back and we had the whole movie figured out,” he said.
After they returned and pitched the idea to her, Jensen’s wife, Jessica Blank, said, “OK, we’re going to do this movie within a year.” It was she who insisted they immediately write down their ideas. “Before we knew it, the three of us were making the script together.”
The script they came up with tells the story of Maisie, a young girl from Brooklyn, New York, who discovers her father, Kurt, has been lying to her: His parents — her grandparents — whom she believed were dead, are actually alive and living in Minnesota. The story follows Maisie and Kurt as they return to his home state for his father’s funeral.
The film “Brooklyn, Minnesota,” stars 2026 Oscar nominee Amy Madigan, who is up for the Best Supporting Actress award for her part in the 2025 movie “Weapons.” The Oscars air this Sunday, March 15, 2026, on ABC, starting at 6 p.m.
Contributed / Sadie Blank
“Brooklyn, Minnesota,” stars Amy Madigan — a 2026 Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for the film “Weapons” — as Maisie’s grandmother, Gail, with Jensen playing the dad, Kurt, and his real-life daughter, Sadie Jensen-Blank, playing Maisie.
Jensen said that Sadie, who was with her parents and their friends on that fateful trip to Italy, had been on board with being a part of the movie from the start.
“We all had started talking about Minnesota and how much we love it,” he said. “And then I talked about my grandmother and how I’d always wanted to do a movie that centered around the lake, (and) the lake culture. And then my daughter was like, ‘Well, could I be in that movie?'”
The film was shot entirely in Minnesota. “I would have preferred to have filmed in Detroit Lakes, but there’s not enough film infrastructure up there yet,” Jensen said, “so we ended up filming in different spots around the Twin Cities … sort of on the edges of it, to make it look more rural.”
The filming was completed as planned, over the course of about a month, but it wasn’t long after they’d finished that Jensen received some unwelcome news. “I was diagnosed with stage four (colorectal) cancer,” he said.
Though in remission now, Jensen said he actually completed the editing process on the film while recovering from chemotherapy. He detailed the experience of making the film, and going through cancer treatment while completing it, in an online essay at Talkhouse.com titled
“Finding the Light: The Making of Brooklyn, Minnesota.”
The central themes of the film “Brooklyn, Minnesota,” focus on the complexities of family, reconciliation anid healing.
Contributed / Jessica Blank
Since its premiere, the film has done quite well for itself on the festival circuit, winning several awards including the prestigious
Gray Schwartz Ultra Indie Award and the NYWIFT Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking Award,
both at the 2024 Woodstock Film Festival. His upcoming appearance in Fargo, however, came as something of a surprise to Jensen.
“My wife, unbeknownst to me, entered us into the Fargo Film Festival,” he said, adding that it’s “a real honor” to be included in this year’s event, which will also be highlighting the 100th anniversary of its iconic home, the Fargo Theatre. Visit
for more information.