Lost in an academic wasteland, a middle school reject falls in love with a sculpture.

For 17 years, filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt filmed his daughter Ella on her birthday in the same spot, asking her the same questions. In just 29 minutes, we watch her grow from a toddler to a young woman with all the beautiful and sometimes awkward stages in between. Each phase is captured fleetingly but makes an indelible mark. Her responses to her father’s questions are just a backdrop for a deeper story of parental love, acceptance, and ultimately, independence.

Based on true events, The Ladder follows the spiritual journey of Andrei, a sensitive, socially awkward young man who turns to acting in his search for true happiness. After the fall of communism, he is blinded by the illusion of freedom and democracy and faces a series of brutal events that have deeply marked Romania’s recent history. Finding comfort in playing the part of Aliosa in a stage adaptation of The Karamazov Brothers, he becomes closer and closer to his character, gradually discovering the way to understanding divinity.

Rory Scovel takes the stage at Minneapolis’ Goodale Theater to offer his observations on such disparate subjects as religion, sex, mushrooms, vaccines, parenting an eight-year-old, and much more in this standup special. The South Carolina native interweaves improvised moments with meta-commentary on the subtle art of stand-up as he riffs on some of the most awkward aspects of seemingly taboo yet universal topics – all with a dose of his amiable southern charm.

Comedian Paul Virzi takes the stage to spill on awkward drugstore runs, his obsession with crime shows and why his wife sabotaged his fitness goals.