MindTwist Studio

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MindTwist Studio

Film and video production company based in Minneapolis, MN

07/29/2025

In 2018, we made a short documentary called “Children of Spring”, about a group of kids and teenagers who were passionately making puppets and performing in the MayDay Parade. Now in 2025, we follow these kids again and find out what art means to them seven years later. The film focuses on the impact art and community have on children and teenagers, how it helps them navigate the difficulties in life, and the resilience they build through engaging in art activities.

We invite you to join us for a work-in-progress sharing and community conversation this Wednesday 7/30 at John & Denise Graves Foundation in the Midtown Exchange Building.

Thank you to Lake Street Mpls and The Graves Foundation for their financial support of this continuation of the documentary.

06/25/2025

We're casting for our next short film! 📽️

06/18/2025

Meeting some MayDay kids seven years later and filming "The Children of Spring" :)
We had such a wonderful conversation with Harris yesterday and talked about puppets, music, ketchup and the concept of time, among many others 😂

Thank you Lake Street Council, Lake Street Lift and the Graves Foundation for supporting the project!!

05/02/2025

We are honored to be part of the "From Script to Screen" Panel at Open Screen: The Forum.

Saturday May 3rd from 4-5pm

Description:
Making a film is hard. To create an idea, write a script, organize a cast and crew, raise money, get through production, finish postproduction with a story you’re proud of, get eyes on your film, and gain enough attention to develop relationships and resources to do it again bigger and better is the relentless challenge of filmmaking. How do we do it? Maybe more importantly why do we do it?

Hear from some of the hardest working filmmakers in Minnesota about the passion that fuels their storytelling and how they’ve built a network to produce and screen their films around the world.

Tommy Franklin
Reyna Rios-Starr
Cici Yixuan Wu
Sebastian Schnabel

The panel will be moderated by award winning writer, director and producer Ryan Stopera.

05/01/2025

TONIGHT! We will screen "Children of Spring", an official selection of Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival and Twin Cities Film Festival, at The Forum. This documentary is about a group of kids who are involved in Minneapolis MayDay Parade.

"Children of Spring" is part of Open Screen — a casual space for filmmakers & photographers to share their work, their stories, and reconnect with community.

OPEN SCREEN: PHOTO + FILM
6pm-9pm / Thursday, May 1
Location: Public Functionary 144
1500 Jackson Street NE

Come through for short films, photo series + artist Q&A! Let’s be together. 🤍

The Forum is a three-week gathering of filmmakers, photographers, and artists who see image-making as a means for connection, resistance, and cultural storytelling at Public Functionary from May 1 - May 18.
Full schedule + details on publicfunctionary.org

12/02/2024

Last Friday we held a private screening and Q&A for Deeply Troubled - Short Film. It was wonderful to see some of the cast and crew again, and share the film with an audience for the first time. We are very grateful for how engaged the audience was in the Q&A conversation after the screening. We will share more soon!

Photo 1 and 2 by Michael Chryssomallis

11/12/2024

We have completed Deeply Troubled! The whole making of this film was a crazy but wonderful journey. As always in filmmaking, it came with lots of ups and downs. You might have noticed that we posted less in the last months and we'll make sure to share some of those behind-the-scenes stories in the future.

So, what's next? We are currently in the exciting but also nerve-wracking process of sharing the film with festivals. On that end, we hope to have some good news soon, allowing us to finally share "Deeply Troubled" with audiences. Wish us luck :)

We would have never come to this point without our wonderfully talented cast & crew:
Main Cast:
Oliver: Carter Monahan
Melody: Natalie Tran
Joe: Jackson Whitman

Written & directed by: Sebastian Schnabel, Cici Yixuan Wu
DP: Ben Enke
Production Designer: Cheri Anderson, Props Metropolis
Composer: Jannik Günther
UPM: Ethan Vander Broek
1st AC: Victoria Bruce
Gaffer: Alexander Hall
Key Grip: KaylaAnne Glick
Drone Operator: Max Sjöberg
Script Supervisor: Arlo Rader
Hair & Makeup: Laura A. Hart
Makeup Assistant: Megan DuBord
Set Decorator: Mai Moua Thao
Wardrobe Assistant: Sam Deans
On-Set Sound Mixers: Owen Brafford, Joshua Dyrud
Post Sound Mixing: Conduit Sound
Sound Designers: Jim Morgan, Sebastian Schnabel
Supervising Sound Editor: Jim Morgan
Colorist: Aaron Link, Thicket Film Company
Editor & VFX: Sebastian Schnabel
Produced by: Cici Yixuan Wu, Sebastian Schnabel
Associate Producers: Harrison Reeder, Tango Wu, Jianhong Cao
Storyboards: Janita Bethencourt
Seed & Spark Campaign Manager: Cici Yixuan Wu
Campaign Marketing Manager: Sean Coffman
LED Volume Virtual Production: D&N Studios
Car Scene DP: Christian Spraungel
PAs: Rudrani Suttar, James Hoghaug, Jo Leeper, Sean Coffman
Driver: Noah Hughes
BTS Photography: Michael Chryssomallis, Jenny Zander, Ethan Vander Broek
G&E from Cinequipt

Additional Cast:
Emily Thorkildson, Eric Lee, Jim Morgan, Janita Bethencourt

Locations: Uptown Balloons, Lisa Van Ahn

06/30/2024

The last four days at the Hollywood Climate Summit were deeply inspiring, important and empowering. We met so many amazing people and made new friends. At this point we are so tired and are looking forward to finally getting some sleep when we are back in Minneapolis (after our red-eye flight). 😴

We will share more about the summit in the coming days!

03/29/2024

IMPORTANT!

Since yesterday, we have been receiving emails and calls from people who got an email sent from "Sebastian Schnabel" (not our email address at all) regarding a Pepsi or Red Bull shoot. [See second image for an example.]

It is a scam. If you've also got this email, please report them as spam or phishing. We're looking into it right now and hoping it'll be resolved soon.

12/08/2023

About a month ago we attended the Awards Gala for the Upper Midwest Emmys®. We had two nominations this year for our documentary “Community Power Minnesota: Transportation and Happiness", in the categories "Environment/Science" and "Editor" (Sebastian Schnabel). Unfortunately we didn’t win, but we still had a wonderful time sharing that night with all the talented people in the room.

Being nominated at all was a huge honor for us. Coming from Germany and China, Minnesota has become a second home. Therefore, being nominated for two Regional Emmys® right here with a film about this community, felt very special to us. We really appreciate the support and people we have here in the Twin Cities.

We want to give a big thank you to The Redford Center for believing in us and this Minnesota story. Thank you Professor Yingling Fan for agreeing to be the subject in this film. And last but not least, thanks to everyone else who was involved in this project!

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09/20/2023

Marie at Lake Street Council took these photos of us when we went around Lake Street and filmed all the new mural art!

09/05/2023

It is such an honor to be nominated for two Regional Emmy Awards!

This is wild and the news left us a bit speechless. Huge thanks to The Redford Center for believing in this community story and making it possible for us to tell it!

Address

711 W Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN
55408

Website

http://www.mindtwist-studio.com/

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MindTwist Studio, LLC. is a film and video production company based in Minneapolis, MN, focusing on cinematic narrative across fiction, documentary, and commercial projects. With a variety of cultural and creative backgrounds we bring a unique approach to any project we pursue.