As an international Festival that presents both dramatic and documentary films, MIFF has the opportunity and the responsibility to bring films to our community that will entertain, educate, and provoke thought and discussion. The Festival has grown into its role as an organization that builds, transforms, and bridges communities through film. 

Films chosen for MIFF community Knight Foundation Outreach Screenings and World Issues World Films program expose us to ideas, points of view, or ways of life that are different from our own. Audiences are often surprised to find that films set in different cultures and presented in other languages actually tell stories of shared experience and common personal understanding—connecting us to other cultures in way we might not have otherwise experienced. Outreach and World Issues World Films screenings are accompanied by discussions, panels, and interaction with filmmakers and community representatives.