The acclaimed new documentary “Free Leonard Peltier” will open the 44th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, which runs April 2 through 13.

Screenings are $17, or $11 for MSP Film Society members. Six-packs of tickets are $85 and $55, while all-access passes are $800 and $550. For more details and the full lineup, see mspiff.org.

The festival will feature more than 200 films from around the world at the Main Cinema and Capri Theater in Minneapolis, Landmark Center in St. Paul and the Edina Mann Theatre.

Highlights of the festival include:

“Free Leonard Peltier”: Directors Jesse Short Bull and David France revisit one of the most discredited convictions in modern America, the double life sentences handed down to Indian rights activist Leonard Peltier for the 1975 murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of South Dakota. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, just a week after President Joe Biden commuted Peltier’s life sentences. (7 and 7:15 p.m. April 2 at the Main Cinema.)

Opening night party: MSP Film Society has partnered with Owamni, the James Beard Award-winning Indigenous restaurant led by the Sioux Chef Sean Sherman, for a night of celebration with special guests, drinks, food and music. (9 p.m. April 2 at A-Mill Artist Lofts, 315 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis; tickets are $60, or $40 for members.)

“Brokeback Mountain” and a filmmaker conversation with director Ang Lee: The MSPIFF44 Milgrom Tribute, named in honor of festival founder Al Milgrom, will feature a live discussion with Lee, who is also known for “Sense and Sensibility,” “The Ice Storm,” “Life of Pi” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” A screening of “Brokeback Mountain” follows. It was one of 2005’s most acclaimed films, winning 71 awards around the world including Oscars for best director, adapted screenplay and original score. (4 p.m. April 6 with the screening at 7:15 p.m. at the Main Cinema.)

Writer/director Patrick Coyle discusses a scene in the film “Unholy Communion” with actor Adam Bartley. (Courtesy of Catrina Engleby)

Minnesota-made world premieres: The festival boasts two of them. “The Dance Is Not Over” is a documentary about local dancer, performer, choreographer, LGBTQ+ and publicly HIV-positive activist Patrick Scully. Director Patrick Coyle’s “Unholy Communion” is a murder mystery about a serial killer that’s based on a novel by Scandia author Thomas Rumreich and was largely shot in and around St. Paul. (Showtimes to be announced.)

RELATED: Adam Bartley talks about return to Minnesota for feature film shot in St. Paul

Other Minnesota-connected features: They include “Brooklyn, Minnesota” by Jessica Plank and Minnesota-raised Erik Jensen (filmed around Lake Minnetonka), “The Fun-Raiser” by Wyatt McDill (filmed on the Iron Range); “The Flamingo” by Adam Sekular (a former Film Society programmer), “Or Something” starring Minnesota-raised Kareem Rhama from the social media series “Subway Takes” and “Folktales” by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who hails from St. Paul. (Showtimes to be announced.)

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MADISON COUNTY, Miss. (AP) — A medical transport helicopter with a pilot and two hospital workers on board crashed in Mississippi on Monday, officials said.

The AirCare copter was not carrying any patients when it crashed in Madison County north of the capital of Jackson, according to a statement from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The statement did not say if there were any injuries or deaths.

Television station WAPT reported that at least one person was killed. Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration were en route, the station said.

“It’s a tragic reminder of the risks Mississippi’s first responders take every day to keep us safe,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said on Facebook. “Our state will never forget the sacrifice of these heroes.”

On the very last day of the regular season in 2019, a playoff spot well in hand, manager Rocco Baldelli handed off some of the responsibilities of his job to utilityman Ehire Adrianza.

Adrianza took Baldelli’s chair in the Kauffman Stadium visiting manager’s office and fielded questions from the media. He exchanged the lineup card with Baldelli, Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost and the umpires, and later he emerged from the dugout in the sixth inning to make a pitching change.

His playing career was nowhere near complete — he played five more seasons after that — but even back then, it was apparent to those around him that he was destined to stay in the sport one way or another once his playing days were over.

When the Twins reached out to Adrianza early this offseason — he said Baldelli texted him and mentioned there might be an opportunity to rejoin the organization that he played for from 2018-20 — it came at just the right time.

Adrianza, “with no doubt in my mind,” said he was open to learning more, eventually accepting a job this offseason to return to the Twins as a player development assistant. After spending parts of 12 years in the majors and dealing with injuries over the past few years, Adrianza, 35, was already thinking about retirement when the Twins came calling.

“I didn’t think it was going to be like this, so fast,” he said. “That’s why when they offered me this job, I didn’t think too much about it. … There’s a lot of opportunity here for me to grow and to learn. I’m just enjoying it right now and making the most out of it.”

With infield coordinator Tucker Frawley departing for the New York Mets and Tyler Smarslok, the Triple-A St. Paul Saints defensive coach, joining the Miami Marlins’ major league staff, the Twins had a real need for infield experience and expertise on the minor league side.

Adrianza didn’t feel, at that point, he was ready to be the organization’s infield coordinator, but he was eager to get involved in a different way.

“Sometimes players, as they’re finishing up their careers, sometimes they want to spend time with their families,” general manager Jeremy Zoll said. “Sometimes they’re hoping that they can have a very specific type of role, whatever that may be. But AD was super open to a wide variety of roles and really just wanted to work his way up and get exposed to as many things as possible.”

Though he hopes to wind up in more of a front office than a coaching-type role, right now he’s doing a lot of hands-on work with infielders and will spend this season traveling to all of the Twins’ minor league affiliates, from the Dominican Republic to St. Paul, to work with young players.

There’s a learning curve — working with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint are among the new challenges thrown his way — and the days in Fort Myers, Fla., are filled with planning, on-field work, meetings and more planning, making for a busy time. But Adrianza said he’s just trying to take in as much as he can each day.

“We feel fortunate that this is a path that he was open to and now he realizes there’s a whole other world out there when it comes to developing major league talent and learning how the other side of the game functions,” Baldelli said. “He could do virtually anything. Anything he wants to do, he could do. Now, it just comes down to putting in the same type of work that he put in as a player.”