Local film giant Al Milgrom dies at 98

Al Milgrom, a major figure in the Twin Cities film scene, has died at age 98. 

Milgrom taught film at the University of Minnesota and founded the U Film Society in the 1960s. In time his efforts produced what became the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. 

Milgrom was a cinema zealot, who could ruffle feathers. One day he'd be handing out flyers on campus for international films he was screening, and the next jetting off to festivals around the world to find more. 

He inspired generations of Minnesota film fans, bringing some of the world's great directors to visit. 

In recent years he turned to his own film projects, working up material he shot decades ago. Ever the promoter, he took to describing himself as Minnesota’s oldest emerging filmmaker.

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