Mikkelson is $10,000 away from her Kickstarter goal for shooting her portion of “SMOOCH: A Documentary.” The film is about a Cambodian-American who returns to his homeland to confront the former members of the Khmer Rouge who tortured him. Not a revenge film, it’s intended to be a film about reconciliation since, instead of vengeance, the man is seeking opportunities to forgive and to start schools to educate Cambodian children.

For more info, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/922165315/smooch-kilongs-story-first-international-shoot

Update: Mikkelson reports the project has achieved its Kickstarter goal.

Downtown Minneapolis club Epic suffered water damage last week after a pipe burst on an upper floor of the building. However, the staff reports the venue won’t have to miss any shows and will be cleaned up in time for all upcoming shows, including superstar DJ Armin van Buuren (Friday, June 1), rapper DMX (Saturday) and Dutch DJ Afrojack (Monday).

One of the young unfortunates (in fact, the main unfortunate) who wanders into a death zone in “Chernobyl Diaries,” the horror movie that opened last week, is played by 2004 Eastview High School graduate Devin Kelley.  The actress, whose parents are Rich and Patty Kelley of Eagan, is also a 2008 graduate of USC who has appeared in the TV shows, “Chicago Code” and “Covert Affairs.”  According to her dad, Kelley takes after her grandfather, Cretin High School grad Jack Mitsch, who appeared in the Minnesota-shot “Grumpier Old Men” and “Ice Castles.” And, based on the committed work she does in “Chernobyl Diaries,” it’s not hard to imagine she’ll be showing up in more prestigious projects very soon.

Blending present-day interviews, vintage photographs and docudrama-like scenes with actors, filmmaker Genevieve Davis’ movie is sort of a video scrapbook/essay in which she investigates her family history, which was wrapped up in Roaring ’20s stories of gangsters who hung out in northern Wisconsin (and St. Paul). As she muses about family secrets, dreams and alcoholism on the soundtrack, images re-create the past, sometimes vividly. I was particularly taken by Davis’ deconstruction of photographs, which goes beyond the Ken Burns approach of panning slowly across a still image to make the photos come alive. But the story is not terribly involving and “Secret Life, Secret Death” often feels like one of those self-published memoirs that is mostly of interest to the people in it.

“Secret Life, Secret Death” will be shown at Amsterdam Bar and Hall in downtown St. Paul Saturday, May 26, at 1 p.m. Tickets are $7.

Download audio file (0522_Playlist_mixdown.mp3)

There’s more on the EP here, with a free stream of the title track.

Download audio file (0517_Grossmann_mixdown.mp3)

* How to navigate Art-a-Whirl this weekend in Northeast Minneapolis — or how they do it, anyway
* “The Dictator,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film (Chris’ verdict: just as funny as “Borat”) and “Bernie,” a dark comedy with Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine
* The music by local band Crisis Line, Marilyn Manson and Taylor Momsen’s band The Pretty Reckless at the Myth; Amy Ray at the Turf; Mayer Hawthorne at First Ave; and Van Halen and Kool and the Gang at the X

Download audio file (0515_Playlist_mixdown.mp3)