Mark your calendars: the August 9 Square Lake Film and Music Festival is going to be a hot ticket again this year. (Last year’s festival sold out for the fourth year in a row, so it’s smart to act sooner than later to reserve your spot if you’d like to go.) Just a few miles east of St. Paul, on a wooded hill near Square Lake County Park in Stillwater, Minn., crowds will gather for a day-long showcase of live music and locally made films.  (See the full schedule here.)

This year’s music line-up is eclectic and compelling: big-draw talent like Low and the Anonymous Choir (led by Dark Dark Dark’s Nona Marie Invie); singer/songwriter Frankie Lee; experimental ensembles like the beat-and-vocals-driven Shiro Dame and the solar-powered, ambient instrumental Eclectic Edge Ensemble; smarty-pants alt rock outfits Ruben and Carroll; and Chinese pipa soloist Gao Hong.

Photo by Drew Johnson, taken at the 2013 Square Lake Film and Music Festival.

The films that screen at the festival are selected from a pool of open-call submissions from area filmmakers by a panel of jurors (for 2014, writer/filmmaker Shawn Otto, documentary filmmaker Gayle Knutson, and Tracy Beaulieu and Jeff Stonehouse from Mystery Science Theater 3000). Every year, the festival shows between 35 and 40 films, most of them short – less than 15 minutes long; the film screenings begin indoors then, after dark, move outside where they’re projected on a big screen set up next to the main stage. The highlight of the night: Anonymous Choir will give a live performance of their newly commissioned film score to Lotte Reiniger’s delightful animated short, Aucassin and Nicolette (1975).

Square Lake Film and Music Festival will be held 13363 Partridge Road North, Stillwater, Minn. on August 9 from 2 p.m. until midnight, rain or shine. Icehouse will be there, offering food and drink for purchase all day. Festival-goers who bike in can receive both discounted admission and access to free camping on-site (as long as spots are available). General admission is $30 at the door ($25 if reserved ahead of time); bike-in, advance tickets are $10. Kids are welcome, and, for those under 12, there’s no charge to attend. For more information, visit the website at www.squarelakefestival.com.