Frozen River Film Festival Finds a Home - and an Audience - at WSU

When a friend told Maggy Jacqmin and Will Kitchen about the MountainFilm Festival held in Telluride, Colo., they thought it would be a great idea to bring the touring festival to Winona.

“MountainFilm features films focused on the environment, adventure sports and world culture,” said Jacqmin, artistic director for the Theatre du Mississippi, a Winona arts organization.

“Our friend was so excited when he described it, we felt like it was something we wanted to do. We just needed a place to hold it,” continued Jacqmin.

Kitchen and Jacqmin had recently walked through Winona State's new Science Laboratory Building and thought it might be the perfect location to host a weekend's worth of independent films, lectures and discussion groups, musical performances, exhibits and demonstrations.

So the pair pitched the idea to Dr. Judith Ramaley, who, according to Jacqmin, “was in her first week on the job. I don't think she hesitated and said 'Let's find a way to do this.'”

Held January 19-21 (when the Mississippi River wasn't actually frozen due to a warm spell), the Frozen River Film Festival was a collaborative presentation of Winona State and the Theatre du Mississippi.

“Winona State's partnership with the Shakespeare Festival nicely set up the model for bringing the Frozen River Film Festival to the community,” said Sarah Aydlett, who helped organize the event

The opening film, “The Last River Rat,” based on the life of Kenny Salway who lives on the Mississippi near Alma, Wisc., was a sellout. During the all-day Saturday session, films ran concurrently in three auditoriums while environmental, agricultural, ecology and adventure sports groups held exhibits and demonstrations, creating a true festival atmosphere around the event. Arlene Burns, the founder of the MountainFilm Festival in Telluride, inaugurated the Winona event with her keynote address.

“I think the range of films, speakers and events appealed to a wide audience,” said Aydlett.

“Some of the films on extreme sports were visually amazing and appealed to a younger audience. And the films and displays on community supported agriculture generated a lot of discussion among farmers in the area,” said Aydlett.

“The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” a documentary about John Peterson, an organic farmer in northern Illinois, was one of those. “This story was especially inspiring, not just for the quality of the film, but for the interaction that it created,” said Jacqmin.

“People here in Winona are doing the same kind of community supported agriculture that John Peterson is doing. A group stayed for a long time after the film, discussing the issues and their lives on the farm. It was a connection not ordinarily made at an event like this.”

Jim Armstrong, a Winona State English professor, helped bring “The End of Suburbia” to Frozen River. A film about how development affects the global demand for oil, “The End of Suburbia has won awards at film festivals around the world. Kurt Cobb, an expert on peak oil, or when extraction of oil reaches its highest point and then begin to decline, discussed a future world depleted of its oil supplies.

“I had seen the film a few months before and found it riveting. Kurt Cobb is also an old friend of mine and I knew he was passionately interested in the subject of energy,” said Armstrong.

Armstrong continued, “It was a tremendous shock, frightening, for people to hear about peak oil and its possible consequences. Kurt led a discussion and some stayed for an hour afterwards to talk. I keep running into people who have seen the film and still want to talk about it, especially since energy issues have become more mainstream lately.”

“The focus of the festival was unique to issues in our region, such as the influence of the river, environmental issues and community supported agriculture. Next year we would like to broaden our perspective and include K-12 participation and the other colleges in the area,” said Aydlett.

“Theatre du Mississippi and Winona State worked closely together to bring a range of events to the community, to broaden the discussion of issues challenging us. We were overwhelmed by the response and the support,” explained Jacqmin.

“We're already working on next year's festival,” said Jacqmin.

Last Modified: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 15:13 by Brooke Sherer