"Offering a farm fresh alternative to stale cinema," the Free Range Film Festival of rural Wrenshall will celebrate its fifth year of showing quality independent films inside a historic barn July 24-26.
"According to the Internet, the fifth year anniversary is wood, so it's pretty fitting that we're in a barn," said Anne Dugan, festival coordinator. "There are some pretty cool additions this year - we got an electric organ to put up front by the screen and play before the movies start, and we got 40 old, original theater seats from the Norshore Theater."
This year sees an early start to the event as well, with festivities kicking off on Thursday, July 24, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
"The Thursday kick-off was partly to tie into the FinnFest audience and partly because we had quite a few really excellent features this year" said Dugan.
Thursday night will showcase two features - "Alaska Far Away" by Joanie Juster, about the Matanuska colony established during the New Deal, and "Pond Hockey" by JT Haines, detailing the finer points of an important northern Minnesotan pastime.
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Screenings will continue with an evening session on Friday, July 25, starting at 7 p.m. and continuing on Saturday, July 26, with an afternoon session at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. that evening.
A total of 27 films will be shown over the entire weekend on three different screens throughout the facility.
Some highlights include the return of filmmaker Aaron Katz and the debut of Aaron Coffman and the much-talked-about genre of "mumblecore," an American independent film movement of this decade primarily characterized by ultra-low budget production, focus on personal relationships between "twenty-somethings," improvised scripts and non-professional actors.
Also playing will be shorts from the Sundance Film Festival and work by a strong contingent of local talent.
It all takes place at the junction of County roads 1 and 4 just a few miles south of Wrenshall and approximately 25 minutes south of Duluth.
The films to be shown at the festival range in length from two minutes to over an hour.
The suggested $10 donation goes towards maintenance of the theater and organization of the festival.
More information is available at the festival Web site: www.freerangefilm.com .
