Here is the block of films we showed on Friday night at the opening of the live 16th Annual Big Water Film Festival.

In a beautiful cinemagraphic stye that harkens back to the films of the 1940's, Andy Kastelic tells a tale that combines elements of the classic Western with elements that remind us of some of Rod Serling's best work in The Twilight Zone. Into a hard-luck prairie town where the residents have turned on each other walks a mysterious outsider who offers a solution to their woes. Every actor is superb, especially Marie Wagenman who, as a young girl at the center of the tale, is exceptional.

The Countryman

The Jurchens, founders of China's Qing Dynasty, had a deep respect for the natural world, and especially the place of ginseng in the origin of life. This film is a richly animated version of a Jurchen founding legend from the 13th century.

OrHoDa

Inspired by the Chequamegon Bay Area's own Book Across the Bay ski event, the residents around Minneapolis's Lake of the Isles have taken luminary creation to a new height. For one night only each winter, the lake comes alive with thousands of luminaries, some "classic," like those that light up the Book Across the Bay trail across Lake Superior, and others in towers and pyramids. The film documents this beautiful artistic event, and the home-grown engineering that goes into its production.

The Luminarians:  Making the Luminary Loppet

Thirteen year old Gaby returns for the summer to the vacation spot that has always been an idyll for her. But during the school year she has hit puberty and physically changed, and the friends she once hung out with and played soccer with no longer see her as the person she is but as an object to be made fun of and shunned. Gaby has more learning to do in order to make her friends respect her and include her once again.

English

Gaby's Hills

Dawn Mikkelson, the winner of the 2018 BWFF Audience Favorite Award for Risking Light, returns to Big Water with the story of women who come to together as teammates and friends to compete in the real sport, and the really tough sport, of roller derby. We see them on and off the track as they fight hard to win, and as they fight hard to balance roller derby with life.

Minnesota Mean

Films from Friday Night

Virtual Admission - Friday Night Films

Bay Area Film Society, Inc. P.O. Box 11Ashland WI 54806

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