ELY — If you missed seeing some films at this year’s Ely Film Festival, you weren’t alone. From my count, most of the showings were sold out in advance. And even the nasty winter storm, which dropped as much as nine inches of snow on Friday, didn’t hurt attendance.
We trekked up to Ely on Friday, after convincing our neighbor to plow a single lane down our gravel road so we could get out to the highway in time for a 3 p.m. showing of “neighborly” short films. The selection of six films consisted of three focused on Ely, one on the impact of taconite mine closures on two families, one about the Wilderness Act’s impacts on our forest ecosystem, and one about the immigrant experience, something that shaped our region over the past 150 years.
The three Ely-based films really hit home for the audience. I am pretty sure that almost everyone watching recognized at least someone in these films, and many, including myself, recognized themselves or family members.
After screening the films, Lucy Soderstrom, program director of the festival, led a question-and-answer session with the creative voices behind all six films.
For many, this was the first film they had produced.
“I was laid off from the radio station (WELY),” said Brett Ross, who had two films in the program, one on the Ely Folk School and the other on Ely’s Adventure School run by SunShine Gardner. Ross heard about a state art board grant program and applied.
“I wanted to tell a story about building strong rural communities,” he said. “I wanted to start with the littlest people in our community and reached out to SunShine Gardner and Rosa Oesterreich with the Ely Adventure School. They do great work with children in our community.”
The Ely Adventure School is a nature-based child care program, where children spend their day outdoors, exploring and playing.
Gardner said he was amazed at how Ross was able to capture the essence of his program. “A few years ago, I gave the kids some cameras. But all I got were hundreds of blurry or super close-up photos. Brett was able to get kids to get pictures that were pretty cool and awesome.”
“When I first got involved with photography,” Ross said, “every commercial photographer I met said don’t get involved with kids and animals.” Ross, of course, did both. The animal costars of his film included frogs and a chipmunk, nicknamed Butt Cheeks by the children.
Ross said observing the children at play gave him a focus for his storytelling. “I took a very childlike approach to making this movie,” he said. “When my daughter was little, she used to say, ‘I do it my own self.’ And that was kind of my approach to it.”
Ross’s second film in the group was a retrospective on the founding of the Ely Folk School. For this film, he said, he spent most of his time listening to the founders and their “whole ethos” on what went into the creation of this now important part of the Ely community, that has grown from its initial founding plans. In total, the two films really “embodied the sense of community” in Ely, he said.
Another film that embodied the spirit of the community was a film by Dane Rauchenberg, Jeremy Nelson, and Jacob White, about the Ely Marathon, and Rauchenberg’s quest to set a new record for the portage half-marathon.
“The movie started in the brain of Dane,” said White. “He posted on Facebook that he was looking for someone to document his attempt. I thought there was more to the story that this. It was not just about his effort, but a love letter to Ely and the Ely Marathon.”
Rauchenberg, whose company Sherpa was a major sponsor of the race, is best known for running 52 marathons over the course of 52 weeks and has written books about running.
“It was so nice to see the race from the other end,” he said. “When I’m running, I have tunnel vision. The bird’s eye view in this film, and showing all the other people involved, is so very special.”
White and Nelson filmed the race, leap-frogging over the course, and using drone footage to get amazing overhead views.
“It was so cool to see a community at work and seeing everyone come together,” Nelson said. White added that the filming was very challenging. “The race goes by so fast,” White said.
The Ely Marathon and Half Marathon, one-of-a-kind in the world with its categories for runners portaging a canoe while racing, is not being held in 2026, but many are hoping the race can come back in the future.
Rauchenberg was hoping to set a course record, but both physical and technical issues hampered his effort. Running less than a year after knee surgery, shortly into the race he realized he would not have the pace to set a new record for the half marathon portage division (which was set that year by Victoria Ranua, who also was faster than the other men in the division). But this realization, voiced early in the film, opened the film up to a wider exploration of the race itself.
Soderstrom noted that each of these films showcased the really special people who live here in Minnesota.
Tom Deschenes film focused on collaborative efforts between Native American communities and the U.S. Forest Service to allow fires to burn in the boreal forest areas where natural fires have been suppressed.
“The practice of cultural burning, or good fire,” he said. “This is necessary for the health of our forests.” The regeneration of red pine is dependent on fire, and suppressing fires has meant the forests in areas like the Boundary Waters are allowing red pine to sprout and grow.
“We poured our hearts into this film,” he said, noting he wanted to lift the voices of those working on this important issue.
Patrick Douglas, a young filmmaker and graduate of University of Minnesota- Duluth, said his initial plan was to find “something cool to talk about from the place I was from.” Shortly after he started working on a plan, large and probably permanent layoffs were announced for two taconite mines.
“I wanted to tell this story,” he said. By focusing on two laid off miners, and only using simple equipment, he told stories that were both personal and regional.
“People connect through person-to-person storytelling,” he said. “These are real people being affected by real consequences.”

You can do it, too
Douglas said it was important to know that the barriers to filmmaking are very low right now.
“If you have an idea, you can shoot it,” he said. “You don’t need any fancy equipment. You can make a movie with a smartphone.”
Ross said he has a lot more ideas for film, but things that hold him back are self-doubt and criticism. He added that he had learned something from each of the films screened and was inspired to keep working.
“We all have stories to tell,” he said.
White, who had the most film-making experience of the group, said he’s had the privilege of teaching about media the last five years.
“I tell my students just do it. Pick up a camera and try.”
He noted that no film is perfect, and you are always going to be your worst critic.
White has several other films underway that feature the Ely area, one about Veterans on the Lake, and one about the Northern Tier Base.
“I just need some funding and time to edit them,” he said.
Claudia Tatinge Nascimento, whose film about immigration blended stories about bird migration to the immigrant experience, noted that her background as a theater producer was helpful, but that she started this journey without even any photography experience. Film gave her a chance to keep her stories alive,” she said.
“Theater ends when the play ends,” she said, “so I decided to try film.”
“At the age of 60, “I rediscovered curiosity,” she said.
She said the most important step is just to start.
“Don’t let your ideas marinate too long,” she said.
This was only one of many of the festival’s sessions that included question-and-answer sessions. Festival director Ryan Bajan said this year, the fourth year of the festival, they had more directors/producers attend than ever before. The festival also features the Indigenous Youth Film Day, which brings youth from many area schools to Ely for the day, and hopefully inspire a new generation of filmmakers. Over one-third of the films screened at this year’s festival came from Indigenous filmmakers. And due to many of the screenings being sold out, the festival added some extra screenings at the theater following the official close of the event.
Next year’s Ely Film Festival will be held March 10-14.

This online version of the article was edited to correct a quote that was misattributed to Jeremy Nelson, but was actually from Jacob White.