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Board approves movie filming in Ely’s schools

Catie Clark
Posted 5/4/23

ELY- The Ely School Board approved the use of facilities at the Ely school campus for filming the movie “Athens,” by a film company that’s been in the community in recent days. The …

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Board approves movie filming in Ely’s schools

Posted

ELY- The Ely School Board approved the use of facilities at the Ely school campus for filming the movie “Athens,” by a film company that’s been in the community in recent days. The board members also approved the appearance of the district’s logos and signage in the film. The working title of the film, which remains in flux (see related story page 12), is being produced by Closed Doors Films LLC.
The film company will shoot the school scenes in the movie on Tuesday, May 2. School board members and producer Erin Mae Miller focused their discussion this week on how the film crew proposed to shoot the scenes in a way that minimized the disruption to the day’s instruction at the district’s campus.
Miller’s presentation to the school board revealed that one of the deciding factors that prompted Closed Doors Films to choose Ely as the shooting location was the tour of the Ely school campus given by Mayor Heidi Omerza. Omerza is also a fifth-grade teacher at Washington Elementary.
“When we came here, (Mayor Omerza) met us at the school … She was the first mayor that met us for any sort of (location) scouting. She showed us the beautiful renovation that you guys did with incorporating the (schools’) history. Oftentimes, when you see older schools get renovated, the old charm and what was so beautiful about the original is just whitewashed with something modern and new. What we loved (about the Ely schools) was a timeless element that felt like anyone could place themselves in the school within the last 100 years. We really loved that aspect for the look of the film.”
In other business, the board:
• Received a notice of intent to negotiate from the Ely Education Association.
• Received an update on actions in the Minnesota Legislature that may impact the school district, with a description by Superintendent John Klarich on bills that might negatively impact the district’s budget and high school curriculum.
• Received a report from the district’s facilities director, Tim Leeson, on the main obstacle to finishing the punch list and other remaining items for the 21st century Facility Project. “We need the weather to cooperate,” he said.
• Received the report from Washington Elementary School Principal Anne Oelke that there were 18 Kindergarten sign-ups last week.
• Accepted a $150 donation for the music program for grades 4 and 5, and $500 for the high school band, both from the Ely Rotary Club.