On The Mark: Movies return to the barn

On the evenings of Aug. 20-21, the Dugan and Fisher- Merritt clan will again host the Free Range Film Festival at their heritage barn in Wrenshall. Screening the films ahead of time, I’ve marveled and enjoyed the range of offerings, short to long, reflective to performative.

Beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, the first evening’s 15 films — some short, some longer — offer us personality profiles, small and exceptional spaces and impressionistic journeys, as well as adventurers and competitors in action.

Here’s a brief sketch of some of the Friday films.

I loved Rachel Knoll’s “Let the Blonde Sing,” about a woman bartender in a small and remote Alaska town who likes to sing for her few patrons. The film “Browsing History: Video Universe, My Dad and Me,” by Rachel Prost, sweetly portrays a surviving video storefront (buy or rent) and their regular patrons. Prost will join the festival in person, one of several filmmakers to attend. In the past, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to hear from them and the Q&A that follows.

Friday’s offerings include films that eschew realism, using art to convey their stories. Among these are Duluth artist Jonathan Thunder’s film “Maamawi.” An Anishinaabe artist whose body of work includes films chockfull of beauty and motion, Thunder narrates: “It was not day or night … but somewhere in between … I couldn’t remember waking up.”

Friday night’s offerings include a film by Nicholas Kapanke, “Delta of Spirit,” which documents the progress of 20 dozen fat tire bike riders who compete to finish a race of 240 miles across Minnesota.

The longest and possibly the most loving of Friday’s films is Christopher Rohde and Kenneth Warner’s “We Don’t Deserve Dogs.” The filmmakers document an array of dogs in many settings, including an opening scene of a dog sitting blissfully before a storefront, waiting for his owner. I’ll leave it to you to enjoy: bring your expectations and offer the filmmakers comments afterward.

Ann Markusen lives in Red Clover Township north of Cromwell with her husband, Rod Walli.