In the Echoes
222 E Superior St
Duluth, Minnesota 55802
United States
Duluth, Minnesota 55802
United States
In the Echoes
This program explores the complex terrain of contested histories, where personal journeys intersect with collective memory and unresolved pasts. Through stories that span from intimate family secrets to broader communal legacies, the films examine the tensions between belonging and exclusion, the scars of displacement, and the silent witnesses of history embedded in the land. Whether uncovering forgotten mysteries or grappling with the remnants of colonialism, these narratives invite viewers to reconsider how we connect with our histories and the places we call home.
This program explores the complex terrain of contested histories, where personal journeys intersect with collective memory and unresolved pasts. Through stories that span from intimate family secrets to broader communal legacies, the films examine the tensions between belonging and exclusion, the scars of displacement, and the silent witnesses of history embedded in the land. Whether uncovering forgotten mysteries or grappling with the remnants of colonialism, these narratives invite viewers to reconsider how we connect with our histories and the places we call home.
Branching Narratives: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of the Tappan Oak
This film examines the complex legacy left behind when a mighty oak finally dies on a college campus.
The stories contained in this film, fundamentally, are about a need to belong, to put roots down, to finally find sanctuary in being nothing but what we are.
This film represents both singular and collective stories. A lone undergraduate student communes with a tree to help him feel connected to a college campus from which he felt alienated. A professor collaborates with students to create a sense of belonging to Michigan’s natural environment. A society of students fosters belonging by performing a ritual around the tree to induct members into their community. In creating belonging for a select few, however, the society excludes and demeans others who similarly seek to belong. An activist collective responds by effecting change over decades to create spaces for belonging for all people on the campus.
All of these stories bear a relationship to the great oak, an unwitting but central figure in their narratives.
The stories contained in this film, fundamentally, are about a need to belong, to put roots down, to finally find sanctuary in being nothing but what we are.
This film represents both singular and collective stories. A lone undergraduate student communes with a tree to help him feel connected to a college campus from which he felt alienated. A professor collaborates with students to create a sense of belonging to Michigan’s natural environment. A society of students fosters belonging by performing a ritual around the tree to induct members into their community. In creating belonging for a select few, however, the society excludes and demeans others who similarly seek to belong. An activist collective responds by effecting change over decades to create spaces for belonging for all people on the campus.
All of these stories bear a relationship to the great oak, an unwitting but central figure in their narratives.
12 minutes
a fence is a fence but the clouds move freely
a fence is a fence but the clouds move freely is a brief essay on the origin of four small towns in rural Kansas and Oklahoma, told through each town’s respective water tower. Tall tales, public memorials, and roadside signage present in a region shadowed with settler-colonialism, imperial pursuits, identity fictions, and the threat of severe weather.
Rectangles
Was there really buried treasure at the old farmhouse? And who knows the real story? When a filmmaker attempts to discover the truth about an old family legend, he finds that answers are not what he expected. As reality, fiction and memory blend, both the story and the documentary fracture, leading to a more personal journey.
17 minutes
Used To Be
Images and sounds from the last days of the oldest record store in town.
12 minutes
We are all neccessary
This story has no script, no characters, nor does it take place at a
specific time or place. It can be played by anyone, at any time and in any place.
It can happen in the middle of the morning in the inner courtyard of the building where I live while I am preparing a coffee and the neighbor from the fifth floor of the building opposite appears.
specific time or place. It can be played by anyone, at any time and in any place.
It can happen in the middle of the morning in the inner courtyard of the building where I live while I am preparing a coffee and the neighbor from the fifth floor of the building opposite appears.
5 minutes
Bezuna
Bezuna explores the complexities of fleeing a war-zone through the analysis of peripheral details. Through interweaving different narratives, the film presents the raw and broken feelings of a child and a cat whose lives will never be the same.
7 minutes
