Through their fiscal sponsor, The Kansas Barn Alliance, Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have received a major grant from the Kansas Humanities Council (KHC) in support of their new documentary feature-film The Barn Raisers.
The grant will provide partial funding for production on the documentary project in the state of Kansas. The Barn Raisers is a companion film to the Rundles' Emmy® nominated historical documentary feature film Country School: One Room – One Nation.
“We are grateful to our fiscal sponsor The Kansas Barn Alliance for advocating our work on this important documantary project, and to the Kansas Humanities Council for the grant award for The Barn Raisers, and the support we received previously from KHC for Country School: One Room - One Nation, and Lost Nation: The Ioway 1, 2&3," said Producer Kelly Rundle.
The Barn Raisers tells the story of barns in the Upper Midwest by examining them through the lens of architecture. The film will explore how barn styles, building methods and materials tell us about the people who built them, the life they lived and the role these “country cathedrals” played in the settling and building of the Nation.
Barns were constructed by farmer-craftsmen, professional builders who traveled from job to job and even architects like Frank Lloyd Wright. The Barn Raisers will paint a cinematic portrait of barns and builders, an important way of life that has been largely forgotten, and the film will remind us that these remnants from America’s rural past are still here to be interpreted and experienced.
As in the Country School film, The Barn Raisers will feature contemporary stories of people and groups throughout the Midwest who are actively involved in barn preservation and restoration projects.
The Barn Raisers is slated for release in 2015. For more information about the new documentary, visit www.BarnMovie.com and the film's Facebook Fan Page.
The Kansas Humanities Council is a nonprofit cultural organization promoting understanding of the history, traditions, and ideas that shape our lives and build community. Visit www.kansashumanities.org for more information.
The Kansas Barn Alliance, Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded in 2006 to discover, memorialize and preserve the story of rural Kansas, especially barns. The Kansas Barn Alliance mission is to educate those who own and/or appreciate this rural icon about the importance of preservation, reuse, and financial incentives.
Fourth Wall Films is an award-winning independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.