The Barn Raisers, a new documentary by Mid-America Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, is an Official Selection at the Iowa Independent Film Festival and will be showcased Saturday, August 19 during the 4:30-6:30pm block at the Main Event, 112 2nd Street SE, Mason City, Iowa. The Rundles will take part in Q&A following the film presentation. Festival information is available at iowaindie.org.
A crowd-pleaser at film festivals, The Barn Raisers tells the fascinating and true story of vintage barns and the mysterious men who built them. Barns were constructed by farmer-craftsmen, professional builders who traveled from job to job, and even architects like Frank Lloyd Wright. What do barn settings, styles and building methods tell us about the people who built them and the life they lived? The Barn Raisers examines barns through the lens of architecture and paints a cinematic portrait of an enduring cultural icon.
“The Barn Raisers feels like a humn to the solemn beauty and importance of these buildings,” wrote Dispatch/Argus film reviewer Jonathan Turner.
Quad City Times film critic Linda Cook gave the film 4-out-of-4 stars and wrote, “The Barn Raisers is a tribute to Midwest folk architecture.
The Tyden Barn located in Dougherty, IA is featured in the film.
The Barn Raisers is a companion to the Rundles’ Mid-America Emmy® nominated historical documentary Country School: One Room – One Nation.
The documentary was an Official Selection at California’s Newport Beach Film Festival, the Doc Sunback Film Festival, Interrobang Film Festival, and is one of three films selected for the Newport Beach Film Festival at Sea—a special feature during a seven day Celebrity Alaskan Cruise.
“These barns are a part of the history of American immigration,” said artist and barn owner Jeremy Marlow. “It’s really sad to see these things fall down at an alarming rate.”
Several Iowa barns are featured in the documentary, including the iconic Tyden barn located in Dougherty; Iowa’s oldest barn located in St. Donatus; the barn on the C.G. Good Farm in Ogden where the famous Belgian Stallion Farceur is buried; the Flynn barn at Living History Farms; architect/builder Benton Steele’s last remaining round barn in Iowa, and many others.
Iowa scholars were interviewed for the film including, Leo Landis of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and Marlin Ingalls of the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist. In addition to Iowa, The Barn Raisers was filmed in Kansas, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The Barn Raisers was partially funded by grants from Humanities Iowa, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Ohio Humanities Council, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the Michigan Barn Preservation Network, the National Barn Alliance/Russ & LuAnn Mawby, the Moline Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Jackson County. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this documentary film and program do not necessarily reflect those of these organizations.
The Iowa Independent Film Festival runs August 18-19, 2017 and features documentaries, shorts, feature, and student films.
The Rundles are the producers of the regional Emmy® nominated historical documentaries Country School: One Room – One Nation, River to River: Iowa’s Forgotten Highway 6, Letters Home to Hero Street (co-produced with WQPT-PBS), and award-winning films Lost Nation: The Ioway 1, 2 & 3, Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg (co-produced with Garry McGee), and Villisca: Living with a Mystery.