We are so pleased to see Fourth Wall Films' award-winning documentary THE BARN RAISERS featured in the spring edition of The Eastern Iowa Farmer magazine.
We are grateful to Jackson County preservationist Caroline Bredekamp for suggesting that the reporter check out our film and the numerous 'country cathedrals' dotting the Iowa landscape.
The Barn Raisers tells the story of barns in the Midwest by examining them through the lens of architecture. The film explores what building methods, barn styles, 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. The Barn Raisers is a companion film to the Rundles’ Emmy® nominated historical documentary Country School: One Room – One Nation.
“How could we create something from practically nothing with just a handful of tools and no drawings? The answer is in the barns,” said Rudy Christian, a traditional timber framer and barn preservationist from Burbank, Ohio.
Barns were constructed by farmer-craftsmen, professional builders like Wisconsin round barn builder Alga Shivers who traveled from job to job, and even architects like Frank Lloyd Wright. The Barn Raisers paints a cinematic portrait of barns and builders, an important way of life that has been largely forgotten, and the film reminds us that these remnants from America’s rural past are still here to be interpreted and experienced.
Stream or purchase the DVD of our award-winning The Barn Raisers at https://docublogger.typepad.com/fourth_wall_store/barn-raisers-the.html