The Barn Raisers, an award-winning documentary by Emmy® award-winning filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films will screen at the Walcott American Legion, 121 Bryant Street, Walcott, Iowa on Sunday, November 20, 1:30-3:30 p.m. The Rundles will take part in Q&A following the screening. The event is free to the public—seating is limited. The film event is sponsored by the American/Schleswig-Holstein Heritage Society (ASHHS).
A crowd-pleaser, 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.
“The Barn Raisers feels like a hymn to the solemn beauty and importance of these buildings,” wrote Entertainment Editor Jonathan Turner of the Dispatch-Argus.
Film critic Linda Cook, Quad City Times, gave The Barn Raisers four-out-of-four stars.
Numerous Iowa barns and barn experts appear in the film, as well as structures in four other Midwestern states.
“These barns are a part of the history of American immigration,” said artist Jeremy Marlow who owns the Marlow-Saak Barn located in Waukon, Iowa. The barn is featured on the film’s poster. “It’s really sad to see these things fall down at an alarming rate.” It is estimated that Iowa loses over 1,000 vintage barns annually.
The Barn Raisers was an Official Selection at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Beloit International Film Festival, the Interrobang Film Festival, the Royal Starr Film Festival, the Sunback Film Festival, and an award-winner at the Iowa Independent Film Festival and the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival.
The Barn Raisers was partially funded by grants from Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Wisconsin Humanities Council, Humanities Iowa, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Ohio 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 the organizations.
The Rundles have received eleven Emmy® nominations for their documentary work, and numerous film festival awards. Visit FourthWallFilms.com for more details.