Award-winning and Emmy-nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films will present a FREE sneak preview of their new documentary The Amish Incident: Rural Conflict and Compromise on Monday, November 12 at the Starlight Cinema, Independence, Iowa. The special screening of the 25-minute documentary will begin at 7:00 p.m. with Q&A and discussion following with the filmmakers and others. The program is sponsored by Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area (SSNHA).
Film synopsis: When local school officials decide to bus Amish children into town schools in November of 1965, a newspaper photographer captures an iconic image of the kids fleeing from authorities into a nearby cornfield. The incident and the photograph ignite a firestorm of arrests, fines, and controversy leading to a unique precedent-setting covenant between the "Plain People" and the State of Iowa. The Amish Incident by award-winning historical documentary filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films weaves interviews with key people who were directly involved in the story, with newly discovered archival materials and period photographs to tell a fascinating and memorable true tale of rural conflict and compromise.
“We considered including the Amish incident story in our film Country School: One Room – One Nation,” said producer Tammy Rundle. “Ultimately we found that it was a complicated and dramatic story that deserved to be explored in a separate film.”
“I go to the Amish community to talk to an Amish patriarch. We’re talking in a room with no lights. There’s no water. There are lanterns around. They didn’t have telephones. And he’s talking about the school thing,” said Gene Raffensperger, the eastern Iowa reporter for the Des Moines Register at the time, “I never walked into one just like that and I’m saying to myself, ‘My God, this is the jet age colliding with horse and buggy.”
The Starlight Cinema is located at 2401 Swan Lake Blvd., Independence, Iowa. The free-to-the-public program will take place from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Q&A will be moderated by director Kelly Rundle of Fourth Wall Films. Film participants interviewed for the documentary will take part in the discussion.
The Amish Incident: Rural Conflict and Compromise was partially funded by a grant from SSNHA. Filming took place in Fayette, Buchanan and Polk Counties, all within the SSNHA 37-county region in Northeast Iowa.
The Starlight Cinema is located at 2401 Swan Lake Blvd., Independence, Iowa. The free public program will take place from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.
Through the project’s fiscal sponsor, The Moline Foundation, The Amish Incident: Rural Conflict and Compromise was partially funded by a grant from SSNHA. Filming took place in Fayette, Buchanan and Polk Counties, all within the SSNHA 37-county region in Northeast Iowa. The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.
Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area is one of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service. Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area preserves and tells the story of American agriculture and its global significance through partnerships and activities that celebrate the land, people and communities of the area.
The Moline Foundation serves as a catalyst and leader in encouraging philanthropy and channeling resources to meet the needs of the Quad Cities and the surrounding area. The Moline Foundation serves the donors, citizens, and non-profit organizations in the counties of Rock Island, Henry, Mercer, Warren, Henderson, and McDonough in Illinois, and Scott County in Iowa.
Kelly and Tammy Rundle are the producers of twelve award-winning documentaries including the Lost Nation: The Ioway 1, 2 & 3 series, Villisca: Living with a Mystery, Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg (co-produced with Garry McGee), and four Emmy® nominated films including Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, River to River: Iowa’s Forgotten Highway 6, and Letters Home to Hero Street (co-produced with WQPT-PBS). Fourth Wall Films is an award-winning independent film and video production company formerly based in Los Angeles and now located in the Quad Cities.
For more information visit FourthWallFilms.com.
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Fourth Wall Films' Country School: One Room - One Nation is an award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary. To order the DVD visit: https://www.fourthwallfilms.com/dvds.htm.
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