River to River

Fourth Wall Films' "Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6" Clip Featured in National-wide Civic Season Celebration

It's year two for #CivicSeason and once again Fourth Wall Films joins the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, First Americans Museum, the Putnam Museum, and more than 300 organizations nation-wide to celebrate what it means to be an American citizen.

A clip from award-winning "River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6" is featured! Click HERE to view.

"The Civic Season will be held each summer from Juneteenth through July 4th, a time to turbo-charge our democracy with micro-actions from learning to service."

To purchase the award-winning documentary, River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6, visit FourthWallFilms.com!

Stream the film at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/highway6movie.

You can also get the "River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6" DVD at the fabulous Wilton Candy Kitchen in Wilton, Iowa right on Historic Route 6!

"Highway 6" Filmmakers Premiere New Documentaries on Ioway Indians in Iowa City Feb. 23

Highway 6 documentary filmmaker Kelly Rundle shoots footage at Living
History Farms' 1700 Ioway Farm in Des Moines for "Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3.

Delegations from the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska will return to their ancestral homeland of Iowa to attend the world premiere of Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, 17 N. Clinton St., Macbride Hall Auditorium in Iowa City on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.  Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, producers of the Emmy® nominated documentary Country School: One Room-One Nation and the award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway 1will join the Ioway and other film participants for Q&A following the screenings.

When the Ioway were forcibly removed from their ancestral homeland of Iowa in 1837 to a reservation on the border of Nebraska and Northeast Kansas, Ioway leader White Cloud (The Younger) believed his people must relocate to survive. But intermarriage, broken treaties and the end of communal living led to a split in 1878 and the establishment of a second Ioway tribe in Oklahoma. Both tribes endured hardship and challenges to their traditions and culture to achieve successful land claims and self-determination in the 1970s. Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 brings the dramatic Ioway story full circle.

“I believe all the tribes had their trail of tears, said Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Tribal Elder Joyce Big Soldier-Miller. “They all suffered--all those Indians who made those treks away from their former homelands.”

“It’s always good to look at the past and remember that it does affect the future,” said Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska tribal member Reuben Ironhorse-Kent. “The ancestors did the best they could with what they had.”

Ioway Elders and tribal members join other Native scholars, historians, archaeologists and anthropologists to tell the dramatic and true story of the small tribe that once claimed the territory between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from Pipestone, Minnesota to St. Louis. The state of Iowa takes its name from the Ioway Tribe.

In addition to the premiere, the public is welcome to visit the new Ioway exhibit at the Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center in Toddville, Iowa (40 minutes north of Iowa City), a special Ioway display and premiere reception in the Iowa Hall at the Museum of Natural History from 5:30pm until 6:30pm.

The world premiere of Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 is hosted by the Museum of Natural History, University of Iowa, 17 N. Clinton, Macbride Hall Auditorium, Iowa City, Iowa and will take place on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. The films contain mature themes and historical images that may be disturbing to young children.  A premiere reception will take place from 5:30pm-6:30pm in the Museum's Iowa Hall.

The documentaries will continue screening throughout the U.S. and will be released on a single full-featured DVD in April 2013. An alternative soundtrack in the nearly extinct Ioway language will be offered on the DVD. Broadcasts on Midwestern PBS stations are slated for 2013.

Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 was partially funded by grants from Humanities Iowa and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, as well as humanities councils in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Rundles are currently in production on the documentary River to River: Iowa's Highway 6 which will be released in 2014.

"Highway 6" Filmmakers' Emmy-nominated Documentary on IPTV August 24

Two-room schoolhouse located in Coralville, Iowa along Highway 6.

Iowa Public Television (IPTV-PBS) will broadcast the award-winning documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation by Tammy and Kelly Rundle (Villisca: Living with a Mystery, Lost Nation: The Ioway, Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg) on Friday, August 24, 2012 at 9:00 p.m.  The film recently received a regional Emmy-nomination in the Historical Documentary category and has won numerous film festival awards and recognition.

Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation.  Whether personally, or through a parent or grandparent, the country school as an American architectural icon, is as imprinted on our perception of the nation’s early history as the log cabin and the general store.  Stories told by former teachers and students are often nostalgic, but they are also dramatic, humorous, and heart-wrenching.

In addition to Country School, the Rundles produced the award-winning documentaries Villisca: Living with a Mystery, about the 1912 unsolved Villisca, Iowa axe murders of 8, and Lost Nation: The Ioway, a film about the Ioway Indians.  Currently they are in production on the documentary River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6, and a docudrama entitled Sons & Daughters of Thunder, based on the play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter.  They are in post-production on Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3, to be released in November; and Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg, a co-production with Emmy-nominated filmmaker Garry McGee, slated for release in May/June 2013.

Country School was shot in Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois and received grant awards from Humanities Iowa, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Kansas Humanities and the Wisconsin Humanities.

"Highway 6" Filmmakers Receive Regional Emmy® Nomination for "Country School" Documentary

River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6 filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have received a Regional (Mid-America) Emmy® nomination in the Historical Documentary category for their award-winning documentary film Country School: One Room – One Nation.  This is the first time the Rundles have entered a film in the Emmy® competition following a March 2012 qualifying broadcast on WQPT-PBS.

“We are deeply honored by this nomination,” said Tammy. “And, we gratefully share this wonderful distinction with everyone who helped us make the film,” added Kelly.

Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation. Country School: One Room - One Nation provides a never-before-seen perspective on one-room schools in the Upper Midwest. From the first schools in new states to the demise of their widespread use in the 1950s and 1960s, the visually stunning film takes viewers "back to school" for a dramatic new look at the lasting impact of America's one-room schools.

Country School premiered in 2010 at the State Historical Building in Des Moines and has since screened more than 60 times in cities throughout the United States. The critically-acclaimed film was released nationally on DVD in 2011. Iowa Public Television (IPTV) will feature broadcasts in late August and September, and broadcasts on other PBS stations will continue through the balance of 2012.  The film was partially funded by grants from Humanities Iowa, Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, and the Kansas Humanities Council.

The 2012 Mid-America Emmy® Awards will be held Saturday, September 22, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. at the historic Midland Theatre in Kansas City.

The Rundles are currently in production on a new documentary about Iowa's part of the transcontinental Highway 6.  Inspired by the research and photography of Dave Darby, Executive Director of the Iowa-U.S. Route 6 Tourist Association, River to River will guide viewers on a nostalgic classic car journey through the history and charming towns along the 2-lane highway.  The documentary is expected to be finished in the fall of 2013.

Fourth Wall Films is a film and video production and distribution company formerly based in Los Angeles, California and now located in Moline, Illinois. In addition to Country School, they have produced the award-winning films Villisca: Living with a Mystery and Lost Nation: The Ioway.

They are currently in post-production on Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 slated for release in November 2012. Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg, produced with Emmy-nominated filmmaker Garry McGee, will be released in May of 2013.  Visit www.FourthWallFilms.com for more information.

The Mid-America chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) includes television markets primarily in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Illinois and surrounding DMAs.

NATAS is dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry. It recognizes excellence in television with the coveted Emmy® Award. For more information visit www.emmymid-america.org.