State of the Arts: Film
by Chris Roberts
Minnesota Public Radio
July 26, 2002

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Grumpy Old Men was perhaps the signature Minnesota movie in the 1990's. But it certainly wasn't the only one. Back in those halcyon days Minnesota was a hotspot for Hollywood movie-making. The jobs were plentiful, even for people who had no prior film experience, like Jim Ferrill. He describes himself as someone who started out as a warm body, but eventually became a seasoned production crewmember. He recalls the string of films he worked on, beginning with the last one first.

"'Joe Somebody', 'Here on Earth', 'Feeling Minnesota', 'A Simple Plan', 'Fargo', 'Jingle all the Way', 'Mighty Ducks' one and three. It was a pretty good gig - good people - a really good crew," says Ferrill.

Ferrill supplemented his movie work with carpentry jobs on the side. Now he does carpentry pretty much full time. The organization that helped lure all those movies - the Minnesota Film Board - has also had to adapt to changing times. In fact the Minnesota Film and TV Board, as it's now known, recently laid off three people and cut back services because of the economic downturn. Executive Director Craig Rice freely admits Canada has won the battle for Hollywood movies.

"The way we used to do business at the Film and TV Board with most film commissions - we can no longer do it that way," says Rice. He says Minnesota cannot compete with Canadian rebates, nor the cost of doing business north of the border. "It's exchange rate is almost fifty cents on the dollar and you can no longer fight that."

The Minnesota Film and TV Board and other film organizations in the Twin Cities are turning inward, focusing on building an indigenous film and video scene. Rice denies that too many eggs were put in the "let's bring Hollywood to Minnesota" basket. He says the strategy generated millions in revenues, lots of jobs and developed an infrastructure.

"We have some of the best crews, some of the best actors some of the best production people in the country - that they can't take away from us," he says. "Now can we retool the town to approach this next area and I think that's given us an advantage over it - we're not ignorant to knowing what it takes to make a long form piece - we just have to figure out how to make our own long form pieces and not just make their long form pieces," says Rice.

To do that, says Jane Minton, executive Director of what is now called Independent Feature Project Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota has to get the traditional filmmaking system out of its system.

"The film festivals in New York and LA and the star system and the Hollywood system have made their own kind of world with Men In Black and celebrities," she says. "There's this whole other world out there that's concentric but not really overlapping at all that we need to develop and that's the art form of making independent films."

IFP Minneapolis-St. Paul formed when IFP North merged with the Media Artists Resource Center, another film oriented non-profit. Minton says the group will also launch a new film festival in St. Paul this fall, the Rolling River Festival, completely devoted to independent films.

"We're not looking for the New York and the L.A. stories, as wonderful as they are," says Minton. "There are all these overlooked stories from Oklahoma and Duluth and Florida that have every right to be seen and they're not star driven but they're such good stories."

The number of Minnesota filmmakers to tell those stories is growing, in part because there are more opportunities for their work to be seen. Nate Johnson is founder and director of Sound Unseen, an annual music-related film festival in Minneapolis. Johnson says thanks to places like the Walker Art Center, the Heights Theater, Intermedia Arts, the Red Eye Theater and the Dinkytowner Cafe, locally made independent films are finding an audience. He says the proposed merger between Oak Street Cinema and the University Film Society would only add to the synergy that's developing.

"Within the last few years many more possibilities have developed for locally made independent films and just general film culture in the area. From an exhibition side the city is probably as strong as it's ever been," says Johnson.

Even though prospects appear to be brightening for independent filmmakers in Minnesota, it's still one of the most difficult jobs around, especially making feature films.

Tara Sparks, of St Louis Park, who wrote and directed the feature "I Hate Babysitting" says it was an ordeal from beginning to end.

"I was able to pull it off, but it almost killed me," says Sparks. "And I don't know that I could do it again. I mean it really did - I pulled every track and favor I possibly could so I guess I don't know - where do I turn from there?"

Sparks is working on a new screenplay but is leaning toward giving up directing. Minneapolis filmmaker Eric Trettbar's story is different.

"I think the difficult step for any town that is not New York or Los Angeles is to convince local financers to join the party," says Trettbar.

Trettbar, whose moody black and white romance movie Snow won accolades from critics, is living in Los Angeles. He's looking for backers of his new, as yet untitled film, which he calls a motorcycle romance.

"Film is a very high risk venture and financially I think you end up having to go to the coasts where the wilder money is," he says. "So I think for Minneapolis to take the step from grant films and art films and small no-budget independent features to the next level of medium level independent features that can actually turn a profit - that's our next challenge. And a lot of us are trying to do it - and you just got to keep on trying."

According to those in the industry, the Minneapolis film scene needs to start promoting a new, smaller scale of investing in small regional films. Trettbar says the Twin Cities also need a world-class film school, on a par with NYU, USC or UCLA. He says the filmmaking program at Minneapolis Community and Technical College is doing great things, but it needs to be strengthened.

"If we're going to have a sustainable film industry we need to educate the kids coming up so that we have kind of a feeder system of new talent coming in. Kind of like the minor leagues and the major leagues," says Trettbar.

Most everyone agrees, however, what will really help the Minnesota film scene take off is a locally made hit movie, crafted by a director loyal to his or her home city. Think of Baltimore where natives John Waters and Barry Levinson make their films. Think of Gus Van Sant in his native Portland.

"Look at Austin, Texas, I think that's our big model right now," says Trettbar. "Austin, Texas has a thriving film scene. They shoot films like Spy Kids in Austin, but that's because people like Richard Rodriguez and Richard Linkletter who are both from Austin have, after their initial success, brought further features back to their hometown to do."

Some Minnesota film scene observers stress however that just because there's a growing interest in filmmaking, quantity doesn't necessarily equal quality. Star Tribune film critic Colin Colvert says, as with any creative endeavor, cinematic brilliance is elusive.

"Our local film community has probably two percent of the people working in it who are going to go on to do great and significant things, but there's an awful lot to wade through before you get to that - I'm sorry," says Colvert.

While we wait for a big hit to come along in Minnesota, the future of film - at least part of its future - may be already here. At the Dinkytowner cafe in Minneapolis dozens pay a five-dollar cover to watch locally made short films on digital video. It's another installment of DV Cinema. DV Cinema's creator is Brian Dehler. His goal is not only to bring new audiences to independent filmmakers, but also to produce packages and distribute their work on DVD. Dehler will produce a best of DVD compilation of video shorts later this year. Dehler's model is the independent record label.

"The independent music scene has been doing it for years and I think it's what has made it work and what's made it exciting," says Dehler.

As films, especially digital films, become cheaper and easier to make, Dehler envisions a future film industry broken down into regional hubs. He says he has no doubt Minnesota will occupy an important place in that system.

"Every region has its own mark that they put on their work," says Dehler. "And I think that Minnesota definitely has great stories to tell and Minnesota offers a terrific perspective."