“The film got a tremendous amount of positive buzz when it screened at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival last week,” says Flyway Film Festival director Rick Vaicius. “For some people, this film is the first they’ve heard about the frac sand mining boom. It’s a must-see for getting up to speed on the issue. And the film is entertaining as well — there’s some great local music.”

Watch “The Price of Sand” trailer here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Directed by Red Wing native Jim Tittle, the documentary focuses on ordinary citizens affected by frac sand mining in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. While the rest of the country touts the idea of energy independence, people in the Midwest are losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their health to the frac sand “gold rush.” He interviewed people whose lives have been dramatically affected by sand mining, for better and for worse.

“The goal of making this documentary was to find the real price of frac sand–not just in dollars, but in lives, friendships, families and the future of our region,” says Tittle.

The film will be shown at 7:00 pm at the Lincoln High School auditorium, 300 S. Garden Street, Lake City, MN.

Tickets are $5 (plus service charge) in advance and $7 at the door.

Watch “The Price of Sand” trailer here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Directed by Red Wing native Jim Tittle, the documentary focuses on ordinary citizens affected by frac sand mining in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. While the rest of the country touts the idea of energy independence, people in the Midwest are losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their health to the frac sand “gold rush.” He interviewed people whose lives have been dramatically affected by sand mining, for better and for worse.

“The goal of making this documentary was to find the real price of frac sand–not just in dollars, but in lives, friendships, families and the future of our region,” says Tittle.

Tickets are $5 (plus service charge) in advance and $7 at the door.

Flyway’s 2013 Season Kicks Off with Advance Preview Screening of “The Price of Sand”

Click here to view the embedded video.

When filmmaker Jim Tittle learned that his hometown of Red Wing, Minnesota was a target for strip mining by a Connecticut hedge fund company, he responded in the way he knew best: he started filming. The resulting documentary, The Price of Sand, will be screened in Red Wing on Friday, March 22, at 7:00 p.m. at the historic Sheldon Theatre.

Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Advance purchase is recommended.

Tittle will be present for a discussion after the film.

Tittle’s documentary focuses on ordinary citizens affected by frac sand mining in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. While the rest of the country touts the idea of energy independence, people in the Midwest are losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their health to the frac sand “gold rush.” He interviewed people whose lives have been dramatically affected by sand mining, for better and for worse.

“The goal of making this documentary was to find the real price of frac sand–not just in dollars, but in lives, friendships, families and the future of our region,” says Tittle.

The Flyway Film Festival is presenting the film in conjunction with Red Wing-based citizens’ group Save the Bluffs. The Flyway will present the film again during its regular festival season October 17 – 20.

The Worldwide phenomenon will take place on August 28, 2013 at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

Tickets go on sale at 10am, March 9th at the State Fair Box Office for $10.00

In the meantime watch this video of last year’s awesomeness!

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Documentary “Journey to Planet X” to Kick Off Festival
• “Janeane From Des Moines” Selected for Closing Night
• Exclusive Friday Late-Night Shorts Screening

Today, the Flyway Film Festival officially announced the official selections for the 2012 Flyway Film Festival. The Festival will run from Thursday, October 18 to Sunday, October 21 in Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center and the Widespot Performing Arts Center. Now in its fifth year, the Festival has gained a reputation as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new local, regional, and international film and providing the movie-loving public with access to critically acclaimed filmmakers and film industry professionals from around the world.

The 2012 Flyway Film Festival will screen over 35 feature films and shorts, representing 5 countries. This year, the Festival received more than 850 submissions from filmmakers around the world, an increase from 2011.

“Even thought this is our fifth year, it’s really a different Festival each time. The quality of entries was amazing this year and our advertising has never better,” said Executive Director Rick Vaicius. With the help of a 2012 Joint Effort Marketing (JEM) Grant from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism and Bolster Creative, Twin Cities Comcast watchers will soon see the 2012 Festival ad spots airing on a variety of channels.

Journey to Planet X will kick off the Festival on October 18 at the Widespot Performing Arts Center in Stockholm. Directed by Myles Kane and Josh Khoury, this documentary follows friends and scientists-by-day/amateur-filmmakers-by-night Eric Swain and Troy Bernier during the trials and tribulations of making of their most ambitious sci-fi endeavor to date and sheds light on their unique brand of “movie magic.” This feature is paired with Dinner at the Lake, a community short film project of the Flyway Film Festival. Directors Louis Fisher (Stockholm, WI) and Griffin Larson (Minneapolis, MN) bring to life an ominous little tale by celebrated mystery author Mary Logue with a cast comprised of talented residents from along Lake Pepin’s eastern shore.

In addition, the Festival will host an exclusive “Friday Night Shorts” screening at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center that will include Damian Horan’s acclaimed student film, Children of the Air (USA), as well as offerings from Flyway alumni John Roberts (The Wheel – Wisconsin, USA), Jay Cheel (The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends – Ontario, Canada), and Phillipe Lupien and Vincent Ethier (Punchy & Toothpick – Montreal, Canada), among other selections.

All are welcome to attend the free, family-friendly Kids Shorts programming block screening on Saturday morning at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center.

The politically timely mockumentary Janeane From Des Moines will close the Festival on October 21 at the Widespot Performing Arts Center. Directed by Grace Lee, native of Missouri, Janeane takes her audience on a journey with an “ordinary” woman who offers us an insider’s look at the American heartland’s ultra-right-wing movement.

Opening Night Film:
• Journey to Planet X, Myles Kane and Josh Khoury (USA)
shows with Dinner at the Lake, Louis Fisher (Wisconsin) and Griffin Larson (Minnesota)

Closing Night Film:
• Janeane From Des Moines, Grace Lee (USA)
shows with Man on the Bluff, Ben Vinar (USA)

Friday Night Shorts:
• Vivienne Again, Kim Garland (USA)
• The Wheel, John Roberts (USA)
• Children of the Air, Damian Horan (USA)
• Punchy and Toothpick, Philippe Lupien and Vincent Ethier (Canada)
• Happy Voodoo, Jenny Goddard (USA)
• Looking Past You, Jennifer Kramer (USA)
• The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends, Jay Cheel (Canada)

Wisconsin/Minnesota Showcase:
• The Wheel, John Roberts (Wisconsin)
• Looking Past You, Jennifer Kramer (Minnesota)

Family-Friendly
• Kids Shorts, Various Free Admission

Documentaries:
• The Price of Sand, Jim Tittle (USA) Screening as a Work in Progress
• Last Day at Lambeau, Michael Neelson (USA)
• We’re Not Broke, Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce (USA)
• As Goes Janesville, Brad Lichtenstein (USA)
shows with Invested: The Story of Three Youth Social Entrepreneurs, Dawn Mikkelson (USA)
• Dreams of a Life, Carol Morley (UK)
• Plimpton, Tome Bean and Luke Poling (USA)
• Janeane From Des Moines, Grace Lee (USA)
shows with Man on the Bluff, Ben Vinar (USA)

Narratives:
• Teddy Bear, Mads Matthiesen (Denmark) Not For Children
• Marvin, Seth, Stanley, Steven Gurewitz (USA)
shows with Bridges, Chris Bell (USA)
• How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song, Gary King (USA)
• Red Flag, Alex Karpovsky (USA)
shows with Crush, Rebecca Pugh (USA)
• Caroline and Jackie, Adam Christian Clark (USA)
shows with Hellion, Kat Candler (USA)
• L.A. Comedy Shorts Programming Block, Various (USA)
• Supporting Characters, Daniel Schechter (USA)
• La Sirga, William Vega (Columbia)
• Pilgrim Song, Martha Stephens (USA)
• Now Forager, Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin (USA)
shows with Planet X: The Frozen Moon, Troy Bernier and Eric Swain (USA)
• The Sound of Small Things, Peter McLarnan (USA)

About the Flyway Film Festival
The 2012 Flyway Film Festival runs October 18–21 in Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin. Over 35 national and international independent films will be shown in two venues, with many filmmakers and other industry professionals in attendance to interact with audiences via Q&A and other social networking events.

Regular screening and full festival passes, which will include the Opening Night Gala and access to the Festival Lounge at the Breakwater, are available online now at flywayfilmfestival.org. Individual tickets are available online now and will also be available during the Festival at the Festival and Venue Box Offices.

Pepin and Stockholm are a 60-minute ride from Rochester, Minnesota or Eau Claire, Wisconsin and 90 minutes from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Flyway sprang from the monthly film programming and semi-annual filmmaker events curated by Rick Vaicius at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center in Pepin, Wisconsin in 2006.

Over the past four years, Flyway has brought over 120 filmmakers and film professionals into the local community. In addition to screening their remarkable films, it has become a unique venue for these filmmakers to network and discuss projects and the “state of the industry” in the film world.

Past Flyway guests of honor have included award-winning producer Ted Hope (Super, American Splendor), Brian Newman, SpringBoardMedia and former CEO of the Tribeca Film Festival; director/author Kelley Baker, (Birddog, “The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide: Making the Extreme No Budget Film”); and director/author Jon Reiss (Bomb It, “Think Outside the Box Office”).

2012’s esteemed Festival speakers will be Scilla Andreen, Co-founder and CEO of IndieFlix, and Paul Rachman, director/founder of the Slamdance Film Festival.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pepin, WI—The 5^th Annual Flyway Film Festival (October 18-21, 2012) announces the launch of a Kickstarter fundraising campaign SAVE FLYWAY to assist with operational costs of the 2012 Festival in Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin via an 18-day campaign with the goal of raising $10K.

Ted Hope browses the 2011 Flyway Film Festival Program Guide

Brian Newman Founder of Sub-Genre

Early response to this effort from past Flyway alumni and respected film industry personnel has been tremendous. Past Flyway guests of note Ted Hope (Academy Award-Nominated Producer of 21 Grams and American Splendor and current Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society) and Brian Newman (Founder/consultant at Sub-genre Media, focusing on entertainment and cultural industry business development and distribution, and former CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute) have each offered a coveted one-hour private consultation for donors contributing at various levels. Many other quality product, service, and Festival related perks are available at additional donation levels ranging from $25-$2,500+.

Kickstarter is an “all or nothing” venture; participants can donate any amount greater than $1, and unless the campaign reaches its set goal within the prescribed timeframe, no funds are collected. Having participated in a positive Kickstarter campaign in 2010, Flyway hopes to replicate and grow that success in order to ensure the resources for a high-quality, engaging experience for its 2012 attending filmmakers and patrons.

As a wholly volunteer-run organization, Flyway relies on the generosity of its sponsors and the dedication of staff who work tirelessly to create a unique film experience for attendees. For 2012, the Festival is again the recipient of a JEM (Joint Effort Marketing) Grant from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, which will allow continued expansion of marketing to a broader audience.

A good portion of Flyway’s yearly budget is dedicated to deliberate efforts to bring filmmakers, actors, and other film industry personnel from around the world into the regional community—to date, nearly 120 in total. In addition to screening their remarkable films to an accessible, appreciative audience of locals and visitors, Flyway has become a unique venue for these filmmakers to network and discuss projects and the “state of the industry” in the film world.

With a projected 2012 Festival attendance that will contribute over $115K in economic stimulus to its greater community, Flyway’s primary goal remains to continue building its reputation as a festival that matters in an intimate, accessible, and unpretentious way that fosters participation and personal ownership.

 #1 – You are a filmmaker. Which means you’re also a fan of film.

You made a movie. You want people to see it. And you’d like it to screen somewhere where your hard work is appreciated, talked about, and celebrated: you want it to screen at Flyway Film Festival.

Want to know the secret to getting your movie into Flyway? Make a good movie. We’ve had movies that got into Flyway and movies that didn’t, and we 100% respect this. Film festival selections are always subject to the tastes of the programmers, but at Flyway you know that no one got in because they have a big name or a pushy agent. You earn your way in, and this isn’t just good for the filmmakers: it’s good for the audience.

Flyway is not a cattle call like some other overstuffed film festivals. They care about their official selections and the people who make them. They also do everything they can to get the filmmakers there, often offsetting filmmaker travel costs by arranging for transportation (as much as possible) and providing places to stay (through the generosity of the Greater Pepin Area locals, whom we’ll discuss more in a moment.) Last year there were filmmakers present at their Flyway screenings more often then not; what other film festival does that?

Indie Film consultant Sheri Candler and Documentarian Hunter Weeks

#2 – You like being around creative people.

At Flyway, everyone hangs out with everyone. The filmmakers, the fans, the people from the community, the festival volunteers, the people who are working on films for next year, the keynote speakers, esteemed panelists…everyone. So go to Flyway, because that person you’ve been hoping to connect with might be there. Go, because this might be your chance to buy them breakfast and pick their brain. And if that person you wanted to meet doesn’t show up, open your eyes and look around: you just might meet someone you didn’t know before who can open up a whole new world to you. Make a real world connection that leads to an out-of-this-world project.

Filmmakers Gary & Susie King and Julie Keck

#3 – You want to preserve unique film festival experiences.

Small festivals have it tough, especially when they’re in out-of-the-way places like Pepin. It’s not like going to a festival in LA, where you can roll your screening into other meetings, or New York, where you can shoehorn in some sight seeing. Part of the fun of Flyway is that there’s nowhere else to go. It’s like camp, but without mosquitoes or hot camp counselors or cheesy arts and crafts. The bonding that occurs at the festival is much like camp, too: you become fast friends with the people you eat breakfast with, watch movies with, and talk movies with all weekend long. You don’t just leave with a pocketful of business cards; you leave having established real relationships. It’s an experience like none we’ve had at other film festivals, and, even better, it’s in the center of a community that wants us there.

Kickoff Gala Audience

#4 – You want someone to see your movie besides your friends and other filmmakers.

At Flyway, you get real eyes on your pride and joy. The aforementioned Pepin/Stockholm/Maiden Rock/Red Wing locals fill the houses at Flyway screenings, many of them artists and artisans themselves. One local artist makes the amazing (and amazingly heavy) Flyway award trophies; another makes the hefty mugs that filmmakers get in their swag bags and others purchase every year as mementos. These people band together not just as a town but as a group of friends supporting Flyway because they know it enriches the place where they live. A community standing up and fighting for its cultural life – doesn’t get much better than that.

A beautiful day!

#5 – You’re ready to invest in an adventure.

People think nothing of spending major moolah to go to the big fests (Toronto, Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca) and hobnob with stars. Except…this never really happens, does it? Make a radical move this year: spend your money on a trip to Pepin for Flyway Film Festival. Wing it to Chicago, and take a fun train ride the rest of the way. Fly straight to Minneapolis, and split the cost of a car rental with some other out-of-state-ers. Make YOUR Flyway trip a true adventure. And bring friends. The more, the merrier.

If you’ve been to Flyway before, you already know how great it is – come back. If you’ve never been to Flyway, this is the year to fix that. We’ll see you there.

Let me say this first: this is a love letter about a festival that’s rejected me twice.

2011 Kickoff Gala- Film as art installation by Coleman Miller

No, not Sundance, South By, or the other big tables at the festival casino – we’re talking the mother of all indies, the mecca of the git-er-done’s, Flyway Film Festival, in mighty Pepin, Wisconsin. What? You haven’t heard of it? Well that’s fine. Move along. I want to keep it to myself.

I first learned about Flyway from a video Lucas McNelly posted of Rick Vaicius talking about his festival and the no-application fee. Seemed cute. Aw. No fees! They just want films. Should be easy to get in.

WRONG.

I soon learned a lot more people than Lucas had Flyway on their radar as a “must attend.” These are filmmakers I look up to. Filmmakers whose movies I own. Filmmakers with distribution deals. Filmmakers with clout – not the kind with the k.

Ted Hope introduces COLLABORATOR Directed by Martin Donovan

As I watched my first Flyway come and go on Twitter, the Who’s Who of indie film declared their love for Flyway: King is a Fink. Gary King. Jon Reiss. TED HOPE. So why are these filmmakers – and this is the clincher for me – flying in for an out of the way festival in Wisconsin that they don’t even have a film in. Why? One word: pie.

Well, pie and respect. Nothing goes with pie like a side of respect.

Let’s chat about the pie. Sheri Candler and I were waxing poetic about the pies of Pepin one night, as festival director Rick Vaicius taunted us with rumors of local pastries that make you see stars. (One evening, the conversation grew so painful I made my friend drive me to a pie shop. I am not kidding. I couldn’t drive because I had been drinking margaritas heavily, drowning my Flyway-less woes.)

But the real reason I want to go to Flyway (and am moderately obsessed with it) is that it is a festival  that well-known filmmakers respect. And I believe this is mutual admiration, borne out of the festival’s respect for the medium. It’s the care in choosing films from around the world that make the most of everyone’s time. It’s knowing that your film won’t get in based on some light banter – it has to be earned. And it’s one of the few – if not the only – festival that just might be a meritocracy.

Jon Reiss delivers the 2011 Flyway Keynote speech

Filmmakers and audience members take in the 2011 Keynote speech

Bottom line, Flyway feels like the kind of idealized fest that a young Robert Redford dreamed of: attracting high quality films and people, creating an opportunity for learning and sharing, and rarely even bringing up the question of money. Nobody buys their way into Flyway.

I get a sense of community that I rarely see at other festivals. Filmmakers volunteering. People sharing, spending time with each other, really talking about their passions and their struggles. Friendships form. It’s more of a retreat than a festival. I wish more festivals would adopt the model themselves.

Julie Keck (@kingisafink) wins the 2011 Spirit of Flyway Award (Gary King- left)

I’ll get there, eventually. I don’t even care if I have a film or not in the fest, I just want to go and soak up the conversation, the war stories, the camaraderie. I want to be educated and inspired. And, I want pie. I can get all of that at Flyway.

By Wonder Russell (@BellaWonder)

Wonder is an actor and filmmaker in Seattle, WA.

Current projects include http://summerhomefilm.com, in festivals now.

Revelation Film Project is her directorial debut, coming online Summer of 2012 http://facebook.com/revelationfilm.

She is an occasional contributor to Film Courage and blogs at bellawonder.com