Duluth Superior Film Fest Wraps Up Successful 2021 Season

The 11th annual festival made its comeback after having to cancel its event in 2020.

DULUTH, Minn. — The short film, A Simple Mistake, was made by Chisholm residents Nathaniel Coward and Seraphia Gravelle during a nine-week course at the Minnesota Discovery Center.

“We discussed how we would execute it. It took use about two takes. It was a pretty fluid process,” A Simple Mistake Director & Producer, Seraphia Gravelle says.

It depicts one man’s encounter with racism and its presence in the range cities.

“The subtle racism that happened on the range and other places. They don’t believe it happens on the range the way that it does. Short films they have a lot of power to get right to the point. I think you can do a lot with it,” A Simple Mistake Actor & Director, Nathaniel Coward says.

That film is one of just under 40 feature and short films entered into the festival geared towards making the northland film scene more accessible.

“Not only do we want to give representation to local artists and local stories but we want to bring interesting films and stories into our community here from all over the country,” Duluth Superior Film Festival Director, Matthew Koshmrl says.

The 11th annual festival made its comeback after having to cancel its event in 2020.

Now, participants finally get to show off their films to the Northland.

“Being able to have that experience and seeing their films with the audience is really a priceless thing that they weren’t able to experience because of the pandemic,” Koshmrl says.

Students with the desire to study film were also in attendance including members of Minneapolis-based IPR College of Creative Arts.

“It’s one of their first times where we put them out over the course of their time at IPR and let them solve their own problems and kind of put them on their own. They pretty much work on their own during the course of the festival,” IPR College of Creative Arts Associate Campus Director, Trey Wodele says.

Giving students a better understanding of the film fest process and its importance.

“They become very inspired just by spending time around all the visiting filmmakers to take the work they are creating as students and as graduates and bringing it here and around other great festivals around here and around the country,” Wodele says.

The festival wrapped up at Duluth Cider with an awards presentation.

In the fall, Zeitgeist will also be hosting community education film classes where students will get the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of filmmaking and how to use different types of film equipment.

For more information on the film fest, click here.

To learn more about IRP College of Creative Arts, click here.

To view the short film A Simple Mistake, click here.