The Ely Film Festival is a promise of exposure, exploration, and cultural enrichment, and we invite you to bring your creative energies! It’s an event that fuses the magic of cinema, the richness of our shared stories, and the pristine beauty of Ely, Minnesota.

Schedule of Events

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Animation, Bears, and Chuckles: ABC Shorts

Ely's State Theater

10:00 AM

This hour long block is sure to capture the attention of kids and adults alike. While covering themes from competition and collaboration to identity and family, this block is sure to have the whole family laughing together. Filmmakers in attendance.

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Ugra Tales

Greenstone Cinema

11:00 AM

The film is about Yugra residents – Khanty, Mansi and Russians, who chose to live on their land. Five heroes – five stories. Director Bio: Born in 1972 in Leningrad, USSR. Graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television in 1997. Since 1993 worked as a cameraman and director assistant at the Leningrad Documentary Film Studio. He took a special course on co-production and journalism at the Baltic Media Center in Denmark in 1999. Since 1998 he has been working as a director on Russian federal TV channels. Author of more than one hundred documentaries and TV programs.

Identity Outdoors

Ely's State Theater

1:00 PM

What does it mean to be outdoorsy? This block of films will challenge your assumptions about what “wilderness” is and who lives, works, and recreates in it. We’ll travel from Minnesota to Washington State down to Southern Baja and across the world to Mozambique. These films grapple with race, motherhood, sexual preference, immigration, body image, and more as we explore myriad ways of belonging, outside.

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Drama, Drama, Drama

Greenstone Cinema

1:30 PM

Experience a range of human emotions, featuring compelling stories of love, loss, and personal discovery from emerging filmmakers around the world. Filmmakers in attendance.

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Singing Back the Buffalo

Ely's State Theater

4:00 PM

In a time of immense environmental degradation and global uncertainty, the buffalo can lead us to a better tomorrow. After a dark recent history, the buffalo herds of North America are awaiting their return, aided by dedicated Indigenous activists, leaders and communities, including award-winning Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard (nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up). Together with Blackfoot Elder Leroy Little Bear, Hubbard weaves an intimate story of humanity’s connections to buffalo and eloquently reveals how their return to the Great Plains can indeed usher in a new era of sustainability and balance. On her journey, Hubbard explores the challenges faced by buffalo allies and shares the positive steps already taken towards the ultimate – but uncertain – goal of buffalo rematriation. Richly visualised and deeply uplifting, SINGING BACK THE BUFFALO is an epic reimagining of North America through the lens of buffalo consciousness and a potent dream of what is within our grasp.

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Creative Expressions

Greenstone Cinema

4:30 PM

Where does inspiration strike and when? How can the arts help us move through grief and how can grief inspire creativity? Is there a “right way”? How much power does art have to alter our reality? These questions are impossible to answer concretely, but the creatives featured in this shorts block are willing to share with you what works for them. Filmmakers in attendance, including Producer & Artist Sarah Bamford Seidelmann who's hosting a class at Ely Folk School during the festival on Saturday 3/15 at 12 PM.

Boundary Waters

Ely's State Theater

7:00 PM

In the Iron Range of Minnesota, 12yo Michael is just learning to flirt with girls and find his place among his friends, when one night his mother is badly hurt. Desperate to fix what happened, Michael tries to become a man in a world where he learns some men cause harm. Director Tessa Blake, Producer Erin Mae Miller, and leading actors Allison Miller & Bill Heck in attendance!

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Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Greenstone Cinema

8:00 PM

Prepare to be creeped out and entertained. You will never look at a common lightbulb the same. Warning: Some of these films present disturbing images. Viewer discretion advised. Filmmakers in attendance.

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Date: March 12 - 16, 2025