Director Statement: Thunder infuses his personal lens with real-time world experiences using a wide range of mediums. He is known for his surreal paintings, digitally animated films and installations in which he addresses subject matter of personal experience and social commentary. Jon is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, and makes his home and studio in Duluth, MN.

He has attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM and studied Visual Effects and Motion Graphics in Minneapolis, MN at the Art Institute International. His work has been featured in many states, regional, and national exhibitions, as well as in local and international publications. Thunder is the recipient of a 2020-21 Pollock – Krasner Foundation Award for his risk taking in painting. Since his first solo exhibit in 2004, he has won several awards for his short films in national and international competitions. His work is in the permanent collections of Museums and Universities.

Film Synopsis: Gas station is a world unto itself.

Director Statement:Emily Fritze is an animator who lives and works in Minnesota. While she animates digitally, her films aim for a hand-drawn animation style. She has worked on music videos, documentaries, films, video games, educational content, kids’ shows, and commercial work. She has also had film screenings at film festivals like the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Film Festival where she was included in the “Best of Fest” feature, and won first place at the Square Lake Film Festival. Currently she teaches animation at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.

Film Synopsis:We get out of life what we put into it.

Filmmaker Info: Rachel Quast (she/her) is a Minneapolis based interdisciplinary artist. Her work can be found in national publications, television commercials, tour merchandise, apparel and more. She’s drawn to themes of collective memory, temporality, and the natural world.

Synopsis:Two friends hike, camp, and paddle along the St. Croix River.

Filmmaker Info & Statement: October Yates is a Kayak Instructor & Guide for a Wisconsin based conservation non-profit and award-winning filmmaker. A Perfect Loop (2026) is his first project in 5 years.  

The St. Croix is a sacred river and has been home to many for thousands of years. Sam and I’s little float trip connected me to the waterway in a new way and I was happy to have the opportunity to film it for the St Croix River Tales Film Festival. Thanks for giving me an excuse to dust off my old camera and flex my creative muscles once again.

Synopsis: Illustrated account of working on a riverboat on the St. Croix in the late 1970’s.

Filmmaker Info: Joel Orff has had 7 graphic novels published in the US and in France, and his cartoons have appeared in numerous anthologies and newspapers. He grew up in and lives in Stillwater MN.

Synopsis:Alex is an 11-year-old boy who teaches us about beekeeping with his grandma at Carpenter Nature Center located in the St. Croix River Valley.

Synopsis: RIVERBODY is a one minute visual meditation on the connection between the human body and the river. Through intimate images of moving water, sunlight, wildlife, and two figures woven together with layered overlay clips the film blurs the boundary between person and landscape. The river becomes more than a setting
it becomes a living body of its own constantly moving, reflecting, carrying, and changing. As water flows and light dances across its surface, the human figures exist within the same rhythm, suggesting that we are not separate from nature but part of something much larger than ourselves. RIVERBODY is a reflection on movement, connection, and the feeling of belonging to the natural world.

Synopsis: “This River of Birds” highlights the beauty of the Saint Croix and Namekagon Rivers, with emphasis on the importance of the riverway to Neotropical migrant birds. Birds are exceptional ecological indicators, and the richness and abundance of birds on the riverway demonstrate clean, intact environments. The Golden-winged Warbler is a species of concern, and the Saint Croix and Namekagon Rivers are a breeding area of global significance to this spectacular bird. “This River of Birds” explores ecological interdependence through the lives of birds.

Filmmaker Info: Brian Michael Collins is a high school biology teacher, an ornithologist, and a nature photographer. A career-change teacher, he has taught biology for 25 years at Unity High School in Balsam Lake, Wisconsin. Every summer finds him in the forests and rivers of Wisconsin conducting bird surveys for a variety of agencies. His work as a biological technician gathering data in the field on behalf of birds and ecosystems has spanned more than 30 years. Brian is a 2024 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, and he pours passion into every opportunity to teach people about the importance of Earth’s natural systems and the beauty of interdependence.

Synopsis: Downstream is a story about the garbage that humans produce everyday and the sometimes problematic journey it can make to our precious rivers.

Synopsis: We go to the river to be with the river, and play with the river. And the river plays back.

Synopsis:  What happens when a sock loses its way? From laundromat to a new life, witness the transformative power of the Saint Croix River in the “Untold Adventures of Stephan Stray Sock” and see for yourself. Stephan will never be the same.

Synopsis: everything runs together

Synopsis: The vail is thin.

Filmmaker Info: Daniel is a writer and director whose path to filmmaking has been anything but conventional. For 25 years, he built a career in music, developing a deep sense of mood and storytelling through sound. Alongside this, he spent 20 years managing restaurants, honing his ability to lead teams, solve problems under pressure, and understand the details that make an experience come together.
His creative foundation runs even deeper: throughout his school years, he trained in broadcast, journalism, and film photography, and later worked as a graphic designer, sharpening his eye for visual composition and narrative .

His first Narrative work “Arcola Passage” will debut this September.

Film Synopsis:A Louisiana shrimper fights to preserve his family’s legacy and a vanishing way of life as the shrimping industry crumbles under economic and global pressures.

Director Bio: First-time director Jonathan Presson grew up near Minneapolis, Minnesota, and studied film at Loyola University New Orleans. He founded his production company, Presson Productions, in high school, creating work for clients locally and worldwide. Last of the Shrimpers marks his directorial debut at 23 years old. His goal is to continue sharing underrepresented stories through documentary.