Documentary Film Class at The Reif

The Zeitgeist Minnesota Media Arts School, in partnership with The Reif, is an affordable option for the Northland’s diverse creative community ranging from filmmakers, graphic designers, multimedia artists, and theatrical artists to learn, work, create, and connect.

Our goal is to empower, support, and educate Northland community members ages 16+ as active participants in shaping our culture, and engage diverse communities to rethink the way we view film, art, and local storytelling. We provide access and a platform to work, learn, create, and experience filmmaking and media production in our community.

Benefits include access to iMac computers loaded with creative design and editing software, meeting rooms, multi-media studios, film/video equipment for on-site photo/video shoots & projects, digital tools, and more.

Classes will be 1 x per week x 8 weeks: Tuesdays from Sep 19 through Nov 7 | Time is 6:30pm to 9:00pm

Limited to 12 students. Classes are designed for those aged 16+. All experience levels welcome!

Cost is $250 per semester (non-refundable); all participants need to bring a 1TB external hard drive (like this one) that is compatible with iMac—all other gear will be provided and software license is included

Semester will culminate in a film festival in Grand Rapids (date TBD) after semester concludes

Class description: Documentary film is a process of curiosity, discovery, and storytelling. In this workshop, we will explore the many different types of documentaries and build the basic technical skills to create successful nonfiction films, including selecting compelling topics based on available resources, pre-production, lighting, sound recording, cinematography, interviewing, finding the story, and editing. Over the course of the workshop, participants will each create their own short documentaries (max 10 min) and will leave the course with the skills and experience to make many more.

Instructor Elizabeth Chatelain

A North Dakota native, Elizabeth Chatelain has directed several documentary and narrative shorts including MY SISTER SARAH, about her sister’s lifelong struggle with drug abuse and recovery. It won the International Documentary Association’s Award for Best Student Documentary and was a Student Academy Award Finalist. Her films have screened at festivals across the country and the world, including Interfilm Berlin, Uppsala and SXSW. She has optioned her feature, SUNDOGS, which participated in the Berlinale Script Station and was an Academy Nicholl Fellowship Semi-Finalist and won the Showtime Tony Cox Screenplay Competition. She was selected as a Blacklist/Women in Film Feature Fellow in 2020 and a WIF/Sundance Financing Intensive Fellow in 2022. She received an MFA in Film Production from University of Texas-Austin and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU-Tisch.