The Zeitgeist Minnesota Media Arts School, in partnership with the Minnesota Discovery Center, 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. With teaching hubs in Chisholm and Duluth, we will add important contributions to the regional film ecosystem.
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.
DULUTH CLASSES
Located at Zeitgeist’s Film Lab. Classes are designed for those aged 16+. All experience levels welcome!
Introduction to Documentary
Tuesdays (8 weeks) – 4/11, 4/18, 4/25, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23, 5/30
6:30PM – 9:00PM
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.
Screenwriting Workshop
Wednesdays (8 weeks) – 4/12, 4/19, 4/26, 5/3, 5/10, 5/17, 5/24, 5/31
6:30PM – 9:00PM
Do you have a great idea for a feature film? Many have great ideas; only few craft them into screenplays. In this workshop, learn screenwriting fundamentals as you develop your idea from pitch to outline to screenplay. While no previous screenwriting experience is required, you should come to the workshop with ideas for short films.
Editing Workshop
Thursdays (8 weeks) – 4/13, 4/20, 4/27, 5/4, 5/11, 5/18, 5/25, 6/1
6:30PM – 9:00PM
Our editing workshop is designed for students who are interested in motion picture, television, and new media post-production. Students learn theory in motion picture, television and media production and editing. They apply that knowledge by producing a variety of projects using Adobe Premiere.
CHISHOLM CLASSES
Located at the Minnesota Discovery Center. Classes are designed for those aged 16+. All experience levels welcome!
Introduction to Documentary
Tuesdays (8 weeks) – 4/11, 4/18, 4/25, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23, 5/31
6:30PM – 9:00PM
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.
Editing Workshop
Thursdays (8 weeks) – 4/13, 4/20, 4/27, 5/4, 5/11, 5/18, 5/25, 6/1
6:30PM – 9:00PM
Our editing workshop is designed for students who are interested in motion picture, television, and new media post-production. Students learn theory in motion picture, television and media production and editing. They apply that knowledge by producing a variety of projects using Adobe Premiere.
MEET THE INSTRUCTORS
MATTHEW KOSHMRL
Matthew is an Emmy nominated filmmaker and cinematographer with an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. His work has played at The Jeonju International Film Festival, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, DocumentaMadrid, and True/False Film Festival. Matthew personally focuses on cinema vérité documentary films that explore the evolution of tradition, individual and national identity, and unseen processes.
In 2016 he received the Antarctic Service Medal from the US Congress after traveling to Antarctica to film a paleontological expedition with the NSF. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History is currently screening his documentary about Antarctica and the paleontological process.
He is a strong proponent of film and media education and has been a faculty member at St. Edward’s University, Austin Community College, and the Austin School of Film. Since 2017 he has worked with the US State Department as a mentor to fellows participating in the Mandela Washington Fellowship, which provides young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa with the opportunity to hone their skills in the USA. In 2018 he organized and taught a month-long film workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe through a State Department Reciprocal Exchange Grant.
ELIZABETH CHATELAIN
A North Dakota native, Elizabeth Chatelain has directed several documentary and narrative shorts including MY SISTER SARAH, about her sister’s lifelong 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 is a Blacklist/Women in Film Feature Fellow and a Sundance/Women in Film Financing Fellow. She received an MFA in Film Production from University of Texas-Austin and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU-Tisch. She currently resides in Hibbing, Minnesota.
MATTHEW DRESSEL
Matthew Dressel is a Duluth based award-winning screenwriter and recipient of the 2017 IFP Minnesota Screenwriting Residency award. His most recent screenplay, the dark comedy Daniel’s Gotta Die (starring Joel David Moore and Bob Saget), was produced by Darius Films and is slated for a release in 2023. He is the former Programmer for Zinema 2 and former Festival Director of the Duluth Superior Film Festival.
AUGUSTIN GANLEY
Augustin Ganley is an Irish-American writer and filmmaker from Minneapolis. For 20 years Augustin has directed traditional and experimental documentaries, working on international projects, web shows, live performances, and movement cinema. His first feature film in 2010 chronicled a theatre troupe that built a raft and traveled down the Mississippi River. Since then, the water has carried him to the Great Lakes, Duluth, and the larger Fond du Lac area. In 2023, Augustin joined the Multimedia Production (MMP) faculty at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC). Besides teaching MMP classes, Augustin is responsible for the video production of various FDLTCC grants and overseeing the recently established NBCU Academy scholarship for MMP students. He lives with his family on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Cloquet, Minnesota.
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