DULUTH CLASSES
Located at Zeitgeist’s Film Lab (222 E Superior St, Suite 306). Classes are designed for those aged 16+. All experience levels are welcome!
Questions? Contact Vera Bianchini at vera@zeitgeistarts.com.
Introduction to Documentary
- Classes are every Thursday
- 9/28 – 11/9, 6:15pm – 9:00pm
- Registration is $50
- Instructor: Gus Ganley
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.
Documentary II
- Classes are every Tuesday
- 9/26 – 11/14, 6:30pm – 9:00pm
- Registration is $50
- Instructor: Gus Ganley
Continue expanding Documentary film skills! In this class, we will continue to explore the many different types of documentaries and build more technical & storytelling skills to create documentary films, including exploring different types of documentary genres and having more hands-on experience with equipment and editing programs. Over the course of the class, students will have the opportunity to work on a short documentary film that is already in the works, receive peer-to-peer feedback, and will leave with a finished product.
Screenwriting Workshop
- Classes are every Wednesday
- 9/27 – 11/15, 6:30pm – 9:00pm
- Registration is $50
- Instructor: Matthew Dressel
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 feature films.
CHISHOLM CLASSES
Located at the Minnesota Discovery Center. Classes are designed for those aged 16+. All experience levels are welcome!
Questions? Contact Vera Bianchini at vera@zeitgeistarts.com.
Introduction to Documentary
- Classes are every Thursday
- 9/14 – 11/2, 6:30pm – 9:00pm
- Registration is $50
- Instructor: Beth Chatelain
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.
Editing Workshop
- Classes are every Wednesday
- 9/27 – 11/15, 6:30pm – 9:00pm
- Registration is $50
- Instructor: Jacob White
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
ELIZABETH CHATELAIN
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 been 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 the University of Texas-Austin and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU-Tisch. She currently resides in Hibbing, Minnesota.
MATTHEW DRESSEL
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
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.
JACOB WHITE
JACOB WHITE
Jacob lives and works in the Ely area of far Northern MN. He owns and operates White Pine Productions, a video production company that collaborates with organizations and businesses whose work is rooted in shared community values. Jacob received his education at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts – Maurice Kanbar Institute for Film and TV, where he cut his teeth working on all kinds of productions and as a community organizer. In 2022, his feature length film Home on Earth screened at the first Minnesota International Film Festival in Duluth, Minnesota, followed by a showcase from Ely’s own Reflections Dance Company. Jacob is also the Director and Founder of Ely’s End of the Road Film Festival. Jacob believes in the power of visual storytelling to change and shape our world in a positive way.
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.
Zeitgeist is made possible with your help
MN MEDIA ARTS SCHOOL SPONSORS
