FilmNorth is building a massive new hub for local filmmakers in St. Paul. Here’s a look behind the scenes.

Jared Kaufman, Pioneer Press
·5 min read

When it comes to filmmaking, people imagine that there’s Los Angeles and New York, Andrew Peterson likes to say — and then there are the 300 million people living in between.

Why shouldn’t filmmakers be supported in telling stories in the places they want to live? Such as, for example, Minnesota?

That idea is at the heart of FilmNorth, a nonprofit that provides resources to filmmakers in the upper Midwest. Peterson is the executive director of the organization, currently based in Vandalia Tower. And the idea is also at the heart of the 2441 Arts Building, a project under construction in St. Paul’s Creative Enterprise Zone that’ll be the new home of FilmNorth this fall.

The organization is transforming a former furniture warehouse — designed by Clarence Howard Johnston, the architect behind Glensheen Mansion in Duluth and Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota — into a massive hub for local filmmakers, editors and educators.

The centerpiece of the project is the cinema, a dramatic but cozy 54-seat screening theater, and the building also includes a media lab, editing bays and spaces for classes and events. It’s “a message that goes out to the rest of our peer organizations around the country,” Peterson said, that Minnesota cares about supporting local filmmakers and attracting high-quality, diverse movie projects.

“This building is coming along, in my mind, at the perfect time to capture a moment in Minnesota where our industry could really profoundly change within the next five years,” Peterson said. “More projects coming here, more crew based here.”

The planned cinema is visually stunning, with its entrance flanked by an interior wall that shoots up to a third-story skylight. But that’s not just for show, Peterson said: The aesthetics are actually a vital piece of support for filmmakers.

For one, advance screenings with stars and influencers can make or break a film’s release, Peterson said — so impressing them has tangible economic benefits. Plus, experimental projects might struggle to fill a 300-seat theater but could screen at FilmNorth, where a professional-grade space lends legitimacy to up-and-coming artists.

And, Peterson said, it’ll simply be a great place to watch a movie. In the cinema, state-of-the-art projection and sound systems are a given, of course. And thanks to a floating floor, not even vibrations from passing trucks or trains will be perceptible in the theater. Plus, comfortable seats, a brand-new HVAC system and drinks — FilmNorth secured a special liquor license for the space.

“A lot of movie theaters, you come in and you’re pushed out,” Peterson said. “Think of ones you’ve been to. (We’re creating) somewhere you want to spend the day before and after the movie.”

Accessibility is just as important as technology and aesthetics, he said.

The cinema is designed with the entrance at the top row of stair-stepped seating, rather than the bottom, so folks using wheelchairs can watch films from an actually desirable vantage point. Every film screened will be captioned, and audio-description listening devices will always be available.

If a filmmaker is unable to afford to caption their movie, Peterson said, FilmNorth will foot the bill.

A “national model” for nonprofit stability

With FilmNorth on the ground floor and lower level, office spaces on the second and third levels will be leased out to a few other nonprofits and small companies. And rather than renting their portion, FilmNorth partnered with D/O Architects, the firm that’s leading the redesign, to purchase the building outright.

It’s a fairly unique ownership arrangement, Peterson said, but one he hopes could be a “national model” for nonprofits to build long-term stability. FilmNorth can own its own space but share the risk, and the organization can boost its revenue from tenants’ rent payments.

Colin Oglesbay, D/O Architects’ founder, said it’s not uncommon for nonprofit clients to raise enough money to make a big move but subsequently not be able to keep up the level of funding they need to make rent. Then they lose their building.

“We saw this as a great opportunity to solve that problem,” he said. “We were able to leverage resources that (FilmNorth) wouldn’t have had access to, and vice versa. Separately, I don’t think either of us could’ve done a project of this scale.”

Speaking of resources: Through a major capital campaign that’s still ongoing, FilmNorth has brought about $13.7 million to the table in public and private funding.

The organization has received several million in grants from the state and city, plus a recent $1.1 million donation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which Peterson said was crucial. FilmNorth has also received about $800,000 from the Metropolitan Council for transit-oriented development — the project is just off the Green Line light rail — and a major gift from filmmaker and philanthropist Bill Pohlad and his wife, Michelle.

Several of those gifts come with naming rights. FilmNorth’s new 10,000 square-foot editing and education lab will be named the Knight Media Arts Center, and the central screening theater will be the Bill Pohlad Cinema. Peterson also plans to honor other influential figures in local film like the late Al Milgrom, the founder of The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul.

There’s so much creative energy in Minnesota, Peterson said. He hopes that, at 2441 Arts, FilmNorth can create space for people to share their stories. For one thing, it’s just a few blocks from the future home of the Playwrights’ Center, which is in the midst of a similar renovation project.

“Filmmakers write in isolation at home, they edit in isolation at home, they come out to show their film — and then they sort of disappear again,” Peterson said. “This is a place for filmmakers to get out of their silos.”

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