Have a class project due?  Why not make a documentary that gets screened at film festivals?

That’s part of the story behind the documentary short Saint John’s Maple Syrup, which screened Sunday, February 11, 2018, at Somsen Hall on Winona State’s campus as part of the Frozen River Film Festival.

Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., is home to a monastic community that has a long history of syruping. There is also now a strong educational aspect to the syruping program.

Here is how FRFF summarized the film: “Spring is a time when life returns to the woods. Saint John’s has been crafting maple syrup since the sugar shortages of World War 2 and their story has largely remained unchanged. Explore the history and individuals behind the timeless process of turning sap into syrup.”

SSQTCH Creative Media, a film company centered in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, is behind this short film.

SSQTCH is headed by three recent Saint John’s graduates, Ian Fritz, Conor Murphy, and Patrick Reagan.  The three had to submit a final project as part of their course volunteering on the syrup producing project and they decided to make a film, which in turn, helped convince them to launch the company.

The three share a passion for the outdoors and storytelling and are interested in delivering fresh content in fresh forms.  They are currently working on projects involving horses in Texas, fly fishing in southern Minnesota, and the subculture of wax experts in Nordic skiing.

The three filmmakers spoke to Kylie Modjeski and Yolanda Rubio-Garcia of the Cotter Chronicle on Friday, February 9, while the SSQTCH group was in Winona for FRFF.

Fritz, Murphy and Reagan also spoke Mr. Whaley’s 8th grade class displaying their film equipment, including a drone, and showing some of their work.

https://www.ssqtchcreative.com/