Ely Film Festival

The Ely Film Festival returns March 12-15, 2026. See you there!

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds

About the Festival

The Ely Film Festival is a promise of exposure, exploration, and cultural enrichment, and we invite you to bring your creative energies! It’s an event that fuses the magic of cinema, the richness of our shared stories, and the pristine beauty of Ely, Minnesota.

Our program team and volunteer screeners are currently busy setting the storyscape of this year’s program.

Individual and double passes are on sale now! Details about the full program and sales for individual tickets will be available in January, 2026.

ABOUT THE TEAM

RYAN BAJAN - Director

Boozhoo akinaa wiiyaa. It is an honor to be involved in directing, planning, and facilitating the Ely Film Festival. I currently serve as the Ojibwe Culture Teacher at the Nett Lake School, on the Nett Lake Reservation, with over 16 years working in schools. I also lead programming across the state with Waawaate Programs, our land-based teachings organization. Our family of 6 children live on Robinson Lake in Ely, though many nights are spent in the wild woods surrounding the area.

LACEY SQUIER - Volunteer Coordinator

Lacey Squier serves as the volunteer coordinator for the Ely Film Festival as part of her role as manager of Boundary Waters Connect, a nonprofit sponsor of the festival. Boundary Waters Connect seeks to connect people and resources in ways that grow our Wilderness-edge economy and makes our community even more vibrant – and our Ely Film Festival does just that! Lacey also teaches pie and Slovenian potica at the Ely Folk School, as well as hosts the What’s Up Ely Podcast.

LUCY SODERSTROM - Program Director

In addition to serving as the program director of the Ely Film Festival, Lucy serves as Director at Ely Folk School, where she was initially drawn to its encouragement of the curious mind. She is excited about the upcoming Ely Film Festival and loves the opportunity to work with folks of diverse creative backgrounds.

What are filmmakers saying about the Ely Film Festival?

“Fantastic Festival! They went the extra mile with each facet of this festival to make the filmmakers feel loved. Great communication, organized very well, the venue is breathtaking, and the atmosphere was really nice! We even got to see some actors from our favorite TV Shows! We loved having our films screen there! I can’t wait to go back next year.” – Bodhi W.

“We were thrilled to get to screen Plus One at Ely, the staff and community there were incredible! Communication before and during the festival was top tier. Q&A panels with filmmakers, lots of opportunities to meet other filmmakers as well as the audience. I can not recommend this festival enough!” – Trianna D.

“Ely is a freakin’ gem. I was expecting to enjoy a trip to Northern MN and the boundary waters but I was blown away by the organization, the overall “vibe”, the enthusiasm for filmmakers, the crowd turnout – and they’re only in the 3rd year! Seriously, this is everything you want a regional film festival to be and more. I can’t wait to come back for future years. Submit here and make it a priority to go – you won’t regret it!!” – Nathan D.