The 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival selections were recently announced, and amongst the chosen was “The Round Barns of Vernon County,” a short documentary directed by L&S Learning Support Services’ very own David Macasaet. David, LSS Media Services Coordinator and Senior Instructional Technology Consultant, co-produced the documentary with fellow UW-Madison and LSS alumnus Shahin Izadi. The documentary will be screened at this spring’s festival, scheduled for April 3-10, 2014.
The 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival selections were recently announced, and amongst the chosen was “The Round Barns of Vernon County,” a short documentary directed by L&S Learning Support Services’ very own David Macasaet. David, LSS Media Services Coordinator and Senior Instructional Technology Consultant, co-produced the documentary with fellow UW-Madison and LSS alumnus Shahin Izadi. The documentary will be screened at this spring’s festival, scheduled for April 3-10, 2014.
David was humbled by the Film Festival announcement, but no one who knows David or his talents was surprised at the well deserved selection. David is an accomplished filmmaker whose narrative work has screened around the U.S. at festivals such as the Kansas City Film Festival, Twin Cities
Underground, Rawstock Film Festival, and Hatch. In his position at LSS, David focuses on bringing the art of storytelling to instruction, helping to design curricula, timetable courses, and special topic workshops and training sessions that integrate digital storytelling components. A gifted narrator, David lends his cinematographic creativity and refined storytelling sensibilities to all of his projects for LSS.
Vernon County, Wisconsin has the highest concentration of round barns in
the world. Through roadside interviews and beautiful pictoral vignettes, “The Round Barns of Vernon County” explores these unusual structures, their enigmatic African-American builder, Algie Shivers, and his unique mixed race community, the Cheyenne Valley. Historians and decedents alike describe Shivers and his anomalous early 20th-century community with a common idea: people from various backgrounds all got along and helped each other survive.
David’s childhood home was around the corner from the red round tile barn that is featured prominently in the film. A native of Viroqua, Wisconsin, David received his BA in History from UW-Madison and his MFA in Media Arts from the University of Montana-Missoula where he focused on integrating art and neighborhood revitalization. Shahin Izadi is documentary and narrative filmmaker currently pursuing his MFA in Film and Media Arts at Temple University in Philadelphia. Prior to this, he spent eight years living in Madison, Wisconsin where he made short films, participated in the micro-cinema community Wis-Kino, and documented the Wisconsin Uprising (portions of which appear in “Citizen Koch”). His films have screened at Occupy the Film Festival, San Fransisco LaborFest, and the Diamond Screen Film Festival. He received his PhD in philosophy from UW-Madison. David and Shahin first met and worked together at L&S Learning Support Services.
For more details about the documentary, visit http://www.roundbarnfilm.com. For Wisconsin Film Festival information and screening locations, see http://www.wifilmfest.org. The Film Festival schedule will be released on March 6th, and ticket sales will begin on March 8th. Check back for more information as the Film Festival dates approach. LSS is so very proud of David and Shahin!