Square Lake Film & Music

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Square Lake Film & Music The biggest little music and film festival nestled in a Stillwater backyard. BIG ACTS, small crowd.

We're so happy about the St. Croix River Tales riverboat event last week Friday 9/25. What an amazing night of film & m...
09/30/2026

We're so happy about the St. Croix River Tales riverboat event last week Friday 9/25. What an amazing night of film & music on Ókhižu Wakpá (the Dakota name for the river)!

The 2026 award recipients are:

First Place — $1,000: The Untold Adventures of Stephan Stray Sock, by Gil Gragert and Micah Davis.
Second Place — $500 each: Embodiment, by Rachel Quast, and This River of Birds, by Brian Michael Collins.
Third Place — $250: Jubilee One, by Joel Erle Orff.
Emerging Filmmaker — $350: Downstream, by Ben Brown.

Season II information is already available at https://www.squarelakefestival.com/st-croix-river-tales/

Over the next 9 months we're going to tour these films around to different venues for in-person screenings up and down the St. Croix River. If you have a screening location and idea, let us know. The films aren't available online, and these in-person gatherings will be a way to see the films, meet the filmmakers and for prospective filmmakers, you can learn more about the project and participate in Season II.

We showcased Rocky’s work a couple weeks ago at FILMS at the FAIR/Minnesota State Fair. Check it out! Congrats Rocky!
09/24/2026

We showcased Rocky’s work a couple weeks ago at FILMS at the FAIR/Minnesota State Fair.
Check it out! Congrats Rocky!

Update: Only 26 tickets left!We have an incredible show prepared for you Friday 9/25 as we celebrate the end of Season I...
09/21/2026

Update: Only 26 tickets left!

We have an incredible show prepared for you Friday 9/25 as we celebrate the end of Season I of St. Croix River Tales and premier 17 films as part of our "Floating Film" showcase.

And as we premiere these films about the St. Croix River we'll float downstream on The Avalon riverboat! Learn more about the films via this link https://www.squarelakefestival.com/rivertalesshowcase/

There's also live music from Keith Secola, a String Trio ft Alissa Ona Jacobsen (violin), Mikey Marget (cello) & Liz Draper (bass), and on the top deck near the paddle wheel Joe Savage will be playing pedal steel.

Tickets are on sale at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/square-lake-floating-film-showcase-tickets-1997055176793

Huge thank you to everyone who joined us for (the first ever) FILMS at the FAIR 8/28-9/6. We had an amazing five day ru...
09/18/2026

Huge thank you to everyone who joined us for (the first ever) FILMS at the FAIR 8/28-9/6. We had an amazing five day run and screened 27 films from all over Minnesota. A lot of people returned for two and even three nights of the series!
Thanks to the team at the Minnesota State Fair & Pet Pavillion that made us feel so welcome (Nate Dungan, Marilyn Mangan, Rose Hallman).
Huge thank you to all the amazing filmmakers who submitted work and the dozens of filmmakers who attended screenings.
Thanks to our film industry partners Hellavision Television, Docuclub Minnesota & FilmNorth and SqLk volunteers.
And of course thank you to our Square Lake Team who worked so hard (Ingrid, Le, Andrew, Angela and Brent)

We hope we have the chance to do this again!

(Photos by Sarah Whiting)

We warmly welcome you to FILMS at the FAIR Weekend II that premiers tonight, 8:30PM at the Minnesota State Fair!We are v...
09/04/2026

We warmly welcome you to FILMS at the FAIR Weekend II that premiers tonight, 8:30PM at the Minnesota State Fair!

We are very pleased to collaborate on tonight's screening with FilmNorth as our spotlight partner. FilmNorth is a vital part of our film community in Minnesota. Thank you to the entire FilmNorth team for all you do.

Weekend II 9/4-5:
THE NIGHT WITH THE BEAR By Adam Geiger, NIGHT PRISM
By Chris Lange, BOOTS By Lily Berg, LA FRONTERA
By Paola Guerrero Abrego, BOUND FOR THE LAST CONTINENT
By Josh Carlon, STRESSZILLA By Rocky Casillas Aguirre, THE PLEASURE-DOME By Marcie LaCerte, FALLEN STARS
By Jon Passig & Celeste Wilburn, A WILDERNESS ACT
By Nisogaabokwe Melonee Montano & Tom Deschenes, HALCYON DAYS By Bri Dorsey, WEB 5000 By Sishirprithvi Bommakanti.

Screening details:
🎬 FILMS at the FAIR – Screening Schedule 🎬
Join us each night this Labor Day weekend!
We are only active during the specific screening windows listed below:Friday, Sept 4: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Saturday, Sept 5: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Sunday, Sept 6: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Presented by Square Lake Film & Music
We are beyond excited—and deeply honored—to share our Weekend II program...an extraordinary selection of short, family-friendly films created by talented artists from across Minnesota. Many of the filmmakers will join us at the screenings!
This is the first film showcase of its kind in Minnesota State Fair history. Join us in celebrating this historic occasion!

Limited seating begins at 8 p.m.; films begin at 8:30 p.m. Come early, find a seat, and vote for your favorite films.
Pet Pavilions
Northwest corner of Murphy Avenue and Underwood Street
Free with Minnesota State Fair admission
Complete film lineup and filmmaker information:
https://www.squarelakefestival.com/statefairshowcases/
Official Minnesota State Fair listing:
https://www.mnstatefair.org/new/at-the-fair/films-at-fair
Square Lake Film & Music will also have a limited number of signed-and-numbered screen-printed posters, along with glow-in-the-dark T-shirts and tote bags!

Hellavision Television is a spotlight film organization partner for the very first night of FILMS at the FAIR, tomorrow ...
08/28/2026

Hellavision Television is a spotlight film organization partner for the very first night of FILMS at the FAIR, tomorrow 8/28 at 8PM at the Pet Pavillion. Help us fill the bleachers!

Hellavision Television promotes creativity and collaboration worldwide. We love em. Their newest episode “DANCE EVERYWHERE invites animators to dance in an unexpected location, to let the surroundings choreograph their movement and allow animation to transform their dance into something impossible. This episode is created by Dane Cree & Woodlin Latocki.”

Hellavision Television is a spotlight film organization partner for the very first night of FILMS at the FAIR, tomorrow ...
08/28/2026

Hellavision Television is a spotlight film organization partner for the very first night of FILMS at the FAIR, tomorrow 8/28 at 8PM at the Pet Pavillion. Help us fill the bleachers! Learn more here: https://www.squarelakefestival.com/statefairshowcases/

Hellavision Television promotes creativity and collaboration worldwide. We love em. Their newest episode "DANCE EVERYWHERE invites animators to dance in an unexpected location, to let the surroundings choreograph their movement and allow animation to transform their dance into something impossible. This episode is created by Dane Cree & Woodlin Latocki."
Learn more here: https://www.hellavisiontelevision.com/episodes/dance-everywhere

We're really excited about this coming weekend!Join us this coming weekend (8/28-29) at the 2026 Minnesota State Fair fo...
08/25/2026

We're really excited about this coming weekend!

Join us this coming weekend (8/28-29) at the 2026 Minnesota State Fair for our first weekend showcasing film & animation from across Minnesota. We'll be easy to find. Look for the huge Ferris Wheel and keep going to the Pet Pavillion. You'll see our screen. Seating starts at 8 and films at 8:30.

Square Lake Film & Music began discussing this idea 10 years ago, and we stuck with it because there really is something deeply inspiring about Minnesota. The whole world has its eyes on us right now. There's never been a showcase of films like this in MN State Fair history.

"Films at the Fair" spans five nights with a different showcase of films each weekend. We received over 185 submissions and watched 18+ hours of short films. Only 14% were selected for screening, and all together we'll screen 26 films in 2026 and you can vote on your favorite.

Our intern Le Nguyen designed our "Films at the Fair" logo and we love it.
We'll have 40 limited edition copies of this year's screen print poster, signed & numbered by the artist Connor Hryhorysak.
The even talented Cathan Murray created an animated version of the poster, like he's been doing for 10+ years at the Square Lake Films & Music Festival. All the pistons are firing!

The films from weekend one are family-friendly & spectacular:
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH BIRDS By Taylor Bakken
END OF WINTER By Jonny Weaver
THE BOOM By Ajuawak Kapashesit
SPAGHETTI WITH SEEDS By Grey Anderson
THE SURVEYOR By Avery Luthardt
MAY THE FORESAKEN BE FORGIVEN By Taoheed Bayo
THE RED WOOL PENDLETON By Tom Schroeder
TEB CHAW (LAND) By Joua Lee Grande
RECIPE FOR DISASTER By Spencer Knott & Kevin Noonan
(Many filmmakers will be present at the screenings)

Help us create a new MN State Fair tradition!

PS: We're still looking for volunteers. Msg us

Address

13359 Partridge Road N
Stillwater, MN
55082

Telephone

+16512265046

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