Manhattan Film Festival

In the Shadow of Paul Bunyan is a counter-history of the midwest's favorite lumberjack constructed from a wide assemblage of archival materials, including forgotten cartoons, decaying educational films, rotting theatre snipes, abandoned home movies, obscure historical documents, rarely seen film from the 1939 Bemidji Winter Carnival and original 16mm footage. In The Shadow of Paul Bunyan tells the story of how the famous lumberjack and his big blue ox became the de-facto protagonists in Minnesota's creation story. At the same time, it spans the unresolved histories of conquest and conflict that exist in Paul Bunyan's shadow. This is the hidden part of Paul Bunyan – the stories of the labor strife and indigenous displacement that are hidden within the reassuring myth of the jolly logger. Filmmaker Nik Nerburn criss-crosses both real and imagined the landscapes of this folkloric fugitive, from their humble origins as a joke bandied around lumbercamps and their lives as enduring advertising icons all the way to their mythic roadside entombment in fiberglass. In the Shadow of Paul Bunyan is a deeply personal expedition into the hidden corners of the landscapes we call Minnesota. - Part of the MN Film Series