Tradition Bearers
(1983) 47 minutes DVD
A documentary about Finnish American history and folk art expressed through the lives and repertoires of four folk artists living in the western Great Lakes Region. Blending live oral history interviews with historical photos, the film tells a story of Finnish immigration, the life of the miner, lumberjack, and homesteader. The film features an American-born lumberjack, an accordionist and story teller, and an immigrant weaver and wood sculptor. One of the films subjects, Art Moilanen, is the Finnish Accordionist. In 1990, he received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Fellowship recognizes “the recipients’ artistic excellence and supports their continuing contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage.”1 The folk culture presented in this film is the cement holding together the Finnish-American community.
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