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Your financial contribution empowers watchdog reporting that protects and informs us all. DECORAH — The air outside the Hotel Winneshiek is mild for an early spring evening, inviting people to linger and chat before stepping inside. But inside, the warmth of the 15th Annual Oneota Film Festival's opening night hums with quiet energy. The lobby is alive with anticipation, anchored by an informational table where Creative Director Elise Skellenger and a handful of volunteers greet guests with programs and lanyards. Their enthusiasm sets the tone. This isn't just another festival—it's a community, stitched together by a love for stories. Moving to the hotel bar, now equipped with my lanyard fest pass, the low murmur of conversation blends with the clinking of glasses. A Cider Mule seems fitting—spiced warmth with a hint of kick—and I'm told I can carry it upstairs to the Steyer Opera House. It's a pretty easy yes. Drink in hand, I ascend to the venue, where strings of lights cast a golden glow over the historic space. The opera house fills slowly, then steadily. Conversations overlap, strangers become acquaintances, and the hum of voices swells into a symphony of excitement. I meet festival-goers who have driven hours, film enthusiasts eager to dissect cinematography choices before the first frame even flickers. By the time Skellenger and Board President Nancy Sojka step onto the stage, the room is at capacity, with some festgoers taking to the mezzanine. Skellenger's voice carries through the space, welcoming the crowd and reflecting on the festival's theme: "Light in the Driftless." First, there's a recognition of the uncertain world outside these walls. "I know there's a lot going on in the world right now, and what we need more than ever is community, belonging, hope, and light," Skellenger says. "And that's exactly where you all come in. Just by being here tonight and by joining us for any of the film screenings we will be hosting during the festival, you are bringing light to the Driftless." Sojka speaks next, drawing a name for a door prize in a raffle established at various pre-festival events, where smaller audiences could preview films from the festival. Festgoer John Barnes is declared the winner. Then, the moment we've all been waiting for. The introduction of Margreth Olin's "Songs of Earth." The lights dim. I find a spot on the floor beside Oneota Film Festival Board Member Nathan Dietzenbach. The view is aligned perfectly down the center aisle. The screen comes alive with sweeping vistas—Norway's staggering, untamed landscapes captured in stunning, near-sacred clarity. The film, a deeply personal documentary, follows Olin's 85 year-old father, Jørgen Mykløen, as he moves through the land he has called home for his whole life. His steps, deliberate and knowing, are a meditation on time itself. The cinematography is breathtaking: glaciers that glisten like cut glass, rivers that pulse with an almost musical rhythm, mountains standing as silent witnesses to history. But "Songs of Earth" is more than a visual feast. It is a conversation between past and present, between human and nature. Mykløen speaks in measured tones, his words sparse yet weighty, each sentence carrying the weight of a lifetime's wisdom. His connection to the land is not one of ownership but of clear reverence. The film doesn't rush. It moves like the earth itself—deliberate, yet patient, unyielding. The audience sits with their breaths held in collective suspension. Here, in this dimly lit opera house in Decorah, Iowa, we are transported across oceans, embedded into the quiet, vast soul of Norway's wilderness. As the final frame lingers before fading to black, there is a long silence before the applause begins. It is not thunderous, but it is full, a recognition of something profound that words fail to capture. I glance around—some eyes are misty, others simply lost in thought. The festival's opening night has done exactly what it set out to do. It has created a space for light, for connection, for stories that remind us of the beauty and fragility of the world we inhabit. And as I step back outside into the gentle night air, the warmth of the film, of the evening, lingers. Unlock a world of knowledge! Sign up for free DecorahNews.com newsletters and receive local news, local events and everything that is happening in and around Decorah.

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Oneota Film Festival's Opening Night Celebrates Connection Through Storytelling