Videos
Ish Meets a Mermaid
Written and directed by Duluth’s Jonathan Thunder, the short movie Ish Meets a Mermaid was produced in 2025 and premiered at the Historic State Theater in Ely during the Ely Film Festival in March 2026. It recently made its Duluth debut at the Zeitgeist Minnesota Film Festival. (more…)
Toby Thomas Churchill – “The Bridge by the Crib”
“The Bridge by the Crib” is the third video release from Toby Thomas Churchill’s new album Nighttime.
Making it Up North: Kelly Schamberger
A chance encounter at the Tweed Museum sparked Kelly Schamberger‘s passion for plein air painting. This video explores the delicate balance of turning a creative passion into a sustainable business, the importance of artistic mentorship, and the unique joy of connecting with strangers in the middle of the woods. It is a story about building a legacy of beauty and finding common ground through the stroke of a brush.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Steve Solkela’s “Overpopulated” One-man Band – “She Taught Me How to Yodel”
Steve Solkela covers “She Taught Me How to Yodel” — a hit song for Frank Ifield in the 1960s — during a performance at the TapRoom in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Making it Up North: Northernly School for Music
Kyle Orla grew up surrounded by music, but his path to becoming an educator was anything but traditional. From playing 1990s hardcore and metal with jazz chords to traveling the country with a fiddle and no fixed address, he learned that the best education often happens outside the classroom. Today, he’s helping lead Northerly, a Duluth music school run by musicians, for musicians.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
West Duluth Snake Orgy
These garter snakes on the edge of Waabizheshikana Trail in West Duluth have formed a “mating ball,” with the males competing for a little time with the female, who is releasing irresistible pheromones.
Making it Up North: Scott Murphy
Local painter Scott Murphy shares the raw, honest truth about his creative journey. From the high-pressure world of painting 17 years of billboards to the surreal hallucinations of a coma following a major accident, his work is a reflection of a life lived in “low gear” but high intensity.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Writers Speak Out: Power to the People
Writers Speak Out: People Have the Power was held at Wussow’s Concert Cafe on April 21. (more…)
Palomino: Trampled by Turtles Live at First Avenue
Trampled by Turtles has released to YouTube a 2020 documentary featuring the band performing all the tracks from the 2010 album Palomino, with commentary on the process of writing the songs.
The documentary is directed and edited by Charlie Berg.
Making it Up North: Lenore Lampi
Ceramicist Lenore Lampi discusses the transition from being an art teacher to a full-time artist, the inspiration behind her “Scrolls Interrupted” series, and the unique techniques she uses to bring her sculptures to life — including the use of furniture gilding wax and birch-inspired motifs.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
First footage ever of a cougar with kittens in Minnesota
For the first time in more than 100 years, evidence of cougars reproducing in Minnesota was documented in video captured by the University of Minnesota’s Voyageurs Wolf Project. The clips show a female cougar with three large kittens. (more…)
So Many Pelicans
Adam “The Frozen Photog” Jagunich took a trip to Chambers Grove Park, along the St. Louis River in Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood, to capture scenes of migrating pelicans.
Making it Up North: Julie Arthur
Since taking up fiber art in 1973, Julie Arthur has evolved from a student to a master instructor, finding her home and her “people” within the vibrant North Shore arts community.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
The Decline and Rebirth of the St. Louis River
This WDIO-TV news feature shares the story of the St. Louis River. Once too polluted to fish, the waterway is nearing removal from the Environmental Protection Agency’s contaminated Areas of Concern list after years of cleanup and habitat restoration.
The Lost Forty: A Story of Minnesota’s Scientific and Natural Areas
Hidden in northern Minnesota, about 110 miles northwest of Duluth, the Lost Forty is a rare old-growth pine forest that survived the logging era by accident more than a century ago. Today, it offers a window into the state’s Scientific and Natural Areas program and the effort to protect Minnesota’s most remarkable and irreplaceable ecosystems. In this documentary, Lakeland PBS explores the Lost Forty and the broader work to preserve Minnesota’s natural heritage.
Making it Up North: Shoreview Natives
Shoreview Natives owner Dan Schutte shares how a hobby growing native plants in a Two Harbors basement grew into a full-scale landscaping nursery and a mission to support pollinators across the region.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Video Archive: Geek Prom 2006
Twenty years ago today — April 22, 2006 — caravans of Duluthians traveled to the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul for the fifth edition of the Geek Prom. It was the first of two Geek Proms held in St. Paul; the other eight were held in Duluth.
Chuck Olson produced the segment above, which appeared on the pioneering daily video blog Rocketboom prior to the launch of its YouTube channel and shorty before original host Amanda Congdon left the show. (more…)
Minnesota Bound: BWCA Special
This week’s episode of Minnesota Bound, covers the clash over the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Twin Metals wants to mine right up against the BWCAW. As lifelong fans and users of the Boundary Waters, hosts Bill Sherck and Laura Schara take a closer look at the projects’ risks and potential affects.
Making it Up North: Teague Alexy
Singer-songwriter Teague Alexy talks about his unlikely path from the hip-hop crews of the Jersey Shore to the heart of the Minnesota music scene. Moving to Holyoke, about 10 miles southwest of Duluth, transformed his creative process, leading him to trade violin lessons and rap for American roots music and the harmonica.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Making it Up North: Apostle Islands Kayaking Express
The Apostle Islands Kayaking Express team leads tours out of Bayfield, exploring the 10,000-year-old glacial history that carved sandstone arches, caverns and tunnels at Devil’s Island.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Moose-heavy Montage from Voyageurs National Park
This montage of trail camera footage from Voyageurs National Park includes numerous moose walk throughs, along with the usual array of northern Minnesota critters. The Voyageurs Wolf Project has roughly 350 cameras set up in the park, which is about 100 miles north of Duluth. This footage is all from one camera, captured last summer.
Indecent Proposal – “Tears in Rain” (DJ SMOXA Remix)
The latest video from Duluth band Indecent Proposal was shot during two performances — last summer’s Downtown Duluth Street Dance outside Dubh Linn Irish Pub and the band’s opening slot for Third Eye Blind at Black Bear Casino in March. The video production work is by Capture Chaos Productions.
Making it Up North: Seed Treasures
In Angora Township, about 70 miles north of Duluth, Jackie and Will Atkinson are rescuing ancient heirloom seeds from extinction, turning their passion for “growing history” into a thriving, cold-hardy seed business called Seed Treasures.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Making it Up North: Alan Nyiri
Alan Nyiri, a lifelong photographer who has traded the traditional retirement for a life on the open road, travels the country with his wife in a fifth-wheel trailer, serving as a “volunteering professional.” Currently stationed at Grand Portage National Monument, he is using his decades of technical skill to document the history of the fur trade and the legendary Rendezvous.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
The Imperatur YouTube channel focuses on Duluth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6XPh4t-kYs
A popular YouTube channel based out of Germany features “mini documentaries about cities and infrastructure around the world.” It recently posted an episode on the urban planning challenges faced by Duluth. Within the rapid 9-minute overview, there is a lot that is correct. And there is just as much to quibble about, which is often the more fun part of watching videos like this.