French Film Makers
Return to Glencoe after 40 Years

 - by: GHPS member Lon Roach   -

   

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The Event Update

     The Glencoe Historic Preservation Society held a movie night on Tuesday June 23^rd featuring the PBS documentary, God’s Country, by French film maker Louie Malle. The documentary was filmed in Glencoe in 1979 with a return visit in 1985. Eighty-seven people were in attendance at the Glencoe City Center Auditorium showing.

    Also in attendance were French film makers Justine Malle and Pauline Guedj and two assistants. Justine is the daughter of Louie Malle and has come to Glencoe on the film’s 40^th anniversary to do a sequel to the original documentary about how Glencoe has changed and how it has stayed the same. Their crew arrived Monday June 22^nd and intends to stay two weeks gathering material for the documentary.

   Pauline Guedj and Justine Malle 

   The evening opened with comments by Society chairman Ryan Voss and the introduction of Justine and Pauline, who then explained their mission. They said that they wanted to be in Glencoe during Glencoe Days as that was when much of the 1979 filming was done.

   During the showing of the film, the film crew was recording the audience’s reactions. Following the showing, the women answered questions and heard observations and reminiscences of audience members, some of whom were in the film as young people.

   Justine explained how her father came to select Glencoe as the subject for the documentary. He had been traveling around the state filming events like school graduations, and when he arrived in Glencoe, something just clicked, and the result was the PBS documentary about life in a rural Minnesota community, God’s Country.

   The arrangements for their visit began in January with an email to the McLeod County Historical Society. The MCHS turned it over to the Glencoe Historic Preservation Society, and after several more emails and a zoom call, it was turned over to the Glencoe Chamber of Commerce to help with the arrangements.

The God's Country video is listed on our GHPS Video Page