Local trio wins first place at 4-H film festival

Three local 4-H members look to inform audiences about the ethics of fair exhibits through a film they have produced for the upcoming North Dakota State Fair’s 4-H film festival.

4-H is a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agricultural to more than 6.5 million young people nationwide in an effort to promote leadership, citizenship and life skills, according to its website.

The film, while not being judged as part of this week’s Stutsman County Fair, has already won the inaugural North Dakota 4-H Film Festival’s first place prize for the film narrative division, according to Deb Hatlewick, 4-H coordinator for Stutsman County.

Seth Kjellberg, 12, Sara Hatlewick, 14, and Kelly Susa, 15 — who all attend Montpelier (N.D.) Public School — were inspired to create such a video after a presentation they viewed a year ago.

“Last year we had an NDSU extension agent come to our 4-H club and show us a PowerPoint presentation on the importance of ethics,” Kjellberg said. “From there, a few of us just had the idea to make a video about it and we hope that kids especially will pay more attention to this rather than a PowerPoint or just someone talking about it.”

The movie is about 10 minutes long and examines the right and wrong ways to go about putting together static and livestock exhibits for a fair entry.

“Static exhibits for example — welding, woodworking or photography — some people will go out and buy things and use them in their exhibit rather than make them on their own,” Kjellberg said. “And then livestock exhibits, we show one example where we give a pig a shot and explain how you have to wait so many days before slaughtering it.”

During the course of the video, the group members act out potential real-life situations that exhibitors may come across and then show the proper methods exhibitors should use.

Susa said the biggest concept that the group wants audiences to grasp is the difference between right and wrong.

“Doing things the wrong way just takes the fun out of the experience,” she said. “It’s much more fun just to follow the rules.”

The video will be available for viewing at the North Dakota State Fair’s 4-H Film Festival in Minot at 2 p.m. on July 22 — something Kjellberg is especially excited about.

“This will be my first time at the state fair,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it, and being that this is something brand new I think there will be quite a few entries.”

Hatlewick said the group spent about two full days and a combined 16 hours taping, producing and editing the film.

“I think it came together nicely,” Kjellberg said.

When asked about their favorite parts of the movie-making process, each said they had a great deal of fun just looking over the bloopers that were filmed throughout.

4-H Coordinator Deb Hatlewick said the film will be on display “a couple of times during the (Stutsman County) fair,” via laptop in the Russ Melland Building where the 4-H exhibits will be on display.

“They’ve done a fantastic job and we were excited to hear the news about them earning first place,” Deb Hatlewick said. “I want to congratulate them on their accomplishment.”

Sara Hatlewick and Susa will represent the group in Branson, Mo., during the first week of August when the film is presented for the National 4-H Film Festival.

The Stutsman County Fair begins today, and for more information visit www.stutsmancountyfair.com.

Sun reporter Brian Willhide can be reached at

701-952-8454 or by email at bwillhide@jamestownsun.com

Tags: news, film, youth, fair