Quad Cities Filmmakers Kelly And Tammy Rundle Win Fifth Emmy® Award
Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Moline, Illinois-based Fourth Wall Films have received a Mid-America Emmy® Award for their historical documentary film Resurrecting Forest Grove. Filmed over a decade, the historical documentary tells the story of a nearly collapsed 1878 one-room school in Bettendorf, Iowa and a decade-long effort to restore it to its 1920s appearance.
“Forest Grove” tells the history of the school and renovation through interviews with former teachers, students, historians, and craftsmen, and volunteers, and also features national and regional history stories from the 1920s.
“We are grateful to receive this recognition from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences—Mid-America Chapter for “Resurrecting Forest Grove”, and we are especially pleased for the many participants and supporters of the film and historic preservation project,” said producer/writer Tammy Rundle. “We are also very grateful to WQPT-PBS for the qualifying broadcast and their ongoing interest in and support of our documentary film work.”
Kelly and Tammy Rundle are Moline-based filmmakers who own Fourth Wall Films.
This is the fifth Emmy® Award win for the Rundles.
Grant Award for Deadly 1871 Peshtigo Fire Film
Fourth Wall Films has received a $10,000 Wisconsin Humanities grant award for their new historical documentary “Peshtigo: American Firestorm” (working title), currently in pre-production. The Peshtigo Historical Society is the fiscal sponsor for the project.
During the summer of 2023, the Rundles made a trip to Peshtigo in northwest Wisconsin to meet with the local historical society and conduct preliminary research for a new historical documentary focused on the October 8, 1871 Peshtigo Fire—the most deadly wildfire in recorded history.
On the same October day in 1871, the city of Chicago caught fire. When the flames were extinguished two days later, three square miles of the city was in ashes, 300 residents were dead, 17,000 structures were lost, and a third of the city’s 300,000 residents were homeless. Telegraphic messages from the city quickly reached surrounding states and communities with the horrific news. Assistance and resources from Milwaukee and Madison began to flow to Chicago immediately.
As the flames in Chicago flickered out on October 10, an urgent message, sent by boat from a tiny lumber town in far northeast Wisconsin, arrived in Wisconsin Governor Lucius Fairchild’s office. It read, “We are burning up. Send help.” The Peshtigo fired burned 1.2 million acres and killed an estimated 1500-2500 people. The Peshtigo Fire, not the Chicago fire, would prove to be the largest and most deadly fire in recorded history. But the Peshtigo Fire has been largely forgotten by history.
Produced by award winning filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, “Peshtigo” will combine vintage photos, artists renderings, limited re-enactments and archival materials with eye-witness accounts, and perspectives from present-day historians and scholars, including Jerry Apps, historian and author of “When the White Pine was King”, and conservationists, to tell the dramatic story of America’s deadliest firestorm. “Peshtigo” will be funded, in part, by this grant from Wisconsin Humanities, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Rundles have received four previous Wisconsin Humanities Grant Awards in the last decade for “Country School: One Room – One Nation”, “Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3”, “The Barn Raisers”, and “The Amish Incident: Wisconsin vs Yoder”.
Wisconsin Humanities
The Wisconsin Humanities strengthens our democracy through educational and cultural programs that build connections and understanding among people of all backgrounds and beliefs throughout the state. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“Resurrecting Forest Grove”
“Resurrecting Forest Grove” was funded in part by grants from Humanities Iowa, and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area. The award-winning documentary is available to stream and purchase on DVD/Blu-ray at ForestGroveMovie.com.
Fourth Wall Films
Fourth Wall Films is a media production and distribution company based in Illinois/Iowa Quad Cities. Filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle have received five Regional Emmy® Awards for their documentary film work, and a total of fourteen Emmy-nominations since 2011.
