One winter, Daena and Amanda Makela decided to show John Carpenter’s The Thing in the Keweenaw. Forty people came. In February. In the Upper Peninsula. To watch a movie about being snowed in somewhere freezing, while snowed in somewhere freezing! As someone born in a blizzard up there, I can relate.
That is the origin of The Wolf’s Head Film Festival, and it is why I am elated to share their story.
Here's what surprised me when I learned of this unique film festival. Michigan offers no film tax credits, so a filmmaker choosing the Keweenaw is not expecting a rebate. What the Keweenaw offers instead is people who will help you: production assistants, a historic mine that would love to be in your movie, a pizzeria in a former vaudeville house, a caterer in Mohawk. The resource is the community itself, which is genuinely moving (and something to cherish).
The Orpheum Theater in Hancock has come all the way around, too. It opened as a vaudeville stage during the copper boom, became a movie house called the Pic, and is now a pizzeria and cafe that is showing films again.
Three filmmakers came the first year, one of them from Vermont. This year, they expect a dozen. The second annual Wolf’s Head Film Festival runs October 22 to 24, 2026, the weekend before Halloween, in the shoulder season when almost nobody thinks to go north.
Highlights include a special screening at Quincy Mine, live music, filmmaker gatherings, and a Zombie Prom celebration. Set against the Copper Country’s haunting landscapes and rich mining history, the festival invites filmmakers and movie lovers to gather at the edge of the season for a weekend of strange cinema, creative community, and late-night revelry.
We interviewed Amanda Makela, filmmaker, co-founder, small business owner, and local storyteller, about building a film festival at the top of Michigan.
Here’s what she had to say…
Please tell us about the Wolf’s Head Film Festival. What led you to create this film festival?
My husband, Daena, and I bonded over movies, and so much of how we connect with our friends and family has always revolved around film. Daena is a professional filmmaker and editor for film and television, and he also creates social media and small-business content here in the Keweenaw.
When we lived in Austin, Texas, we had a community of filmmaker friends, and some of our favorite memories were simply getting together at someone's house to watch movies, going to the theater, or heading to Alamo Drafthouse for screenings that felt like events in their own right. We'd watch the good, the bad, and everything in between, and just enjoy experiencing movies together. We wanted to recreate that feeling here in the Keweenaw.
We love this community, and we saw the festival as a fun way to bring people together around something we're passionate about. In the long term, our goal is to create a gathering place for our peers, both in the film industry and within our local community, where we can celebrate independent cinema, discover unusual films, and just have a good time together.
But there's a bigger vision, too. We want filmmakers from outside the area to see the Keweenaw as an incredible place to create. We have so much history, beautiful and varied landscapes, and fantastic natural scenery that could serve as the backdrop for all kinds of films. We also have a community of people who are welcoming, resourceful, and eager to help. Places like Quincy Mine are excited about the possibility of being featured in productions, and that kind of local enthusiasm makes a real difference.
Michigan doesn't offer film tax credits, so for filmmakers working with limited budgets, access to local resources and creative talent is especially important. Having people nearby who can help you shoot, edit, produce, and bring a project to life can make all the difference.
We see Wolf's Head Film as a way to help build those connections while celebrating the kind of cinema that inspires us. It's about creating opportunities for people to come together through film, strengthening our local creative community, and showing people what the Keweenaw has to offer.
You are in Michigan's Keweeenaw Peninsula - such an incredible location. How does that space inform your art?
The Keweenaw is our backyard, and we're inspired every day in our professional work by both the people and the place. What makes it especially exciting, though, is the community we've found here. There are so many creatives and eclectic people across all kinds of professions, many of whom are passionate about film and willing to do something a little silly or unconventional. People are excited to make things, create events, collaborate, and bring the community together. Wolf's Head Film gives us an opportunity to nerd out about movies while channeling all that creative energy into something tangible.
We also have these incredible venues that make it possible. The Orpheum Theater in Hancock is a great example. It's a beautiful historic space with a long history, and while it's now home to a pizzeria and cafe and hosts live music, a lot of people may not know that it began as a vaudeville stage during the copper mining era before becoming a movie theater known as the Pic. In a way, we're helping bring that history full circle by bringing film back into the mix.
We love the reciprocal relationship that develops when we create these events. We're bringing new activities into these spaces, but we're also giving people a reason to experience familiar places in a different way, or to discover places they might not otherwise have an opportunity to visit. The Orpheum has been an enthusiastic and willing partner, and we're excited about the possibilities for future events there.
We're always thinking about what else could make an incredible screening location. Could we show a film inside a historic mine? During our festival, one of our VIP experiences includes a screening at Quincy Mine, which lets people experience both the film and the remarkable setting around it. Beyond that, you start imagining screenings at a nature preserve, on a beach, or in a park. The Keweenaw offers such an incredible variety of landscapes, and there are so many local organizations that are excited to collaborate.
We've also had wonderful experiences working with other nonprofits to create film events that support their missions, whether that's educating people, connecting them with an organization, or bringing a community together around a shared interest.
Ultimately, I think it's both the human and natural elements that make this place so inspiring. We have the landscapes and historic spaces that make you want to create something, but we also have the people who are willing to help make it happen. That combination opens up so many possibilities.
Wolf's Head Film Fest IN A MINE!
One thing I love about Michigan is that we're all about community. How have Wolf's Head Film and its events been received?
Our events picked up steam pretty quickly, and I think that speaks to how much people are craving community. The Keweenaw has a really wonderful creative scene, especially around music and art, but I don't think the local film scene had been fully realized yet. We saw an opportunity to bring people together around movies in a way that felt accessible, exciting, and a little different.
Before we even formalized Wolf's Head Film as a nonprofit, Daena and I started hosting one-off screenings. We'd show something like John Carpenter's The Thing in the middle of winter and have upwards of 40 people show up. All of our regular community screenings are free, so people can come together and enjoy a movie without worrying about the cost. Our annual film festival is ticketed, but we work to keep it accessible, too.
Now that we're an official nonprofit, people are really excited about what we're doing. They're constantly sharing ideas and asking what we're planning next. I think people feel seen in the films we choose. We screen everything from cult classics and underground oddities to beloved favorites, and there's something special about finding a group of people who are just as excited about a weird, niche movie as you are.
It's hard to explain unless you've lived somewhere a little removed from major urban centers. You can sometimes feel like you're on the outside looking in when it comes to the bigger cultural events and experiences happening elsewhere. When someone makes the effort to bring those experiences to your community, it means something. It shows what's possible here in the Keweenaw, and it gives people another reason to connect with one another.
We've had really encouraging attendance at our nearly monthly film events, and we're now heading into our second annual Wolf's Head Film Festival. The growth on the filmmaker side has been especially exciting. In our first year, three filmmakers took a chance on this brand-new festival and traveled here from places as far away as Vermont, as well as from downstate Michigan. This year, we're expecting around a dozen filmmakers. That's a tremendous jump in just one year.
We hear from so many people who have never visited the Keweenaw but have been wanting to come. That's a big part of what we're trying to accomplish. Of course, we're here to serve our local community, but we're also bringing new people to the area and giving them a reason to experience the Keweenaw for themselves. Our festival takes place in late October, when fewer visitors typically come up here, so we're creating an event that brings people into the region during that shoulder season. It's an opportunity to share this place with people who might not otherwise experience it at this time of year.
And honestly, it's just joyful. There's laughter during screenings, conversations afterward, late-night discussions about movies, and people making connections they might not have made otherwise. That same creative energy carries into our board, which has grown to nine people. Everyone brings their own interests and ideas, and they're genuinely invested in making things happen. It's exciting to watch people take something they're passionate about and turn it into an event that brings others together.
This year, we're also seeing more local media involvement, including submissions from Michigan filmmakers and a short film made here in the Keweenaw. Those are the kinds of connections we hoped to encourage when we started this organization.
Ultimately, I think the more art we put into the world, the more opportunities we create to bring people together. It makes our community feel more connected, gives people something to look forward to, and reminds us that creative experiences don't have to be confined to big cities. We can make those things happen right here.
What films have been chosen for this year's festival, and what is your process for selecting films?
Our festival definitely reflects our personal tastes. We're drawn to edgy films that lean toward horror, science fiction, fantasy, and dark comedy. If you get to know us, you'll realize we're a bunch of loving weirdos, and the festival reflects that. We like films that are unusual, surprising, a little twisted, or just plain fun to watch.
At the same time, we have a strong regional focus. Our ideal priority is to feature films made in the Keweenaw first, followed by films from elsewhere in Michigan, the Great Lakes region, the rest of the country, and then internationally. As a new festival, though, we also have to cast a wide net to find the right films and build a compelling program.
We use FilmFreeway to solicit submissions, primarily for short films, although this year we opened submissions to feature-length films as well, which was exciting. Our listing gives filmmakers a sense of our personality and programming interests. Because the festival takes place the weekend before Halloween, people generally understand the atmosphere we're going for.
When we're reviewing submissions, we're looking at more than just production value. We want a program that feels cohesive while still being eclectic. We're an inclusive organization, so we consider how films represent people and approach potentially sensitive material. We want to create an environment where audiences can enjoy themselves and discover something new, without relying on material that's gratuitously offensive.
We also love practical effects, DIY filmmaking, and seeing people take creative risks. Some of the films we screen have impressive production values and sophisticated visual effects; others are clearly made with whatever resources the filmmakers had available. We celebrate both. There's something really exciting about watching a film that someone made at home with a small crew and a big idea.
Part of our mission is to make filmmaking feel accessible. We want audience members to sit in the theater and think, "Hey, I could actually do this." And for filmmakers, having a festival select your work can be a huge confidence boost. We want to encourage these artists to keep creating, bring them to the Keweenaw, give audiences the opportunity to meet them, and show them that there's a community here that supports their work.
Ultimately, the selection process is about curating a vibe. We want each film to contribute something interesting to the overall experience, whether that's a great story, a wild premise, inventive effects, or simply a good time at the movies.
This year, we've expanded to three nights. Each evening features a package of short films followed by a feature, and we've put together a pretty eclectic lineup.
Our first night closes with an independent feature, while the second night features George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, a classic of the zombie genre. We're also bringing in a filmmaker who interviewed one of the film's makeup artists, with an accompanying documentary that adds another layer to the experience.
Our third night closes with The Dark Domain: Mickey-vs.-Winnie, a horror film inspired by the entry of early versions of Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh into the public domain. There's something curiously twisted about taking childhood characters and turning them into horror icons, and the film certainly embraces that premise.
But what makes this particular film especially meaningful to us is its connection to the Keweenaw. Director Glenn Douglas Packard filmed portions of The Dark Domain: Mickey vs. Winnie here, working with the people at Open Skies, the former Calumet Air Force base. The production hired local production assistants and brought business to the area, including catering from Sundaes in the Park in Mohawk.
That's exactly the kind of relationship we want to encourage between filmmakers and our region. Someone takes a creative risk, discovers what the Keweenaw has to offer, and brings local people and businesses into the process. Glenn even screened the trailer at our inaugural festival, and now we're hosting the film's world premiere on Saturday night. The project also attracted national attention from Fangoria because of its outrageous premise.
Glenn was also the recipient of our annual Wolf's Head Power Gauntlet last year. It's a locally made leather bracelet featuring our logo, artistically crafted by Dead Miners. We created the award to recognize someone who has helped uplift the film community in the Keweenaw. That contribution doesn't have to be financial or professional; it might be emotional support, encouragement, practical help, or simply being someone who believes in the work.
For us, recognizing those people is just as important as screening the films themselves. It's about celebrating the filmmakers who take chances, the community members who support them, and the connections that make more creative work possible here. We want this to be a two-way relationship: filmmakers bring their work and their ideas to the Keweenaw, and we help give them a place to share those ideas, connect with audiences, and keep creating.
How can readers find out more about the Wolf’s Head Film Festival?
The best place to start is our website, www.wolfsheadfilm.com, where you can find festival details and updates. We're also on Facebook and Instagram, on FilmFreeway, and through Visit Keweenaw at www.VisitKeweenaw.com.
Our second annual festival runs October 22–24, 2026, and we plan to make this an annual gathering the weekend before Halloween. We genuinely love putting this event together, seeing people come out, and watching the community grow around it. We're excited to see how far we can take it.
Our big, slightly ridiculous dream is to become the Telluride Horror Festival of Michigan: a destination for filmmakers and movie lovers who want to pair cinema with a travel experience to a magnificently beautiful destination. We're also doing our homework to see if we can claim the title of the northernmost film festival in the contiguous United States. At the very least, we're can claim being Michigan's northernmost film festival.
We want people to come up, discover the Keweenaw, meet some filmmakers, watch some wonderfully strange movies, and be part of what we're building. The more people who show up, the more we can do.
Learn more: https://www.wolfsheadfilm.com
All photos courtesy and copyright Wolf's Head Film, published with permission