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Our Emmy-Winning Documentary Filmmaking Journey: Creating Finding Manoomin with MPR News and TPT

  • bengarvin
  • Dec 4, 2025
  • 2 min read

On a warm afternoon deep in wild rice country, I sat in a canoe behind Leah Lemm as she lifted a pair of knocking sticks. The sacred plant surrounded us. I picked a caterpillar off my lens. Months later, our documentary Finding Manoomin won a Midwest Emmy Award and aired on both MPR News and Twin Cities PBS (TPT). I'm super proud of the film and the creative partnerships we created.


Directed by MPR News reporter Leah Lemm

Shot and edited by Ben Garvin

Produced and written by Lindsey Seavert


Working alongside Leah Lemm, senior editor of the MPR Native News Initiative, gave this project its heart. Her calm presence and connection to the community and land led every step of the story. She also created a companion radio documentary, listen here: “Finding Manoomin” on MPR News.

“Storytelling is a true team sport and I’m grateful to the team (Jane Helmke and Erin Rasmussen Warhol) that invited us into the process, and the warm welcome from Leah’s family and friends as they trusted us to uplift this story together.”

We spent days filming on reservation land with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. I arrived knowing almost nothing about wild rice harvesting. By the end, I understood why manoomin is treated as a living relative and why people protect it so carefully.


Here are some photos, including from a screening we held at MPR and Leah at the Emmy's!



Gear

  • Canon C70 for interviews and handheld work

  • Canon R5C for multi-camera setups and tight spaces

  • GoPro underwater rig for submerged rice footage

  • DJI Mini Pro 4 drone for overhead shots of rice beds

  • GoPro mounted on a painter pole for overhead canoe shots


Photo Gallery

Learn More

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