Emberlight Festival

Emberlight Festival Bringing world-class art and entertainment to the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan every summer.

🏆 Congratulations to the 2026 Emberlight International Film Festival Award Winners! 🎬From 937 submissions, 22 films were...
08/27/2026

🏆 Congratulations to the 2026 Emberlight International Film Festival Award Winners! 🎬

From 937 submissions, 22 films were selected for EIFF 2026. After five incredible nights of cinema, we’re thrilled to celebrate this year’s winners!

🏆 Best Feature Film — $1,000
Adult Children (USA)
Sponsored by Nasi Construction

🏆 Best Narrative Short — $750
We Were Here (India)
Sponsored by Karen & Paul Hagemann

🏆 Best Documentary Short — $750
A Short Documentary About a Giant Pencil (USA)
Sponsored by Karen & Paul Hagemann

🧡 Audience Choice — $250
Adult Children (USA)

🎬 Best Direction — Feature
NB Mager, Run Amok (USA)

🎬 Best Direction — Short
Jack Raese, The Chimney Sweeper (USA)

🎭 Best Performance — Feature
Ella Rubin, Adult Children (USA)

🎭 Best Performance — Short
Josh Tobin, The Company (USA)
Juul Vrijdag, A Shot at Art (Netherlands)

🎨 Best Animation
The Ottoman (USA) / Paper Flowers (Iran)

📷 Best Cinematography
Call Gloria! (Argentina) / Community Theater (UK)

🎥 Female Filmmaker Award
Arielle C Knight, The Boys and The Bees (USA)

🌎 Best Foreign Film
We Were Here (India)

✍️ Best Cinematic Writing
We Were Here (India) / Call Gloria! (Argentina)

✂️ Best Editing
The Chimney Sweeper (USA) / A Short Documentary About a Giant Pencil (USA)

😂 Best Comedy
A Shot at Art (Netherlands) / We Were Here (India)

✨ Best Experimental Short
jaderabbitjaderabbitjaderabbit (USA)

🎵 Best Music
David Cebert, No Vacancy (Canada)

🔊 Best Sound Design
There’s a Devil Inside Me (USA) / The Ottoman (USA)

🎞️ Best Micro Film
The Lonely Life of Lint (USA)

Congratulations to all our winners and Official Selections, and thank you to every filmmaker who shared their work with us.

Special thanks to Nasi Construction and Karen & Paul Hagemann for supporting independent filmmakers through this year’s prize sponsorships — and to our audiences for packing the screenings, meeting our filmmakers, and celebrating independent cinema with us! ❤️🎬

🏆 Congratulations to the 2026 Art in the Park winners! 🏆After a summer filled with imagination, creativity, and New Ways...
08/27/2026

🏆 Congratulations to the 2026 Art in the Park winners! 🏆

After a summer filled with imagination, creativity, and New Ways to Dream, we’re thrilled to announce this year’s award recipients:

✨ Grand Prize — $1,500
Dream with Your Eyes Wide Open
Kathy Nord & Amy Lagalo

🔥 Emberlight Choice — $500
Mama Killa
Mary Harris

🌿 Audience Prize: Organization — $500
Woodland Fairy Garden
Range Art Association

🌙 Audience Prize: Individual — $500
Mama Killa
Mary Harris

Congratulations to Kathy, Amy, Mary, and the Range Art Association — and to all 21 artists and organizations who transformed Miners Memorial Heritage Park into a place of discovery, imagination, and art this summer.

A huge thank you to Miners Memorial Heritage Park for once again giving Art in the Park such a beautiful home, and to our generous prize sponsors: Hitt’s Fine Furniture, sponsor of the Emberlight Choice Award, and Historic Ironwood Theatre, sponsor of our two Audience Prizes.

And thank you to everyone who explored the exhibition, joined us for Performance Infusions, and cast a vote for your favorites. Art in the Park belongs to this community, and we loved dreaming with you all summer long. ❤️

🎬 OPENING NIGHT JUST GOT EVEN MORE SPECIAL.We’re thrilled to welcome Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Carolyn Gair as our sp...
08/13/2026

🎬 OPENING NIGHT JUST GOT EVEN MORE SPECIAL.

We’re thrilled to welcome Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Carolyn Gair as our special guest for the opening night of the 2026 Emberlight International Film Festival!

A Canadian filmmaker based in Los Angeles, Carolyn is a writer, director, story artist, and classically trained animator whose work has earned both an Emmy Award and an Annie Award nomination. Her wonderfully inventive films draw inspiration from found objects, forgotten treasures, and the unexpected places imagination can take us.

Tomorrow night, EIFF audiences will see Carolyn’s newest film, No Vacancy — her fourth Official Selection at Emberlight, making her the first filmmaker in EIFF history to have four films selected for the festival.

We’re delighted to welcome Carolyn back to Emberlight, this time in person, as we kick off five nights of extraordinary filmmaking from around the world.

✨ Join us tomorrow night for Laughs & Animations and help us give Carolyn a very warm Northwoods welcome!

🎟️ Only a few tickets remain! Get yours now:
https://emberlight.org/event/laughs-animations-2026/

Animation

Adam Rothenberg comes from Broadway to the Hurley Auditorium this Saturday in a solo recital!Direct from Broadway shows ...
08/13/2026

Adam Rothenberg comes from Broadway to the Hurley Auditorium this Saturday in a solo recital!

Direct from Broadway shows like SUNSET BOULEVARD, COMPANY, and CHESS, Adam Rothenberg returns to Emberlight for his fifth season.

📍 Hurley Auditorium
📅 Saturday, August 15
🎟️ emberlight.org

The final Performance Infusion of the summer!SOUND BATH with Cara MatrellaSaturday, August 8 | 1 PMMiners Memorial Herit...
08/08/2026

The final Performance Infusion of the summer!
SOUND BATH with Cara Matrella
Saturday, August 8 | 1 PM
Miners Memorial Heritage Park
FREE

Bring Your Own Chair
Complimentary golf cart rides available

Generously presented by Ironwood Chamber of Commerce

Have questions for Miles? Or want to hear what it’s like singing at the The Metropolitan Opera? Here is your chance! J...
08/04/2026

Have questions for Miles? Or want to hear what it’s like singing at the The Metropolitan Opera?

Here is your chance! Join us for a special happy hour hosted by Miles before THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY on Saturday, August 8.

The doors open at 6 PM. Miles will join us around 6:15 and share backstage stories and some exclusive videos around the creation of KAVALIER & CLAY last fall. Then the show starts at 7 PM.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to not only experience The Metropolitan Opera in Ironwood, but also speak directly with one of the stars! 🤩

More info at Emberlight.org

08/04/2026

The Escapist arrives in Ironwood this weekend! 💥 🦸🏼‍♂️

Don’t miss THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY starring our very own Miles Mykkanen!

Mason Bates and Gene Scheer’s adaptation of Michael Chabon’s novel opened the The Metropolitan Opera 25/26 season, and went on to a rare same-season extension in February due to popular demand. A performance in October 2025 was filmed and premiered in movie theaters across the country in January.

Ironwood, this is your chance to experience the Metropolitan Opera in your own backyard! Seats are going fast!

🚨 🌟— Miles will be hosting a happy hour before the screening! Join us at 6pm for a chance to ask him any questions, and hear backstage stories from his breakout season.

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY
Saturday, August 8
The Ember Club @ Theatre North

✨ Tonight! ✨Some photographs make us stop and stare. Tonight, discover the stories behind them.Join the Emberlight Photo...
07/29/2026

✨ Tonight! ✨

Some photographs make us stop and stare. Tonight, discover the stories behind them.

Join the Emberlight Photographers for an inspiring evening of photography, travel, creativity, and storytelling. You'll hear how remarkable images came to life—and maybe leave seeing the world a little differently yourself.

🕖 Tonight at 7:00 PM
📍 Theatre North

Details: https://emberlight.org/event/click-capture-create-2026/

📸 Cody Daig, Emberlight 2025


✨

Every unforgettable photograph has a story. 📷 Tomorrow evening, join photographer members of the Emberlight Photographer...
07/28/2026

Every unforgettable photograph has a story. 📷

Tomorrow evening, join photographer members of the Emberlight Photographers as they go behind the lens—sharing the adventures, challenges, and unexpected moments behind some of their favorite images.

Whether you're an experienced photographer or simply love beautiful images, you'll gain a new appreciation for the art of seeing.

📸 CLICK • CAPTURE • CREATE
🗓️ Wednesday, July 29 • 7:00 PM
📍 Theatre North

🎟️ Learn more: https://emberlight.org/event/click-capture-create-2026/



Photos: Dayle Jackson, Emberlight 2025

🎵🌟🚨 DIVA ALERT 🚨🌟🎵Today's icon: Leontyne PriceBefore there were viral performances...Before there were livestreams...Bef...
07/25/2026

🎵🌟🚨 DIVA ALERT 🚨🌟🎵

Today's icon: Leontyne Price

Before there were viral performances...
Before there were livestreams...
Before opera singers became household names through HD broadcasts...

There was Leontyne Price.

When the Metropolitan Opera opened its magnificent new home at Lincoln Center in 1966, there was only one soprano to inaugurate the stage: Leontyne Price, starring in the world premiere of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra. It was one of the biggest nights in American cultural history.

Why does everyone still talk about her? Because she had that voice.

Velvet. Gold. Power. Grace. The kind of sound that makes time stop.

In THE OPERA HOUSE, you'll not only hear breathtaking archival performances, but you'll also meet the woman behind the legend through a rare interview recorded just before her 90th birthday. Director Susan Froemke later said of that conversation:

"The moment the interview was over... I texted Peter Gelb and said, 'Now we've got a film.'"

🎬 THE OPERA HOUSE
📍 Theatre North
🗓 TONIGHT • 7:00 PM

https://emberlight.org/event/the-opera-house/

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Ironwood, MI

Opening Hours

Monday 12pm - 4pm
Tuesday 12pm - 4pm
Wednesday 12pm - 4pm
Thursday 12pm - 4pm
Friday 12pm - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 12pm

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