NHDocs: The New Haven Documentary Film Festival returns this month with a sweet little slice — or is it putt? — of American life called Through the Windmill, a film by Amanda Kulkoski that looks closely and lovingly at the game of mini golf throughout its 100-plus-year history as a form of entertainment that offers as many opportunities for artistic innovation as it does for family and friendly fun.
As with other NHDocs winter weekend offerings, Through the Windmill is an online ticketed event that will be available beginning this Friday, Feb. 12 and running through Sunday, Feb. 14.
The film begins at Matterhorn Mini Golf in Canton, CT, where owner Autumn Sutherland works to get her dream mini golf course built over a span of two years. This journey is interspersed with the story of multiple other courses throughout the United States, including those that choose to make this sport their livelihood and those who became innovators from the artistic standpoint of building holes, traps, and contraptions that make mini golf stand out as a unique and unifying way to spend a sunny afternoon — or in some cases, a happy hour complete with drinks and dining.
Viewers are taken on a virtual road trip, made even more fun and fabulous with motion graphics by Elizabeth Kaiser. We stop at places like Homegrown Mini Golf in Accord, N.Y., which is on the grounds of a working farm and is also home to the world’s largest gnome. We also visit Ahlgrim Acres in Palatine, Ill., where a nine-hole course built in the basement of a funeral home for the owner’s children became a townwide gathering place and its own roadside attraction.
The film chronicles the game’s growth from backyard pastime to booming, economy-boosting part of the entertainment industry, pointing out that Myrtle Beach alone has 52 courses. Much attention is also paid to the ways the game has become an avenue for creative expression. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn. commissioned 18 artists to create 18 holes — each completely unique and a work of art unto itself — for a mini-golf course on its grounds.
Whether taking its time to explain the rules of the game — say, the differences between putt putt and mini golf — or the intricacies of players choosing what color ball to use, Through The Windmill is as charming as the game itself, offering the viewer a joyful and carefree way to spend time with loved ones dreaming of the days beyond the snow drifts and frigid winds of winter, when they can once again be outside and out for that final hole-in-one, with its free game prize.
Tickets for this online event are available via the NHDocs website here.
