Historical Society Film Contest

The drama unfolded at the historic Riverview Theater in Minneapolis on Sunday night as the Minnesota Historical Society announced the five winning films in the Minnesota's Greatest Generation Moving Pictures film competition. More than 400 filmmakers and event-goers walked past the searchlights for red-carpet arrivals in "old Hollywood" style in anticipation of the winning results:

Gayle Knutson of Marine on St. Croix, won Best Depiction of "Coming of Age in the 1940s" ($2,500) for her film "Prisoner 32,232."

The winning films were selected from 60 films submitted by amateur and professional filmmakers across the state of Minnesota. Each of the 10-minute documentary films focus on the life and legacy of Minnesota's Greatest Generation-the men and women who came of age during the Depression and World War II.

Gayle Knutson's winning film for the category Coming of Age in the 1940s, "Prisoner 32,232," recalls the story of longtime Minnesota college professor Reidar Dittmann. The Nazi invasion of his native Norway led to his involvement in the Norwegian Resistance and a 15-month incarceration in the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp at age 20.