Though she’s been in the film capital of Los Angeles for four years, Marissa Vonn still has a huge soft spot in her heart for her home state of Iowa.
The writer-director (a native of Ottumwa) will be in Des Moines on Dec. 10, the day before her 31st birthday, to premiere her first feature film — “Knee High” — at The Varsity Cinema. In attendance will be two vital Quad Cities talents who made the film possible: the cinematographer, Bettendorf native Bruce James Bales, and 12-year-old actor Ben Bergthold of Davenport.
Written and directed by Vonn, “Knee High” tells this tale: Following the death of his grandfather, Cal (Michael Ridley) finds himself at a critical crossroads: fight to save the land and farm that raised him, or let it go and pursue a life uncharted and, up until now, unknown to him.
Set against the vast plains and farmlands of Iowa, Cal’s quiet but burning conflict pulls several of his loved ones and community members into his orbit. And all the while, he comes to grips with the complexities of his youth, loss, the reaches of his ambitions, and his strength as a single father to his young son (played by Ben Bergthold), according to a synopsis.
In her feature directorial debut, Vonn “crafts an intimate and blistering portrait of determination, apprehension, and grief as Cal makes peace with the things and people he’s lost, the future he thought he’d inherit, and embraces the newness of life ahead,” the summary says.
“Knee High” was filmed over 15 days in Madrid, Iowa (about 30 miles north of Des Moines) and the surrounding small towns. Principal photography wrapped in October 2022.
Vonn moved to L.A. in 2019. Up until now, she’s made short films (including a 2018 version of “Knee High,” which nabbed many film fest awards). She returns so often to the Hawkeye State since she said she can make bigger, better movies for a lot less, compared to other locations.
“And all the people I love working with are in Iowa,” Vonn said recently. The feature film’s title comes from the popular phrase about corn, “knee high by the Fourth of July.”
Vonn didn’t grow up on a farm herself. The new 113-minute feature is based on a 2018 short of the same name, and she said the story wasn’t over yet. None of the new film contains footage from the short, though it’s the same characters and the plot takes place after the story in the short.
“It was always a feature, but it just took us a while to get the funding and figure out what the story was,” Vonn said. One major role had to be re-cast and most of the crew is the same.
“I think it’s a really relatable story that a lot of people in Iowa and the Midwest can really connect with, and those are the stories I really like to tell,” she said.
Vonn said this film is very personal to her. “Everybody that’s in it feels like your neighbor, like someone you grew up around,” she said. “Two of the supporting actors are named after my uncles, who did have farms.”
Her father (who lives about 10 miles outside of Ottumwa) also is in the movie, though he doesn’t have a speaking line.
Vonn loves telling compelling stories with unexpected protagonists and moments that tug on your heartstrings, according to her bio. Family dramas, cerebral thrillers, and anything with an authentic lead character are Marissa’s preferred projects.
Her past few films (Next of Kin, Domicile, and Knee High) were all filmed in Iowa with frequent collaborators, DEFT.
3rd feature for Bales
“Knee High” is the second of three features Bales has shot in the last three years (in 2021, and two in 2022). The first one was called “Remote” (mainly filmed in Mount Vernon, Iowa) and the other is “Lychee” (filmed in Iowa City, to be released in 2024).
Bales graduated from Bettendorf High in 2004, and earned his bachelor’s and master’s from Robert Morris University. He is owner and director of photography of Des Moines-based DEFT Productions.
Growing up on rollerblades with a camera in his hands gave Bruce a unique perspective on the moving image, his bio says. He’s completed over 30 short films and three feature length films. As the owner of DEFT, Bales has also helped produce and direct several commercials and music videos.
“As a cinematographer, Bruce prides himself in taking a poetic approach, communicating clearly with directors and departments, and providing everyone an environment to do their best work,” his bio says. “Most of all, Bruce enjoys making films with his friends.”
Bales has worked with Vonn many times before, mostly in Iowa. They’re next working together on a short film in Los Angeles in December.
“I really appreciate Marissa for inviting me out,” he said.
Bales is friends with fellow Bettendorf natives Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (they graduated a year before him), who recently opened The Last Picture House in downtown Davenport.
“They’re really kind guys,” Bales said, noting he’s not at that level of filmmaking yet. “I’m very excited there’s an indie film house in the Quad Cities now. I really thought their opening line of films, that all have ‘The Last’ in them, was really cool.”
Vonn and Bales really want to have “Knee High” shown at The Last Picture House.
“I want to show it to as many Iowans as possible,” he said. “There’s a universality to it. There’s something I think is ingrained in Iowans, as far as home and family, that’s really important to us, and it’s really a story about finding home and trusting your family — leaning on people in times of trouble, in hard times. That’s why we want to show it to as many Iowans as possible, but we feel it’s a universal story.”
Vonn used the same locations to shoot “Knee High” (both short and feature), after visiting many farms. Liz Gilman of Produce Iowa was very helpful in finding other locations, she said. They shot in just 15 days, which is very fast.
Little kid, big credits
Ben Bergthold has been in seven TV commercials and “Knee High” was his sixth film project. Vonn found him in 2018 through social media. She was very impressed with his list of theater and film credits and said he was “perfect” after seeing a video of him.
In “Knee High,” he’s a normal 3rd-grade kid, very impressionable, trying to be like his dad, Cal.
In the film, the bank is foreclosing on their family and they’re about to lose the farm, Vonn said. Cal is “trying to navigate grieving the loss of his grandfather; he’s still trying to learn to be a parent,” she said.
Ben in real life is a homeschooled 8th-grader (he had skipped 2nd grade), one of five siblings. He attended public school before COVID, and said he prefers homeschooling.
“If I am struggling with something, the rest of the class just doesn’t move on,” Ben said recently. “I can focus on that one thing, or we can skip ahead to where I’m at.”
He was 7 when Vonn filmed the “Knee High” short. He looks back and said, “Oh my God, I’m so cute.”
“I was so worried he’d be too tall,” Vonn said of the new feature. “He’s growing a lot…We have to make this now before Ben is too old; it can’t be anybody else. And he’s only gotten better.”
“He’s probably a better listener at 12 than he was at 7,” she added.
Compared to his other projects, Ben said: ” ‘Knee High’ was definitely my favorite. You got to go to a ton of places.”
Ben said it would be awesome for the new film to be shown in his hometown, so his whole family doesn’t have to drive three hours to Des Moines.
He is also competing in the Battle of the Bands this Saturday, Dec. 2, with his band 7 Ark. He’s played bass for about a year and a half. He was in the film “Until the Music Fades,” but Ben doesn’t play in that.
The last show he was on stage was “Wind in the Willows” at Davenport Junior Theatre in 2022.
“I like performing,” Ben said. The Battle of the Bands (through QC Rock Academy) for his division is Dec. 2 at 5:30 p.m. at Rascals Live, 1418 15th St., Moline.
Awards and festival future
A review of the “Knee High” short (at indieshortsmag.com) called it “beautifully shot” and a “love letter” to its Iowa setting.
“Every act in ‘Knee High’ is exquisite; like neat little pieces in a puzzle,” the review said. “Michael Ridley plays Cal with a wholehearted understanding of his character, portraying his motivations with the simplest of gestures. His scenes with Avery are the heart of ‘Knee High’. Ben Bergthold as Avery is winning and entirely convincing; never for a moment do you doubt Avery’s motivations.”
The short won several awards in 2019 from the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival and the Snake alley Film Festival (Burlington, Iowa).
Vonn will enter the full-length “Knee High” at film festivals (including Sundance, SXSW and Austin), and likely end the 2024 festival run in Iowa, in the fall. “We’re really targeting a regional festival run and then a regional theatrical run afterwards,” she said.
To see the trailer for “Knee High,” click HERE.
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