Nina Baker
A state grant is helping a Quad-Cities filmmaker bring the Iowa Cow War to the screen.
Stephen Folker received $40,000 through a Greenlight Grant from the Iowa Arts Council.
Folker's film "Cow Wars" chronicles the violent disputes between farmers and state officials after the Iowa State Legislature passed a law requiring cows to be tested for tuberculosis in 1929. The clashes occurred mostly in Cedar County, and ended after then-Governor Dan Turner called in the Iowa National Guard to quell the disputes.
This is Folker's first time receiving the Greenlight Grant, and his third time applying for the award.
Folker said he pursued this documentary project after he directed the 2022 short documentary "Tragedy on Highway 74" about Cedar County vigilante Robert Sproat, who was killed near Tipton while attempting to stop men who had held up a store in Davenport. For that film, Folker recreated and directed historical reenactments, a process he said he found fulfilling.
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"I really enjoyed doing that project," Folker said. "With the Iowa grant, I wanted to do that again, but implement more reenactments, and make it bigger than something I could do on my own."
Folker has been writing, producing and directing independent films since 2010. He has filmed two films that aired on Iowa PBS and six episodes of the A&E show "Killer Cases."
A release date for "Cow Wars" has not been determined.
"A lot of what goes into this project, and is the most time-consuming, is the research," Folker said. "You can never do enough research.
Greenlight grants support entrepreneurial Iowa filmmakers with funds of up to $50,000 per grantee. Funding is appropriated by the Iowa State Legislature.
Priority funding is awarded to applicants with a project that is "highly important and relevant to Iowans and needs to be told to a larger audience," according the funding guidelines.
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