MSPIFF, our fabulous Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, returns April 8-19 to celebrate its 45th anniversary with an awesome lineup of over 200 films from around the world, even some from right here in Minneapolis. I recommend Uncle Roy, by award-winning local documentary filmmaker Keri Pickett. It tells the extraordinary story of her uncle Roy Blakey - globetraveling ice skater turned trailblazing photographer and archivist. We talked to Keri about sharing a studio with her uncle at 413 E Hennepin, the excitement of the U.S. premiere at MSPIFF, and the ethics of documentary storytelling. Get your tickets here.
Keri Pickett, photo credit Karen Einstein
Q: What does it mean to you to premiere Uncle Roy at MSPIFF?
A: With the selection of Uncle Roy to MSPIFF this year, three out of four of my feature films have premiered at MSPIFF. Uncle Roy is a very intimate film about family and so it feels safe to share it with MSPIFF audiences. Me evolution as a filmmaker can be seen in pictures of post screening discussions happening in a theater which is walking distance from the Historic Old St. Anthony studio Roy and I shared for 33 years. I showed a sample sizzle of this film on my uncle’s personal story at the Walker Art Center, and after it played Roy was asked what he thought of the clip. His response was, “Too short.” He would be thrilled to know that people are interested in his story and of course I feel seen as a person and respected as a filmmaker.
Q: Was there a moment when you realized the story of your uncle, Roy Blakey, needed to be a film rather than another form, like photography or writing?
A: That is such a good question because I love creating books and Roy Blakey amassed so much memorabilia and created so many photographs that more books need to be made with his archive, but my instincts told me that Roy’s story needed to be a film. So in 2006 I bought a Panasonic camcorder camera, a faster computer, editing software and hard-drives with the intention of teaching myself filmmaking in order to make a film about Roy, his massive collection of the history of the ice shows and his life as a photographer to the stars in New York City. As I started to film, I also started to learn how to edit and I made a few short films to learn the craft.
When I digitized Roy's 8mm cans of film, his life started to come alive and I started to learn about how theatrical figure skating shows dominated live entertainment for 4 decades. Attending Ice Follies, Ice Capades and Holiday on Ice reunions with Roy gave me a chance to meet the pioneers of this history, and my film focus changed to tell the story of the history of the shows and Roy’s efforts to preserve the history. Roy skated in The Soviet Union in 1963 - story follows an international route.
His treasure chest of 8mm films helped turn me into a filmmaker and in 2014 my first film, The Fabulous Ice Age, emerged as a Netflix Original right before the winter Olympics were in Russia, perhaps inspiring it to be translated into 10 languages. His natural skills as a documentarian inspired me to achieve my evolution as a media artist from photography and books to documentary feature films. This had to be a film.
Q: How did you balance intimacy with objectivity when documenting someone so close to you?
A: Others have granted me full access with my camera and so I felt it was good for me to experience what it is like to live authentically with a camera in the room. Balancing intimacy with objectivity has been at the core of my work since my early days as a Village Voice photographer to my decade of making pictures for People Magazine. For me, documentary filmmaking demands intimacy and for the most part I am the observer, the fly-on-the-wall who has the all-access pass to life. My film First Daughter and the Black Snake (2017) is powerful because the principal participant, Winona LaDuke, gave me intimate access to her dreams, her family and her efforts to defend the water. Finding Her Beat (2022), the film I co-directed with Dawn Mikkelson, also hinges on allowing me a front row seat to their lives as Jen Weir and Megan Chao Smith activate their taiko dream. When it came time to bring Uncle Roy to completion, I asked Dawn Mikkelson to help me edit the film and share it with the world.
Q: Documenting family can be complex - how did you navigate consent, boundaries, and representation?
A: Documenting family runs in my family as my grandparents were genealogists and then Roy’s photographic archive reveals that he valued documenting his life. Film was expensive back then yet he made sure to document with both an 8mm camera and a still camera, bits of his life, the ice shows and the places where he traveled with Holiday on Ice International.
Keri and Roy
My first interview with Roy was twenty years ago and it took me eight years to make my first film, but it emerged from Roy’s abundance of talent and passion for his own lucky life. He has been a part of every step. When the Fabulous Ice Age played in Napa Valley and in Lincoln Center, Roy joined the Q&A and it was clear that he LOVED sharing his story. I had his full consent to have his story told in a documentary film and I obtained it many times before dementia started robbing him of his memories.
Q: What type of conversations are you hoping the film sparks during and after the festival screenings on April 10 and 11?
A: Because the film is about my efforts to preserve his memories, and given the fact that there will be many people in the audience who knew Roy, I am hoping to hear some other perspectives on how Roy’s life impacted others. Questions around how we preserve our family legacy may be overshadowed by the greater question of who will care for us, as we as a society collectively age. The documentary covers a wide array of topics and I will be looking forward to hearing which aspect of the film’s journey of discovery and preservation stands out as notable.
Q: Do you see this film as opening the door to more personal storytelling in your future work?
A: Each film feels like the process of earning an advanced degree and this one is no exception. Personally, I have learned to “never say never” as I did a number of things with this film that I thought I would never do, such as appearing in the film. Never in a million years did I think I would ever have me doing a “voice over” as I am most interested in natural sound and unscripted dialogue. This door has opened my eyes to the importance of building the right team. Dawn and I worked together on the film Finding Her Beat and we brought in Me-Lee Hay to create another beautiful original score. Including Mark Smolowitz from 13th Gen Films as a consulting producer and Doug Blush as a consulting editor brings film wisdom and clarity. Finally, Jeffrey Winter at the Film Collaborative is representing the film in the film festival world where early indications are for a robust film festival life for Uncle Roy.
Q: If Uncle Roy could attend the premiere, what do you think his reaction would be?
A: Upon the film’s completion, Roy and I both imagined being at the festival together and so I can only hope that people’s hearts and minds will be opened by our relationship, my uncle's legacy, and the film which is also a love letter to our family. My mom (Roy's sister) and my sister will be at the premiere, and so I think he would gather people together and he would make pictures.
Friday, April 24, 2026 at 4:39PM
Photo credit MinnPost
Graco Park is located at 810 Sibley Street NE
Bring your bike (especially one that needs a little love)
Small class sizes = lots of hands-on time
No experience needed
Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided
Mousaka
