Submitted Photo The first screening of the North Dakota film, “A Heart like Water,” will be at Minot’s Oak Park Theater.

Oak Park Theater in Minot will be the site on Friday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m., of the first screening of “A Heart like Water,” a North Dakota film based on true stories of early settlers in Dakota Territory. Tickets are available at www.aheartlikewater.com.

Presented by Canticle Productions, a film, TV and theater production company based in North Dakota, the film is written and produced by Daniel Bielinski.

Bielinski, of Bismarck, founder of Canticle Productions and director of Theater Programs at the University of Mary, portrays the lead man in the film with Tiffany Cornwell of Minneapolis as the lead woman and Allen Demaray of the New Town area as the Native American.

The crew is mostly comprised of North Dakotans, according to Bielinski.

“A Heart like Water” is inspired by a series of first-hand accounts of early settlers in Dakota Territory from the 1870s-1910s,” said Bielinski.

He said the inspiration of the story was a collection of interviews of some of the early settlers put together in the 1930s through a Works Progress Administration (WPA) initiative and preserved in the State Archive in the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck.

He said the first act is closely based on a particular account that Linda Slaughter, an early Dakota historian and author of the book, “From Fortress to Farm,” wrote about her experience of giving birth on New Year’s Day.

“It was only one page of her book, but it’s riveting,” Bielinski said.

“This film is a meditation on parenthood, children, loneliness and finding meaning in suffering. In spite of it being very historically-based, it is by far the most personal film I’ve ever produced. Engaging with these stories has made a strong impression on me and has helped me to view the luxury challenges of modern life with new eyes. I hope the film inspires a similar experience in others,” Bielinski said.

Mary Pat Martell Jones, one of the executive producers for the film who lives in California, has North Dakota ties and does research on N.D. history. She said Bielinski asked her to look at the first draft of the first part of the film that would become “A Heart like Water,” and give him feedback.

“It had no score or anything yet. I found it beautiful and compelling,” she said.

“A Heart like Water” is the first of three true stories of North Dakota history produced by Canticle Productions in 2020-2021.

Bielinski said two other films, “Sanctified” and “End of the Rope” are in post-production.

“‘Sanctified’ will be out in spring of 2022 and ‘End of the Rope’ in fall of 2022. Theater audiences for ‘A Heart like Water’ will get to see a sneak peek of ‘Sanctified’ after the screening of ‘A Heart like Water,'” Bielinski said.

Other screenings of ‘A Heart like Water” are scheduled for:

— Fargo: Sunday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Fargo Theater.

— Belfield: Wednesday, Dec. 10, 7 p.m., Belfield Theater.

— Watford City: Friday, Dec. 17, 7 p.m., Watford City High School.

— Grand Forks: Thursday, Dec. 30: 7 p.m., Empire Theater.

— Bismarck: Friday, Jan. 21, 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Grand Theaters.

Tickets are available at www.aheartlikewater.com.

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A North Dakota story

It’s 1887 in Dakota Territory. A husband and wife, isolated in the unsettled wilderness, struggle to keep their family together and their hopes alive as they fight bitter cold, disease, wild animals and crushing loneliness on the Dakota frontier. But they’re not just fighting for themselves… New life is on the way.

— “A Heart like Water” film