North Dakota’s last lynching: a history film

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - “End of the Rope,” a movie produced by Canticle Productions, a North Dakota-based film company, tells the story of the last lynching in the state.

Set in Schafer, North Dakota in 1931, the movie tells of a farming family of six who mysteriously goes missing. Suspicions rise and are aimed at the farm hand, Charles Bannon. Bannon was arrested and jailed, but Schafer residents broke him out of jail to hang him instead.

“It seemed like a really fascinating true story for me, a real North Dakota epic story that asked some really interesting questions about the time period and the identity of North Dakotans up there. I was thrilled to be able to tell the story,” said Dan Bielinski, producer of “End of the Rope.”

Bielinski says the movie was filmed entirely in North Dakota, and that while some actors were from out-of-state, there were hundreds of supporting roles by North Dakotans, and students from universities like UMary and NDSU were a part of the production as well.

The movie will open in theatres beginning March 24.

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