Apr 15, 2026 - News

Minneapolis short film reimagines source of "Longfellow Boom"

Audrey Kennedy

Person in a dark blue shirt crawls toward a large, dark tunnel mouth, surrounded by vibrant graffiti on green walls; a circular pipe spirals into the darkness. — The main character of "The Boom" heads underground to investigate. Still courtesy of Ajuawak Kapashesit.

A new short film in theaters this week reimagines a long-running Minneapolis mystery with a fantastical twist.

The big picture: "The Boom," written and directed by local Ojibwe and Cree filmmaker Ajuawak Kapashesit, follows an Indigenous man as he investigates a mysterious noise heard during his food delivery route through Minneapolis.

Though the story is fictional, it's inspired by Kapashesit's experiences with the Longfellow Boom, the "house-shakingly loud" noise that has mystified the neighborhood's residents for decades.

What he's saying: "Everyone has a theory on what the boom could be, but I also find a lot of joy in unexplained, mysterious aspects of the world," Kapashesit told Axios.

All filming took place in the Twin Cities at night — including outside the United Crushers building and in a secret underground location — but the Longfellow Boom is intentionally never referred to by name.

Fun fact: In addition to its "real" source, the boom noise used in the film was created using elements from popular theories on its origin, like the sound of an exploding transformer.

Catch the film at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival on April 16 and 18.

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Minneapolis short film reimagines source of "Longfellow Boom"

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