The Films

• Year 2020
• Runtime 8 min
• Director Andrew J. Morgan/Nick Nummerdor

Second Wind is a documentary short film about pulmonary fibrosis patient and double-lung transplant recipient Nick Brown. Nick was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis at the very young age of 36 and within a year was in need of a double-lung transplant just to survive. As he laid in his hospital bed recovering from the surgery he realized he’d taken too much for granted and wanted to use this second chance at life to bring awareness for pulmonary fibrosis and organ donation to as many people as possible. That’s when he discovered “Skoolies,” school buses converted to mobile homes. Nick bought a Skoolie, converted it into a home and also turned it a rolling billboard for his awareness blog borrowedbreaths.com.

• Year 2020
• Country United States
• Runtime 3 min
• Director Zeppelin Zeerip

Joint Effort is a poetic ode to Zoe Zeerip’s lifelong battle with Junior Rheumatoid Arthritis. Everyday Zoe Zeerip pushes back against a condition that conspires to hold her down. This is her story. This is her fight.

• Year 2019
• Country United States
• Runtime 8 min
• Director Justin Zimmerman

Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere

High school student Gerardo Hernandez - raised in the United States since six months of age - was arrested by ICE in Ohio, spent almost 2 months in prison and is scheduled to be deported. THE OTHER BORDER is his American story, told through intimate interviews with Gerardo and his sister, Karime, and shot exclusively on 8mm and 16mm film

• Year 2020
• Country USA
• Runtime 8 min
• Director Benjamin Drummond, Sara Joy Steele

Wolves are recolonizing Washington. How to Count a Wolf follows three wildlife biologists who try to find them as they get here. Learn about the methods they use, and the risks they take, to monitor recovery.

• Year 2020
• Runtime 17 min
• Director Adam Foss

In 2007, on a fateful February day, in the remote Northern Wisconsin woods, a solo independent logger named Gary Edinger severed his left leg off while felling a tree. Twenty miles from help, alone, and in forty below temperatures, Gary summoned a remarkable willpower and crawled to his pickup, then drove to safety. Gary’s struggle for survival, however, didn’t begin on that frigid winter day in the hardwoods. His whole life had been forged from adversity, rising above a meager upbringing and brushes with death as he learned to hunt, trap and fish alone, on his own terms. Will to Live: the Gary Edinger Story provides a glimpse of a unique perspective gained by cheating death and chasing the call of life-long adventure as only Gary can. The tough-as-nails logger, champion dog sled racer and hunting guide also has a creative side writing poetry, singing cowboy songs and calling square dances. Now, 15 years after the accident and approaching the age of 70, Gary discovers his quest to live a full life and looks back at the impact of his decisions and how they weigh on the loved ones around him.

• Year 2021
• Country USA
• Runtime 22 min
• Director Lindsey Hagen

Filmmaker in Attendance, Staff Pick, Michigan Premiere

After Skid Row documents the journey of Barbie Carter as she navigates the transition to housed life following the brutal reality of a decade on the streets. The film illuminates the intimate humanity behind homelessness as Barbie rediscovers parts of her identity that she had been forced to stifle in order to survive. Her unique story and compelling character help to both demystify and deeply personalize a homelessness epidemic that continues to swell across the US.