2026 • USA • 24 min • Steve Panton

Filmmaker in Attendance, First Time Filmmaker

Artists, researchers, and activists explore the relationship between their lived experiences and the patterns of uneven development in Metropolitan Detroit and its art ecosystem.

2026 • USA • 25 min • Annabel Edwards, Mito Habe-Evans

Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker

Two boys arrive at a remote summer camp in the Vermont woods. Free from screens and societal expectations, they learn to open up, support one another, and redefine what it means to be a boy.

2025 • USA • 8 min • John Berry Jr

Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker, Adult Language, Subject in Attendance, Filmmaker in Attendance

Finding the Universe follows photographer John Berry as he journeys into the Colorado Rockies to capture a time-lapse of the Milky Way over his favorite alpine lake. Along the way, he reflects on personal struggles, creative perseverance, and the quiet, demanding work behind filming the night sky in the mountains.

2026 • USA • 4 min • Adriana Alexander

Family Friendly, First Time Filmmaker, Student Filmmaker

This short documentary builds on the Fish for the Future project put together by the Wisconsin Sierra Club to explore why the Great Lakes are critical and how to preserve them for future generations. The independent filmmaker was a seventh-grade student at the time.

2026 • USA • 23 min • Mike Brooks

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, First Time Filmmaker

At 86 years old, Michigan fly fishing legend Jac Ford still paddles rivers across Michigan and Montana, guiding clients and teaching fellow guides his craft. In Jac, the master angler reveals some of his secrets, and shares a lifetime of wisdom for living a long, happy life.

2026 • USA • 9 min • Martha Shue

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker, World Premiere

Casual friends meet at a Lake Superior beach on a beautiful September morning. Soon they’re dipping regularly while their friendship grows as they show up for each other, and themselves dipping through the winter, in the icy lake.

2026 • USA • 26 min • Joseph Vignieri

First Time Filmmaker, Michigan Premiere, Nudity

Life Model Protégé is a glimpse behind the curtain at the unique world of figure art. Meet models who pose in the nude and the artists who draw them.

2026 • USA • 31 min • Alex Mitow

Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker, Nudity, Staff Pick

Part nature documentary, part queer love letter to community and action, Neon Reef immerses you in the sun-drenched, surreal beauty of Miami’s underwater world. Dive past the waves that break on the pulsing neon shores of America’s glitziest beach town with this unlikely reef warrior couple as they dive, strategize, schmooze politicians, and rally a diverse community to defend the coral reef at their doorstep.

2025 • USA • 17 min • Richard Mack, John Manos

Filmmaker in Attendance, First Time Filmmaker

Water is Life covers issues facing the Great Lakes in brief yet explains how people around the region are doing something when it comes to the challenges they face. This is a synopsis of the longer documentary still in production.

2025 • USA • 6 min • Cecelia Gould

First Time Filmmaker, Student Filmmaker

Native plants improve outcomes for the environment, but are increasingly eliminated in favor of more “typical” garden plants. Learn how to make an impact on your local environment, and potentially yourself, by planting native species.

2025 • Canada • 11 min • Dr. Kelsey Leonard and Alejandro Miranda

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker

Across the salt-sprayed shores of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, a gathering of Indigenous women comes together to rematriate wampum as a living system of justice, truth, and inherent relationship. Through practices of teaching, making, and collective remembrance, the film examines how patriarchal disruption, colonial extraction, and climate-driven coastal change threaten not only living shores but the relationships that sustain them.