Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Representative in Attendance
Kendsie and Matt have been living car-free forever, and now they’ve added two kids to the mix without losing any of their optimism. The filmmaker knew she had to capture the joy it’s brought her family and so many others along the way.
Michigan Premiere
This short documentary tells the story of sandhill cranes in America.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Staff Pick
In the sterile storage of museums and archives our ancestor’s remains struggle to find their way home. The film follows eleven indigenous repatriation specialists that make up Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation & Repatriation Alliance, fighting to rebury and return ancestors from settler-colonial libraries, archives, and museums. Winner of the 2026 Sundance NEXT Audience Award.
Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere
In 1994 Eric Anderson returned to his home town with a dream of building an outdoor themed business with his father. This video tells the story of how a family’s dream became a reality and how the owners gave it away to keep the Ironwood, Michigan property in its natural state for all to enjoy.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Has Subtitles, Family Friendly, Representative in Attendance
Patrick Concannon reflects on his ancestral land near North Lake Leelanau, where hunting, gathering and caring for the land connect family across generations. This film is part of the Leelanau Conservancy’s Indigenous Knowledges Project, dedicated to elevating Anishinaabe voices.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere
This short film explores the work of local Marquette artist, Niikah Hatfield, engaging with the philosophical questions of life and what it means to be alive through the process of ceramics, creativity, and living well.
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.
Adult Language, Staff Pick
This episode of SHORELUNCH we find the crew prowling the river shallows of the Pacific Northwest in search of monster carps! There’s also a legendary Chinese-American sandwich of legends. Join us for lunch (and rabid squirrels) at the alter of the golden god!
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Student Filmmaker
The filmmakers mother, Jennifer Johnson a fish biologist with the Michigan DNR, discusses her connection with ice fishing.
Has Subtitles, Family Friendly, First Time Filmmaker, Staff Pick
Best Day Ever follows the stories of two adaptive mountain bikers as they navigate the relentless challenges of their disabilities and embrace the tremendous support, friendship, and joy they find in their rural Vermont riding community.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Staff Pick
The bank swallow looks unremarkable, but it lives in a sensory world so different from our own that it might as well be another universe. Filmed with sweeping beauty and intimate detail, the film follows the colony through a season of triumph and loss.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Adult Language, Michigan Premiere, Adult Themes
Before Stonewall there was The Black Nite, a Milwaukee gay bar where LGBTQ activists and allies brawled with a group of homophobic sailors.
This video ode to the location tells the story of that night.
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.
Filmmaker in Attendance, World Premiere
Carving a Legacy follows Luke Costilow, an award-winning duck decoy carver and wildlife conservationist, and the often-overlooked role of hunters as stewards of the environment.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Staff Pick
Trail towns often face similar dilemmas when access to the outdoors, affordable housing and job creation compete for the same finite resources. Choosing Trail explores these issues in Marquette County, Michigan through conversations with land managers, business owners and trail advocates working to preserve and grow their beloved–but changing–community.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere
Cold Blooded Kari follows Minneapolis ultra winter athlete Kari Gibbons on her journey toward the legendary 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational on foot. Driven by an obsession with winter and the pursuit of endurance, Kari has become a respected leader in the growing community of female ultra winter athletes.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Making Waves Recipient
After years of addiction derailed his dreams, one man returns to Alaska to face 100 miles of sub-arctic wilderness and everything he left in it.
Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere
Since 1972 the Little Traverse Conservancy has preserved over 82,000 acres in northern Michigan. Today every LTC sign is an invitation and a reminder that all conservany-owned lands are open to you to enjoy.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Staff Pick
This portrait of Northern Michigan artist and musician Dana Falconberry follows her from inspiration to finished piece as she combines paint and traditional chain-stitching to create a multi-layered scene.
Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick
After a traumatic chapter left Ashley battling anxiety and depression, he discovered that the river offered more than just fish. Currentcy follows one man’s journey as fly fishing became a path toward connection, healing, and a renewed sense of purpose.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly
Scattered around the shores of the Great Lakes are unique ridge and swale ecosystems, created over thousands of years and home to many rare species. Researcher Steve Loheide wants to know what’s happening beneath these landscapes - how shifting Great Lakes water levels ripple underground, and what that could mean for this fragile ecosystem’s future.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere
Dragon Mom follows Laura, a mother learning to navigate the emotional, physical, and societal complexities of raising a child who lives with severe disability. Alongside her family, Laura must confront the realities of ableism, advocate for accessibility, and redefine what strength and connection look like.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
Endless Ride follows artist Billy Coulon of Evergreen Skateparks and his crew making public parks as skateable art pieces all over the United States.
Michigan Premiere, Representative in Attendance
Two iconic Lake Superior estuaries are among the planet’s most biologically productive environments. The pristine Bad River Sloughs have been sustained through time by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The much maligned St. Louis River estuary is the heart of the Fond du Lac Band’s traditional homeland. Both face an uncertain future.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly
The Midwest has a rich natural heritage of beautiful forests, sprawling prairies and clear and clean lakes and rivers. While the human footprint across America’s heartland clashes with nature, protection and restoration of our most sensitive habitats is how humans can find a way to help biodiversity persist within our working landscapes.
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.
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.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Staff Pick
A short form film created around a poem titled Flag Song, written by the Indigenous Nations Poets Fellows and Faculty at their retreat at Amerind Museum and University of Arizona Poetry Center in the spring of 2026.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Has Subtitles, Staff Pick
When her best “pow day” friend is diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age, Stephanie turns her grief into purpose. Set deep in the Colorado Rockies, Forever in the Mountains tells the powerful origin story of the nonprofit Tits Deep for Breast Cancer. Join Stephanie as she navigates grief, finds sisterhood, and works to save young lives in the mountains.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance
Frontier to Freedom is the origin story of Michigan from 1600-1837. Through a blend of expert interviews, archival imagery, and stunning visuals, the film traces our evolution from a vast wilderness inhabited by Indigenous peoples to its history of war and conflict on the American frontier, and the complex socio-political forces that shaped its path to statehood.
Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
The rapidly changing climate weighs heavily on Andrea, a sensitive and passionate professor who has taught climate science for over 20 years. She knows she can’t navigate these feelings alone. The film follows participants in the Good Grief Network, an innovative support program, as they lean into their painful feelings and, in the process, discover joy, connection, and a renewed sense of possibility.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly
A group of high school students at a boarding school in Northern Michigan set out to make a film about regenerative farming, only to get tangled in the contradictions between what they learn and the system that feeds them.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance
An inside look at Northern Michigan’s surf scene. Hometown hype is part of a video series highlighting America’s Surf Towns.
Filmmaker in Attendance
Explore the rise of forward-facing sonar, the most controversial technology in modern fishing. Is this innovation… or are we crossing the line between sport and simulation?
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Staff Pick
Existing in public without hitting a database seems impossible thanks to the 82 million surveillance cameras, 100,000 Flock license plate readers, and millions of Ring doorbells active in America. So in order to learn about them, I spent 7 days trying to avoid them.
Filmmaker in Attendance
A music video for the song ‘If I Go’ which touches on themes of life, death, rebirth, mental health and mother nature. Featuring various beautiful, natural U.P. locations such as The Huron Islands, Montreal Falls, Point Abbaye, and Manitou Island.
Michigan Premiere, Adult Language, Family Friendly
For over a decade, artist Pete Mauney has been ritualistically trekking into the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, all alone. The desolate darkness brings him into confrontation with everything he can’t control. But when the landscape slowly starts to shimmer and sparkle, the magic begins.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Work in Progress
Join us for high adventure and history on Michipicoten Island, the little known little sister to famous Isle Royale. Soak in the rugged wilderness. Explore seldom seen relics and natural wonders. Get to know your seasoned off-trail guides, Michael Neiger and Chris Ozminski. This is a special sneak preview of the nearly completed film.
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.
Family Friendly
Inspired by the seasons and elements of the Upper Peninsula, Joseph Graci carves fine art that is textural, unique, and sense-awakening. This short film follows him as he works on his art in his studio and spends time in the expansive outdoors that inspires it.
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.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere
After crushing the fastest known time paddling the Wisconsin River, Kyle Parker takes on his next adventure: canoeing from Washington to Florida. Throughout his solo tip to tip journey, he discovers community and connection on and off the water.
First Time Filmmaker, World Premiere, 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.
Staff Pick, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere
Listen is a sensory immersion that dissolves the boundaries between us and the more-than-human world. It follows Alaskan author Hank Lentfer as he records forgotten sounds of the natural world and cares for his mother with dementia.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Adult Language
Mall Video Store is a fun and nostalgic short documentary about Harrison Lange, owner of Static Tape Video, an independent video store located inside a Michigan shopping mall. Passionate about movies and physical media, Harrison spends his days rescuing VHS tapes, tracking down forgotten collections, and creating a place where movie lovers can connect through a shared love of film.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, First Time Filmmaker, Work in Progress, Making Waves Recipient, Representative in Attendance, Staff Pick
Mikah Meyer grew up a Midwest pastor’s son, hidden in a religion-sealed closet. After his social media crowns Mississippi “The Most Homophobic State in America,” Mikah attempts to run across it in flamboyant colors. Alongside his college mentor, Larry, they confront traumas from their shared time in America’s Bible Belt. Together, they try to exist loudly, so the next generation has an easier road to travel.
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.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Student Filmmaker
Normal is a short reflexive documentary about growing up with divorced parents and living between two homes. Using personal narration, archival footage, and interviews with my parents, the film reflects on how something that seems difficult or overwhelming to others became my everyday reality - and how hearing their perspectives changed the way I understand my own childhood.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Adult Language, Making Waves Recipient
Spanning between Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota lies 650 miles of trees, lakes, and trails, what some call the North Woods, where most folks don’t expect to see anyone on a bicycle. A posse of Midwestern boys decided it’d be a good idea to bike through this area of the country that sometimes gets overlooked.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Representative in Attendance, Student Filmmaker
_Organic Network _features interviews from urban farmers and experts in Flint, Michigan on the impact of the water crisis, COVID, benefits of local farming, and how the lives of the farmers have changed over the years.
Has Subtitles, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick
Plant Life captures Dr. Joanne Chory at a pivotal moment: as her Parkinson’s advances and carbon levels surge, she pursues her most audacious experiment yet. Having revolutionized plant biology once already, she and her team are re-engineering crops to draw down carbon dioxide at planetary scale — a scientific race against time that may determine both her legacy and our future.
Filmmaker in Attendance
It’s theater of the mind! It’s cinema for the ear! It’s a Points North listening party! This immersive audio experience will transport you through time and space via two never heard before episodes of the award winning podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. Discussion with Points North producers Ellie Katz and Dan Wanschura will follow.
Adult Language
The city of Detroit is 138 square miles. You may know Midtown or Downtown, but Rabinski has been all around. Follow Dan as he traverses the back roads, alleys, and dense wilderness of the Detroit you’ve never seen. Armed with only his bicycle and a camera, Rabinski takes you on a journey that even the locals have a hard time finding.
Has Subtitles, Michigan Premiere
Amid modern distractions and challenges faced by Indigenous peoples, staying connected to culture can be challenging. Meet the Terry Lee Canoe Club as it experiences a powerful resurgence as the next generation strives to nurture and reestablish the canoe culture of their region of British Columbia, Canada.
Filmmaker in Attendance
In the aftermath of a devastating wildfire, a family of sixth-generation ranchers in central California is forced to grapple with how society has changed, and with it, government policies and attitudes that pose an existential threat to their business and their lifestyle.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Staff Pick
A five-minute tribute to the last 100 years of Flint, through the lyrics and performance of Mama Sol and the Flint Symphony.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly
Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin’s largest inland lake, used to teem with wild rice. What happened to the rice, and how do we help restore it? An intertribal, interdisciplinary team is blending traditional ecological knowledge and western science to answer these questions.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere
When previously used surgical robots and other medical equipment find new life in the Great Lakes region, a small Toledo company’s commitment to reuse and sustainability helps train the next generation of veterinary surgeons, while giving rescue dogs a second chance at adoption.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
Lifelong equestrian Britta Nancarrow seeks to progress as a professional competitive skijorer. Join along as she trains with Michigan skier Mike King and snowboarder Sandra Hillen, taking their on-snow skills to the next level at their very first competition.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Staff Pick
The film explores the lake sturgeon’s traditional role in Anishinaabe culture as told through interviews with community members across Michigan and examines how traditional beliefs have guided and revolutionized lake sturgeon restoration efforts in the Great Lakes.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Student Filmmaker
After their life takes an unexpected turn, Megan and Mitchell start a business creating keepsakes for families’ most important moments.
Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick
A documentary chronicling the life and career of Kristian Svitak, a professional skateboarder hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. Known for his fearless style and dedication, Svitak has been a significant figure in shaping Ohio’s skateboarding culture.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Has Subtitles
Spearfishing brings Ojibwe families together, honors ancestors, and provides food for the community. Despite this, spearfishing is often misunderstood outside of Indigenous communities. Hear from the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin about what spearfishing means to them, and how they scientifically manage the fishery.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, Student Filmmaker, Family Friendly
A student documentary exploring what drives people to keep going, and the people who show up to support them, Still Running follows the Anderson Lake Backyard Ultra, a grueling endurance race in the heart of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere
Stone Cold Phoenix is an intimate look at the life and stylings of Shelley Novotny, a northern Wisconsin artist who creates stunning wearable art pieces to showcase the understated beauty of the world and people around her. This film explores how communal art (and cold water immersion!) can transform us through the ashes of trauma into something new and more beautiful.
Family Friendly, Filmmaker in Attendance
An eccentric coach uses his outsider status to develop a new play to implement in the annual Troy Athens powder puff football game.
Family Friendly
An intimate documentary exploring the world of Dan Yagmin as the creative force behind Decoy Holds. It’s a portrait of an artist shaping not just holds, but the way we experience climbing itself.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Adult Language, Michigan Premiere, Adult Themes, Staff Pick
From Brooklyn’s concrete jungle to the heart of the Everglades, Black wildlife photographer George McKenzie Jr. is transforming his lens into a beacon of change. A rare gem in the predominantly white canvas of wildlife photography, McKenzie is empowering kids of color to shift their gaze to conservation.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere
Drafted by the Detroit Tigers 50 years ago, Mike Wilson never made it to the Major Leagues. Instead, he devoted his life to coaching youth baseball in Detroit. Now overseeing historic Hamtramck Stadium, the former Negro League ballpark where he fell in love with the game, Mike’s story reveals how mentorship, community, and baseball can shape generations.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Representative in Attendance, Staff Pick
In Michigan’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, teams from around the world compete in the MATE International ROV Competition. In this competition, the Thompson family from Alpena competes brother against sister against sister against father. Who will triumph in this test of engineering skills in the Great Lakes?
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
Lead poisoning is an ongoing public health emergency. This short documentary goes into the trenches with the workers and advocates fighting to replace lead pipes in Wisconsin, while revealing the human stakes of a water crisis that continues to put children at risk.
Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick
The last commercial fishermen of the Great Lakes struggle to survive as they face unprecedented ecological disasters, a changing climate, and outdated governmental regulations.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Adult Language, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick
A cowboy doctor has spent a lifetime paying house calls to the Old Order Amish community in Southwestern Wisconsin- but what will they do when he dies?
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
Lake Michigan’s Green Bay is the world’s largest freshwater estuary, where the warm, nutrient-rich water of the Lower Fox River mixes with the cool water of the lake, creating an aquatic environment that supports a productive fishery, wetlands and a migratory flyway. The film turns to the people who care for this world of fish and birds as they seek understanding and look for solutions.
Has Subtitles
If a train in Detroit could talk, what would it say? This short film showcases the possible musings of Detroit’s tiny public transit system.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
In America’s Dairyland, many families only learn that the water coming from their wells is toxic once it’s far too late. The Right to Know follows people living with nitrate and bacterial contamination caused by factory farming, and shows how knowing what’s in your water can be a matter of life and death.
Representative in Attendance
The Search for Anna & Levi uncovers the overlooked story of Anna and Levi Johnson, early Black homesteaders in Leelanau County. Through descendants, historians, and regional experts, the film connects their family story to the broader history of African American settlement in the Midwest.
Filmmaker in Attendance
UNFINISHED is a five-minute documentary built entirely from photographs of American flags in ordinary places: farms, storefronts, closed main streets. With no faces or partisan narration, the flag stands as a constant witness, present in both celebration and struggle, to the distance between American promise and lived reality.
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.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly
For four decades, volunteers with the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology have visited Wisconsin’s Baraboo Hills before dawn, gently netting and banding birds one by one. Year after year, the data adds up to something bigger - a long-term window into how bird populations are shifting across the country.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, Adult Language, Adult Themes
Witchy Boots_ _is a spirited and empowering documentary that explores both historical and modern women that shape the craft beer industry. From trailblazing founders accused of witchcraft to contemporary voices carving space in the male-dominated field, the film captures the movement toward inclusion, creativity, and sisterhood inside the brewhouse.
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.
Filmmaker in Attendance
Set in New Brunswick, Canada, Work, Life is about skater Eric Kaffine and his unique approach to seeking a balanced life.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere
After losing her corporate job in New York City, Christina “Maz” ventures into the remote Upper Peninsula searching for a way back to her art and herself. Guided by Yooper Wise Women, a collective of healing artists deeply connected to nature, she enters a transformative world where the wilderness becomes her guide. This is a sneak preview of the upcoming documentary series Yooper Wisdom.
Filmmaker in Attendance, Has Subtitles, Family Friendly, Representative in Attendance
For Tanya Raphael, maple season is a time for family, friends, and tradition. This film is part of the Leelanau Conservancy’s Indigenous Knowledges Project, dedicated to elevating Anishinaabe voices.