2022 • United States • 13 min • Allison Doxey

Family Friendly, First Time Filmmaker

The story of Know Obstacles, a band made up of disabled kids in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and their founder, Steve Osburn.

2024 • USA • 8 min • Freddie Gluck

Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker, Family Friendly

Rex, a gifted marble sculptor, lives in a small mountain town in Colorado on a property littered with half-finished headstones, beer cans, a faithful dog, and a family of scrap metal minions. Stone Dead invites viewers to delve deep into a sequestered artist’s unconventional existence and explore the intriguing intersection of life and death.

2023 • USA • 15 min • Cecilia Brown, Winslow Crane-Murdoch

Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere

95 year old Catherine Kuehn is a world record winning deadlifter. As she prepares for her last competition she reflects on the love, and the loss, that brought her to this moment.

2024 • USA • 4 min • Mike King

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Staff Pick

‘In Waves’ gives us a glimpse into the joy that has cultivated a culture of Great Lakes connection. In 2004, visionary Beryl Skrocki founded Sleeping Bear Surf with a dream of sharing the potential for freshwater play. Now, 20 years later, her legacy lives on.

2024 • USA • 12 min • Palmer Morse, Matt Mikkelsen

Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, Family Friendly

An Unangax scientist, delves into her vital research concerning toxic algal blooms affecting filter feeding shellfish—a staple Indigenous food for her people, illuminates the profound connection between the Unangax people and their environment, showcasing the resilience and resourcefulness of a culture in the face of unprecedented challenges.

2024 • Canada • 90 min • Yvonne Drebert & Zach Melnick

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

Cutting-edge underwater drones explore how quadrillions of tiny invasive quagga mussels are re-engineering the ecosystem of the Great Lakes at a scale not seen since the glaciers. Part scientific exploration, part natural history adventure – the film shines a spotlight on freshwater wildlife and environments like never before.

2024 • USA • 12 min • Zeppelin Zeerip

Michigan Premiere

A Ukrainian snowboarder turned soldier grapples with the trauma of war and the uncertainty of being called back, seeking solace in nature as he tries to reintegrate into society.

2024 • USA • 10 min • Finn Ryan

Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere

There’s always been only a few special places in the world where wild rice (known as manoomin to the Ojibwe people), grows. Which made it troubling when manoomin stopped growing in the early 2000’s at Spur Lake, a 113 acre lake in Oneida County, Wisconsin. A group of conservation partners who have come together to bring wild rice back to Spur Lake because of its environmental and cultural importance.

2023 • USA • 5 min • Veena Rao

Staff Pick

An artist gives life to the memories of our most beloved companions.

2023 • USA • 14 min • Sergio M. Rapu

Michigan Premiere, Subject in Attendance, Staff Pick

Ojibwe artist Jonathan Thunder explores the mythic inspirations of his surrealist work.

2023 • USA • 32 min • John Curtis

Filmmaker in Attendance, Representative in Attendance

Six elementary school girls fly to an island in the middle of Lake Michigan to test their fly fishing skill. The girls are members of a school sponsored Adventure Club that focuses on building community, belonging, and leadership skills to change the narrative of what girls can and can not do. During the two day trip the girls discuss the pressures of growing up in a digital world and the need for nature based connections like fly fishing.

2024 • USA • 27 min • Christy Frank and Alex Goetz

Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Making Waves Recipient, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

With the goal of banding 100,000 birds, this film follows Tom and Paula Bartlett on their quest throughout northwest Ohio, and the impact they have not only on bird research, but those they meet along the way. 

2024 • USA • 3 min • Cam Nabors

Subject in Attendance, Has Subtitles, Michigan Premiere

Artist carves poetry into a 150-year fallen oak tree

2024 • USA • 31 min • Dominic & Nadia Gill

Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

In 1971 John Francis, known the world over as ‘Planetwalker,’ witnessed an oil tanker collision in the San Francisco Bay. The sight of oiled birds on the shoreline caused him to give up motorized transport and rely solely on his own two feet. Months after that he took a vow of silence convinced that listening rather than adding fuel to any fire was the way ahead.
 
He didn’t talk, but he kept on walking clear across the country and back again. During the next seventeen silent years he listened and studied the world around him.

2024 • USA • 4 min • Jason Lindsey and Scott Krahn

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Staff Pick

“It’s Time” is a poetic 3-minute film set in early spring Illinois. Through stunning visuals and lyrical narration, it gives voice to nature. The tree’s awakening becomes a metaphor for environmental awareness. This cinematic ode aspires to plant seeds of change, encouraging viewers to listen to nature’s whispered warnings and become stewards of our shared environment.

2024 • USA • 5 min • Lynn Melling & Ian Planchon

Family Friendly

Meet The Moosers. Filmed at the 55th Annual North American Moose Conference, held in Grand Portage, Minnesota in May 2023.

2022 • USA • 8 min • Steve Brimm

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

Spearfishing workshops for all ages facilitated by the Keweenaw Bay Indian community Natural Resource Department.

2024 • USA • 23 min • Charles Frank, Fritz Bitsoie

Michigan Premiere, Adult Language

“Through The Storm” follows the 2023 season of the Red Lake Nation (Ojibwe) high school football team. Despite dwindling interest and a two-decade-long losing record, a determined coach and group of young athletes fight to keep their football program alive. An exploration in overcoming loss, the film follows the personal triumphs and hardships of the players and their families, and how football serves as a symbol of hope, unity, and resilience for the people of Red Lake.

2022 • USA • 12 min • Steve Brimm

Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Subject in Attendance

Interviews with tribal knowledge holders about Manoomin (wild rice) during a 6 day workshop/ gathering in Baraga, Michigan

2023 • USA • 10 min • Mark Stewart Iverson

Family Friendly, Representative in Attendance, Michigan Premiere

The Kenai River Sportfishing Association (KRSA) was founded 30 years ago by Bob Penney with a strong and clear mission: sustain the local King salmon population in order to preserve the Kenai’s status as the greatest sportfishing river in the world. Over the years the organization has grown, developing numerous conservation and sustainability projects to support the health of this one-of-a-kind waterway – several of which are explored in the film.

2023 • USA • 16 min • Jason Whalen

Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Representative in Attendance, Staff Pick

On a mission to clean up Ohio’s leaking, abandoned coal mines, Ohio University Art Professor John Sabraw teams up with an environmental engineer to develop a process that turns the toxic runoff pollution into paint. John’s artwork has been shown all over the world and proceeds have helped numerous environmental organizations and projects, including a new water treatment plant on the Sunday Creek Watershed in southeastern Ohio.

2023 • USA • 21 min • Jeff Springer

Representative in Attendance, Michigan Premiere

For most of the year, bands of world class freestyle kayakers roam the land in search of waves. But when the rivers freeze, everyone finds their way to a special spot on the Chattahoochee River on the Alabama-Georgia border. Squatting in an abandoned parking lot, they spend the winter training for the next world championships on North America’s best winter whitewater. Although called “certifiable lunatics” by the locals, this tight knit group is proof of the power of family and that indeed everything is more fun with friends.

2023 • USA • 15 min • Matt Coddaire

Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere

From the Heartland is a candid depiction of American Agriculture and the rural towns reliant on its success. But when an industry’s ability to thrive is dependent on progress, how does a family farm discard their traditional practices to try something new and save the land?

2024 • USA • 14 min

Family Friendly

“The Last Barf Bag” is a documentary that explores the cultural impact of a humble but crucially useful invention. In it, we meet the barf bag collectors whose passion drives them to try to save it from extinction, and their unlikely ally: the makers of the anti-nausea medication that threatens its existence.

5 min

Humorist, filmmaker and a known Canadian–Katie Burrell is at the center of Fresh Coast this year. This is a short compilation of her work to give you a taste of what’s in store! Her film Weak Layers plays twice at the festival and she’s the main event Saturday night don’t miss it!

120 min

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Adult Language

Special Program: Saturday Night with Katie Burrell! Katie is a comedian, actor, director, screenwriter, influencer, and “professional leisure athlete.” With a background in stand-up comedy and improv, her character driven creative skills have ranged from award-winning films ‘Dream Job’ and ‘Coach’ to viral brand content on social media. This past year, Katie wrote, directed and starred in her first feature film, WEAK LAYERS, which was in theatres in January 2024 and is now streaming.

2024 • CANADA • 92 min • Katie Burrell

Adult Language, Filmmaker in Attendance, Staff Pick

After getting evicted, three party-loving best friends set out to win a ski-movie competition. The prize money covers their rent, but they’ll have to beat out professional skiers and filmmakers. An uproarious comedy that celebrates mountain towns and takes on the male-dominated ski industry.

2024 • USA • 52 min • Ryan Busch

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Staff Pick, Making Waves Recipient

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the birthplace of organized skiing in America.It is also home to the National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and one of the oldest ski clubs in the country. This documentary film explores the skiing culture that continues to shape the lives of those who consider themselves Yoopers. 

2024 • USA • 4 min • Eden Sabalboro

Family Friendly

Step into the US’s largest urban sugarbush in Detroit’s sprawling Rouge Park with the Detroit Sugarbush Project.

2024 • USA • 60 min • John Thain

Family Friendly

The world’s largest lake is now among the fastest warming lakes on the planet. A Sea Change for Lake Superior takes a fresh look at Lake Superior’s natural and cultural legacy, how the lake is fairing in a time of unprecedented change, and how citizens can help mitigate today’s problems and those that the future portends.

2023 • USA • 91 min • Thomas Lindsey Haskin

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Staff Pick

THE FISH THIEF: A Great Lakes Mystery, formerly known as RELENTLESS, is a captivating mystery that engages the audience in a battle for the survival of the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth, the Great Lakes. This fascinating true story, narrated by Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons, follows remarkable people tackling the mystery of why the most prized fish nearly vanished. The crash destroyed jobs and businesses, and devastated towns, tribal communities, and First Nations across the region.

2024 • USA • 6 min • Neil Losin

Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere

Join 5-year-old Aldo and his dad on a backyard safari filled with tiny wonders and big laughs. Armed with a camera and boundless curiosity, Aldo embarks on a bug-hunting escapade, narrating his discoveries with adorable wit and charm. As the week unfolds, Aldo’s wide-eyed explorations not only capture the audience’s imagination, but also subtly echo the timeless wisdom of Aldo Leopold, making for a delightful and endearing ode to the joy of nature’s smallest marvels.

2022 • USA • 4 min • Nick Behling

Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly

Nick is at Presque Isle Park on a rainy night in Marquette Michigan to witness the migration of the Blue Spotted Salamander. Tyler Penrod from the Superior Watershed Partnership shares his knowledge about these blue spotted friends.

2024 • Canada • 38 min • Matt Clark/Stirl and Rae Media Haus, Patrick Lucas, Thomas Schoen

Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

The Story of the Indigenous Youth Mountain Bike Program is an inspiring and thought-provoking documentary that delves into the powerful connection between mountain biking, reconciliation, and healing intergenerational trauma. Through captivating storytelling and breathtaking visuals, the film follows the journey of three individuals: Patrick, Thomas, and Tom, as they collaborate with Indigenous communities across British Columbia to build trails and empower Indigenous youth.

2024 • USA • 9 min • Henry Behel

Staff Pick

For nearly everyone, losing your engine is a life-threatening event. Airshow pilot Eric Tucker is one of the few in the world who dares to make it an art form.

2024 • USA • 29 min • David Byars

Adult Language, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

The Shit-thropocene (a play on the word, Anthropocene) is a mock-anthropological investigation into consumerism. Join us on a journey that spans billions of years to piece together how and why it seems that everything has gone to shit.

2024 • USA • 4 min • Matthew Hill and Elliot Kennedy

Family Friendly, Subject in Attendance, Filmmaker in Attendance

This film tells Emily Lanctot’s story and personal relationship with art and how the beauty of the lakeshore intertwines with her world in art. Emily wears many hats, she’s a working artist, organizer of a local art group, professor in NMU’s art and design program, and the Curator and Director of the Art Museum on campus.

2023 • USA • 6 min • Daniel Flahiff

Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere

In his junior year of high school, Travis Sterner attempted to end his life. DAD BOD is the story of that day and Travis’s lifelong mission to break the cycle of depression and despair through fitness, empathy, and encouragement. 

2024 • USA • 2 min • Charlie Baker

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Staff Pick, First Time Filmmaker

Original Bluegrass music plus mountain biking with a twist. All self filmed clips plus editing lead to an illusion of the biker being filmed by himself.

2024 • USA • 15 min • Finn Ryan

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, World Premiere

The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians is the largest indigenous tribe east of the Mississippi and has been stewarding the fisheries of their Great Lakes territory for generations. This project explores the importance of the fishery to the tribe and how they’re working to ensure a healthy fishery for the next seven generations.

2023 • USA • 14 min • Trần Hoàng Calvin

Family Friendly

As Wisconsin reforms its expungement process, the opportunity for a second chance for the formerly incarcerated hinges on a local activist named Shanyeill McCloud.

2024 • USA • 5 min • RC Cone

Adult Language

This is Jackson Marvell. He’s totaled 5 trucks, hauled kegs up rock towers, and rarely (if ever) brushed his hair.

Introducing episode 1 of our multi-part film series profiling inspiring personalities who have dedicated their lives to ‘getting after it.’

2024 • USA • 6 min • Mike Schwartz

Family Friendly, First Time Filmmaker, Staff Pick

“Elladj" follows the remarkable journey of Elladj Balde, a Canadian figure skater whom found his voice and fan base through wild ice skating. The film centers on the transformative power of embracing one’s passion over measurable results.

2024 • Canada • 15 min • Graeme Meiklejohn

Michigan Premiere

“The Seventh Generation Principle is an indigenous concept originating from the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy), in which you think about the next seven generations coming after you in your words, work, and actions; and to remember the seven generations who came before you.

2024 • Canada • 11 min • Graeme Meiklejohn

Michigan Premiere

Dan Craven, or Dan from Nam, as he was known during his professional road racing career, had for years dreamt of starting his own handmade bike brand at home in Namibia. He had travelled the world for riding and racing bikes, but he knew that to find the best builders, returning home to Namibia would make the most sense. When it comes to using their hands, Namibian skill sets are highly developed so that, whether it’s in the arts like sculpture or pottery or in the trades like mechanics and builders, their dexterity, precision and attention to detail are invaluable.

2023 • Canada • 3 min • William Binamé

Family Friendly

Melissa Arnott from Indigenous Women Outdoors, in Squamish, British Columbia, recites how spending more time on the land and starting a trail running program helped her reconnect with mother earth (niimaamaa aki) and her Anishinaabe culture.

2024 • USA • 34 min • Scott Ballew

Adult Language, Staff Pick

In the late 60’s a group of poets, writers and musicians descended upon the southernmost point of the United States to pursue their love of literature and fishing. Initiated by Tom McGuane - the prodigal son of American Literature in the 1970’s - his friends Jim Harrison, Richard Brautigan, Russell Chatham and Jimmy Buffett soon joined him. This crew and that era were captured on film by Guy De La Valdene and Christian Odasso in an obscure documentary called “Tarpon” in 1974. They went on to create some of the best art, poetry, novels, and music of their generation - but there will never be anything like Key West in the early 70’s. If you were lucky to survive it.

2024 • USA • 25 min • Kristin Ojaniemi

Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly

Born in the Barn: Part 6 “Last Game in the Barn” - The 1990’s bring another generation of Ewen-Trout Creek Panther girls and boys ballers on the court for many records, hard losses, and a lifetime of memories. The Last Game in the Barn is played in 1998. The 2022 team continues to dominate the tournaments with a quarterfinal win, sending the E-TC boys downstate for the first time in 40 years. “Born in the Barn” is an 8-part docu-series completed in 2024.