2019 • USA • 3 min • Mykhailo Bogdanov

Filmmaker in Attendance

The brutal reality of Vatna Glacier melting in Iceland.

2021 • 13 min • Kris Bowers, Ben Proudfoot

A virtuoso jazz pianist and film composer tracks his family’s lineage through his 91-year-old grandfather from Jim Crow Florida to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

2020 • United States • 27 min • Brenda Piekarski

Filmmaker in Attendance

On August 6, 2018 Stephen Schreader and Eli Nord launched on a self-made 1,000-mile journey around the arrowhead region of Minnesota by bike, canoe and foot, using primarily Minnesota-made gear. Their trip would take them through mining country and deep into the wilderness while giving a grand nod to Minnesota history, culture and trails. As with all great adventures, not everything goes as planned.

2020 • United Kingdom • 16 min • Ben Page

Staff Pick, Michigan Premiere

In the Caucasus mountains of Georgia, 78-year-old Irakli Khvedaguridze has spent the past 25 winters living alone as the last inhabitant of Europe’s highest village.

2021 • US • 75 min • Chris Ozminski

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance

Follow Michigan Backcountry Search and Rescue as they work two heart-wrenching cases helping the families search for their missing loved ones.

2021 • United States • 18 min • Kristin Ojaniemi

Filmmaker in Attendance

Isle Royale is the nation’s least visited National Park, however it is the most revisited National Park. In the spring of 2021, Kristin Ojaniemi, co-host of the U.P.’s outdoors show “Discovering”, spent 8 days on Isle Royale; backpacking, exploring the trails and harbors, learning about the island’s wilderness and history, and chatting with the researchers of the Isle Royale Wolf-Moose project.

2020 • 8 min • Kristin Ojaniemi

Filmmaker in Attendance

United in stewardship, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa join our neighbors in protecting the land, water, and original orders of creation. The decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future.

2020 • 8 min • 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.

2021 • United States • 5 min • Anders Nienstaedt

A video essay about Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Fir Tree,” perhaps the saddest Christmas story every written.

2020 • 14 min • Analise Cleopatra and Aly Nicklas

Pedal Through invites us into the world of director-lead Analise Cleopatra as she discovers the healing and joy of mountain biking. Analise had never camped or ridden a bike off the pavement when she decided to plan a week-long mountain biking adventure with an all Black female team: her best friend and fellow newcomer to the sport, DeJuanae Toliver, and professional mountain biker Brooklyn Bell. Together, they traverse the Oregon backcountry on an adventure full of exploration, curiosity, waterfalls, old growth forest, sparkling starscapes, and deep healing. With raw authenticity, Analise shares all the intimate foibles, fear, fun, and beauty of discovering her place in the outdoors. The landscape opens to greet her as she learns to lean into uncertainty, accept support and trust herself on this wild ride.

2020 • USA • 11 min • Palmer Morse, Taylor Graham, Matt Mikkelsen

Water Flows Together elevates the importance of acknowledging Indigenous land in outdoor recreation through the voice of Colleen Cooley, one of the few female Diné (Navajo) river guides on the San Juan River. In sharing Colleen’s perspective, we are given a glimpse into native views on issues of water resource management, which are often missing from larger discussions of western water challenges.

2021 • United States • 39 min • Colin Arisman

Staff Pick, Michigan Premiere

Three women set sail on a 350 mile expedition through Alaska’s massive Tongass National Forest, exploring how clearcut logging in this coastal rainforest could affect wildlife, local communities and our planet’s climate.

2020 • USA • 14 min • Palmer Morse, Jamie DiNicola, Matt Mikkelsen

Venture Out is a story of overcoming odds, the power of resilience, and ultimately, the ever-lasting effects of LGBTQ community building. The Venture Out Project, founded by Perry Cohen, is a non profit organization that brings LGBTQ folks together outdoors on wilderness trips. In sharing Perry’s story, and hearing from the other TVOP participants, we get a glimpse into the healing qualities of nature and life-saving community bonds that are being forged as a result of Perry’s work.

2020 • United States • 5 min • Cameron Mattson

Filmmaker in Attendance

In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, there are many who enjoy the numerous wonders of nature this state has to offer. However, there is another natural treasure that has been mostly forgotten. One would never guess it was hiding in plain sight under Lake Superior all along.

2020 • USA • 7 min • Rusty Malkemes

Tim Baerwald talks the importance of collecting data to establish patterns. The data is essential to have informed discussions on how development can effect our environment. His focus is typically on waterbirds. In this video we get a glimpse into the effort it takes to collect data during the fall waterbird migration in southwest Michigan.

2021 • USA • 6 min • Cameron Maier

Subject in Attendance

Showcasing and amplifying the climbing culture from each of these places, from the city to the crag.

2021 • 34 min • Cameron Maier

Staff Pick, World Premiere, Adult Language

Take a deep dive into the international world of stone lifting, then zoom in to the Utah stone lifting scene and one man’s efforts to capture that global experience and recreate it in his home state.

2020 • United Kingdom • 45 min • Hannah Maia

Staff Pick

An all girl canoe tripping documentary. Over six weeks of summer, this all-girl group paddle traditional wood-canvas canoes through the remote northern wilderness, travelling a network of streams, lakes, rivers, mudholes and muskeg bogs, with one resupply via float plane. Only one thing is certain the 12 young women taking on this adventure, nine of whom are teenagers, certainly won’t see each other at best. Think bug-bitten, cold and boob-deep in muskeg bog while carrying incredibly heavy canoes on their heads.

2021 • 11 min • Joey Santore

Adult Language

A decade ago, Nick Mullins was one of the most promising skateboarders to come from the Midwest. Then, overnight it all changed. Shot by two strangers on weekends, across three states over two years. This is a story of pain, grit, fight, uncertainty, fear, desperation, and most importantly — love.

2021 • 8 min • Trent Lutzke

Subject in Attendance, Filmmaker in Attendance, Adult Language

A BMX combo platter of salty Keweenaw and spicy Puerto Rican spots from Houghton-area rider/filmer Trent Lutzke and The Sampson House. Edited for length and compiled from the Sunday bikes “No Service” edit and the Puerto Rico segment of the DVD “Program.”

2020 • United States • 4 min • Nick Loud & Chris Loud

Filmmaker in Attendance

Local farmers band together with the Leelanau Conservancy to preserve the land, environment, and way of life that defines Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula, and thanks to their efforts, will hopefully do so for centuries beyond. Produced by The Boardman Review, the creative culture and outdoor lifestyle journal of northern Michigan.

2021 • United States • 90 min • Patrick Longstreth

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

Jazmine Faries, a 32-year old woman with Down syndrome, is obsessed with soap operas, Barbie dolls, and Matthew McConaughey. For the past 5 summers, her family has performed her original stage plays for a small audience in their town of Iron River, Michigan. In this sixth season, we follow the creative process of writing, rehearsing, and performing the play. Family bonds between her brother, Chad, and her mother, Kate, are strengthened and put to the test by the mishaps and chaos of coordinating a production with limited resources. Along the way we see Jazmine’s personal struggle for independence, her yearning for a romantic partner, and how a single spark of creativity can spread joy throughout a community.

2021 • Canada • 19 min • Kalli Anderson

Open Water is a short documentary film about what it feels like to swim across the largest freshwater lake in the world. It follows 61-year-old open-water swimmer Marilyn Korzekwa as she attempts to be the first person to ever complete a crossing of the eastern end of Lake Superior, from Michigan, USA to Ontario, Canada. The film uses experimental underwater photography techniques and immersive sound design to convey the subjective experience of swimming non-stop through a night and a day. It chronicles the changing moods of the lake over the course of the swim as Marilyn and her small support crew weather the waves and numbing cold. Along the way, we get to know some of the tight-knit community of Canadian women who have, with very little fanfare, been swimming and helping each other swim The Great Lakes for three generations.

2020 • United States • 16 min • Mike King

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance

Mike King presents “Feast or Famine”. A film that connects passion with purpose, as I’ve discovered the importance of protecting the places I love while chasing powder and big lines through British Colombia & the Pacific Northwest. Each summer I bring it back home for harvest on the farm in the Great Lakes.

2021 • 105 min • Elisabeth James

Filmmaker in Attendance, Staff Pick, Michigan Premiere

Adventure unfolds across four continents as an eagle hunter, a hawk whisperer, and a falcon racer awaken an ancient art to connect to the wild that is fading out of sight and out of mind.

2021 • 23 min • Ian Planchon

Freshwater is a documentary that dives into the cold waters of Lake Superior along Minnesota’s North Shore. Despite the fact that it contains ten percent of Earth’s freshwater, this massive force of nature remains largely unexplored. One group of people, however, is intimately aware of its power. From the surfers who catch its waves to the scientists who study its depths, learn why Lake Superior is a precious resource that should never be taken for granted.

2021 • Nepal • 20 min • Emily Hopcian

Staff Pick, Filmmaker in Attendance, Has Subtitles

“DURGA: Forging a New Trail” tells the story of 34-year-old Durga Rawal, the only guide of any gender from her village in northern Nepal. In a country where boys receive an education, men seek employment in larger cities and girls and women are often left to work on family farms and within their homes, Durga’s is a story of defying cultural, societal and familial expectations to pursue an independent life. It is a story of female empowerment and gender equality about a brave young woman who is forging her own trail.

2020 • 10 min • Carrie and Tim Highman

Filmmaker in Attendance

Gretchen Metsa is a northern Minnesotan woman who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when she was 19. After almost giving up running when she found managing her blood sugar while training too tricky, she recalls a life-changing moment when she looked at her daughter, also diagnosed with Type 1, and realized her example spoke volumes about what they’re capable of despite their disease.

2020 • 10 min • Carrie and Tim Highman

Filmmaker in Attendance

Meet Midwesterner Coree Woltering, 30, as he attempts to set the men’s supported fastest known time (FKT) of 21 days, 13 hours, and 35 minutes on Wisconsin’s 1,147-mile Ice Age Trail.

2019 • United States • 16 min • Brit and Taylor Hensel

Native and American follows Holly Spaude as she navigates her tribe’s blood quantum standard. Through working to help preserve the endangered Potawatomi language, Holly has come to know her purpose.

2019 • United States • 8 min • Brit and Taylor Hensel

Zibi Yajdan tells a story of the Kalamazoo River and her relationship to the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Pottawatomi people (Gun Lake Tribe) in the wake of the Enbridge Pipeline 6B oil spill. The Tribe leads efforts to restore and protect the Kalamazoo River, whose waters give life to habitats and natural resources intricately connected to the culture and identity of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish people.

2021 • United States • 13 min • Brian Hansen

After competing in 3 Olympics for speed skating, this is my story of retirement and discovering a new side of the sport.

2019 • United States • 20 min • Nick Martini

In the rugged White Mountains of northern-New Hampshire, Lahout’s has remained open 365 days a year since 1920. While technology and conglomerates have stripped the country of local, independent retailers, a family of Lebanese immigrants has prevailed for a century, beating the Great Depression, World War II, Dot Com Crash and Great Recession. With a family and staff who have spent their entire lives working at the shop, we arrive at their centennial during a vulnerable time. The patriarch (Joe Lahout Sr) is in an intense fight with father time. Having skied, worked-out and traveled well into his 90’s, Joe has begun to struggle with his daily rehab and medication schedule, while his grandson (Anthony Lahout) has returned home to help with his recovery. As Anthony begins spending time with him, he explores his grandfather’s lineage as well as questions the source to the store’s success. As we approach 2020, the reality of life-without-Joe is introduced to the Lahout family and staff, sending shockwaves throughout the ranks. Award-winning director Nick Martini and cinematographer Cam Riley have teamed up with executive producer Anthony Lahout to captivate a nation consumed with hashtags instead of history. This film tells a timeless short story of the American dream and the family that put a community on skis. After 100 years, Lahout’s is still a family business moving onto its fourth generation. Through past and present, we learn the true source of the store’s success. As their monarch passes on, we question and discover the backbone of its longevity. We hope to inspire immigrants, military veterans, millennials, grandchildren, family businesses, and outdoor enthusiasts that all in America is not lost.

2020 • USA • 20 min • Jim Aikman

In the rarified air of the world’s wildest mountains, alpinist Graham Zimmerman has seen firsthand the effects of human-driven climate change on the world. And he has been forced to acknowledge that he is complicit in destroying these places that he loves​. Despite his own carbon footprint, Graham decides that he must take action and joins Protect Our Winters, an advocacy group that enlists him in the fight against Climate Change.

2020 • 13 min

What is a lake surfer? Are they different from you and I? Join host Dylan Graves on his quest to the “FREEZING GNARLS” of Duluth, Minnesota to find answers. Dylan links up with lake surfing specialist Burton Hathaway as they connect with the rest of the surfing community in the Great Lakes to experience the biggest winter storm of the season.

2020 • USA • 24 min • Torrin Grange

Filmmaker in Attendance

The third film of Superior Steel brings acrobatic fish, low and high water, new and old places and the same great fish.

2018 • 4 min • Gnarly Bay

Traveling with a baby is an interesting thing. They add all sorts of challenges to any trip you do. Long flights, strollers, nap schedules, and car seats all seem to pile up and complicate what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation. Sometimes, you may even find yourself wondering…is all this effort worth it for a baby who won’t even remember the trip? All these experiences and memories will eventually disappear, like a fading dream. So is it worth it?

2021 • 14 min • Dominic Gill

Filmmaker in Attendance, Adult Language

Thanks to Black Diamond Soul Deep takes the time to show how the face of climbing is changing. We head to Memphis to catch up with local climbing gym Memphis Rocks and some of its local climbers to share what climbing means in Memphis.

2019 • USA • 2 min

Subject in Attendance

Since a family trip to the Grand Canyon as a child, Detroit photographer Joe Gall, aka Camera Jesus, has been in love with the authentic moment. From Joe’s early days photographing BMX riders and shooting concerts, to working with Tony Hawk and Karlie Kloss, his nature photography, and his professional work with adidas global, he has been able to reframe brief flashes of beauty into indelible images of grace.

2020 • 17 min • 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.

2020 • USA • 8 min • 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.

2021 • 13 min • Tom Deschenes & Andrew Bydlon

Filmmaker in Attendance

Chisholm, Minnesota is barely a dot on the map. But this small town on the Mesabi Iron Range of Minnesota once provided the ore to build the tanks and planes of World War II and the skyscrapers of New York. Chisholm built America and the people of the town prospered. But as time went on, the demand for Chisholm’s ore declined. Although mining continues to thrive in this region, the people of Chisholm are looking to reclaim this abandoned landscape of the past. Now, the community and the industry that built this town are banding together to revitalize a forgotten piece of America. Can Chisholm make the leap from mining town to outdoor capital?

2021 • 16 min • Tom Deschenes & Andrew Bydlon

Filmmaker in Attendance

Not all fire is bad. Increased droughts and longer fire seasons in recent decades have caused more frequent, dangerous, and intense fires across the country. But for thousands of years, Native people used fire to prevent these intense fires, while also using it to cultivate the land, build communities, and preserve natural forests. Current laws preventing controlled burns have changed both the environment of the Upper Midwest and the culture of Native Tribes. Like the fire that rejuvenates the forest, a small group is working to revive this valuable practice. Oshkigin - Spirit of Fire shows the ways that traditional fire uses can reconnect us with the land and preserve the natural world.

2020 • USA • 40 min • James Daggett

Staff Pick, Filmmaker in Attendance

In 2008, a sustainable development project began in the middle of the Kenai Fjords of Alaska, 3 hours by boat from the nearest port of civlization. Told from the points of view of crew members, project coordinators and the Native Alaskan corporation that owns the land itself, the film is both a celebration of and a blueprint for sustainable construction, as well as an exciting battle against time and the elements deep within wild Alaska.

2021 • 60 min

Staff Pick, Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere

A quiet Upper Michigan town becomes the center of an international media frenzy after three scientists discover a record-breaking ‘Humongous Fungus’ living next door. Decades later, the town and the scientists continue to embrace the fungus as a growing symbol of community and wonder. Who will be crowned Mr. Fungi? Will there be a giant mushroom pizza? Will the ‘Humongous Fungus’ outlive us all?

2021 • United States • 9 min • Kathryn Clark

First Time Filmmaker

A middle school student was assigned the task to create a documentary that shows how perception altered history. She went into the project simply thinking that a local mental hospital had a bad rap because of ghost stories, but she learned much more about the history of asylums in the United States.

2019 • The U.S. and Canada • 11 min • Ben Hemmings

The endangered Orcas of the Pacific Northwest rely on the West Coast Chinook salmon for food. However, salmon stocks are diminishing due to loss of habitat and increasing pollution - ultimately impacting the Orca. Interestingly, reforestation is one of the best ways to help restore salmon habitats. Trees help reduce runoff into the rivers, cool water temperatures, and add beneficial woody debris to the water that help salmon develop, ultimately increasing food supply for Orca whales.

2021 • 3 min • Mike Call

Subject in Attendance

North Face athlete and Michigan native Sam Elias is on fire, but fire needs fuel.