2026 • USA • 6 min • Joe Brown

Michigan Premiere

This short documentary tells the story of sandhill cranes in America.

2026 • USA • 3 min • Mark Wilson of New Leonard Media

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.

2026 • USA • 27 min • David Andrew Busse

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.

2026 • USA • 19 min • Josh Heese

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.

2026 • USA • 3 min • Nick & Chris Loud

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.

2026 • USA • 20 min • Jason Whalen

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.

2020 • USA • 5 min • Annette Summersett

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.

2025 • USA • 18 min • Fiona Otway

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.

2026 • USA • 65 min • Chris Ozminski

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Work in Progress

Michipicoten Island in Lake Superior is the little known sibling 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.

2026 • USA • 15 min • Taliesin Black-Brown

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.

2025 • USA • 15 min • Christy Frank

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.

2026 • USA • 5 min • Lindsey Hagen

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.

2026 • USA • 28 min • Kathy Johnson

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.

2025 • USA • 4 min • Bonnie Willison

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.

2026 • USA • 60 min • Daniel Larson

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.

2025 • USA • 4 min • Bonnie Willison & Bijit Khadka

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.