Family Friendly
A Caregivers Journey puts a spotlight on the lives and experiences of two Michigan caregivers who are caring for their aging loved ones. It’s a heartfelt first-hand look at the joy and challenges that come with caregiving.
Diversity
28 films at Fresh Coast 2025
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A Caregivers Journey
A Wilderness Act
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
Indigenous and Western ways of knowing come together through the collaboration of a Anishinaabe scholar and college professor to redefine our understanding of wilderness and argue for the return of fire to our forests.
Citizen: The Jilmar Ramos Gomez Story
Filmmaker in Attendance, Has Subtitles
“Citizen” explores the near deportation of Grand Rapids, Michigan-born U.S. citizen, Marine, and combat veteran Jilmar Ramos Gomez. This film scrutinizes the system that nearly expelled him, the collaboration between local law enforcement and I.C.E., and raises critical questions about who gets to define what it means to be American.
Color Out Here: Breaking Ice & Building Community
First Time Filmmaker, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Filmmaker in Attendance
Rooted in the core values of uplifting representation, place, and public learning, this segment follows Alice Lyn and community members on a powerful journey to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where they learn to ice climb at Michigan Ice Fest.
Color Out Here is a TV show highlighting BIPOC representation in the outdoors through Public Learning, Representation, and Place. Each episode explores outdoor activities, unique environmental narratives, and the intersection of identity with nature, inspiring inclusion and advocacy for equitable access to outdoor spaces.
Detroit to Gloryland
Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Representative in Attendance
Eight Detroit youth venture to Yosemite National Park to meet legendary Park Ranger and fellow Detroiter, Shelton Johnson. A homecoming in the High Sierra ensues and the next generation is inspired to connect with and protect precious outdoor spaces.
First Waves Beaver County
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere
First Waves Beaver County documents the expansion of the Watersmith Guild’s groundbreaking youth environmental education program into the Beaver and Ohio River valleys in the aftermath of the ethylene cracker plant’s penalties for pollution.
For Nokomis
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Student Filmmaker
A short documentary about three generations of Ojibwe women from L’Anse, Michigan, sharing their stories about intergenerational trauma.
Gigiigemin Baaga’adoweyang “We are healed by stickball”
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick
In its creation story, the game of Baaga’adowewin is given as a gift and tool for life. After forced assimilation, the game was suppressed and remained dormant for almost a century. This film shares the return of Baaga’adowewin, or stickball, as Ojibwe communities walk the path of cultural revitalization and exercise their treaty rights to continue to heal from historical traumas and overcome challenges of today.
Haagua
Has Subtitles, Michigan Premiere, Family Friendly
Over 400 years ago, a major disturbance disrupted nature’s law along the West Coast, reshaping coastlines, Indigenous life, and traditions. Now, a new wave emerges, allowing Indigenous communities to thrive in harmony with nature. Haagua portrays the deep bond between Great Great-Grandmother Ocean and her great-grandchildren, where surfing is more than a sport—it is a cultural revival, reconnecting with ancestral ways of life.
ʻAʻā (An Islands Twinkle)
Family Friendly
A cross pacific journey to find one’s homeland on a 26 foot voyaging canoe. Join a pacific islanders path from learning the stars to eventually re discovering their island.
Lake Leelanau, Spirit of the Lake
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly
Blending stunning visuals, heartfelt stories, and expert perspectives, “Lake Leelanau, Spirit of the Lake” is a heartfelt tribute to a lake that continues to shape the identity and memories of its community.
Language Back
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
A short documentary about the importance of Native American language revitalization shot in Milwaukee, Keshena and Bjorklunden with Indigenous Nations Poets
Mother River
Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere
A look into Devin Brown’s journey as she seeks to be the First black female on record to kayak the entire Mississippi River.
Of The Black Sea
Has Subtitles, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker
Join Turkic-American pro-skier, Giray Dadali, on his journey to answer a life-long question: Which has a greater influence; the heritage from which you descended or the culture in which you were raised?
Of Two Worlds
Filmmaker in Attendance
The story of hardship, growth and resilience many indigenous women experience.
Restoring Northern Michigan's Rivers
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, World Premiere, Representative in Attendance
From Rugg Pond Dam on the Rapid River in Kalkaska County to the Crystal River in Leelanau County, this film follows the Conservation Resource Alliance’s River Care program and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians as they restore Northern Michigan’s rivers—reconnecting waters, renewing habitats, and honoring cultural ties.
Resurgo: The Rise from Within
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick
Detroit endured six decades of massive disinvestment, losing its primary industry in what is often described as the largest economic withdrawal in U.S. history. Its industry collapsed, its skyline dimmed. Yet the city’s spirit refused to vanish. Some call what followed the greatest comeback story in the nation. Others insist Detroit never left at all.
Now, through the eyes of a two-time Emmy Award–winning filmmaker and the voice of a celebrated poet, comes a story told from the ground up. Drawn from a twenty-year archive of over three million photographs and thousands of hours of unseen footage, this cinematic journey redefines an iconic city through the lives of the people who lived it.
Something in the Water
Filmmaker in Attendance
Something in the Water follows five water justice advocates who discuss how Milwaukee’s Black communities are disproportionately being lead poisoned, the debilitating effects it has on residents’ health, and their hopes to see equitable change that will heal the water and Black resident’s relationship to it.
Sueños De Una Monarca (Dreams of a Monarch)
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Has Subtitles, First Time Filmmaker, World Premiere, Making Waves Recipient, Staff Pick
After turning her Chicago home into a monarch butterfly sanctuary, Claudia Galeno-Sánchez, an environmental activist, Mexican immigrant, and mother is on a mission to save the monarch butterfly, an important symbol for both her family and millions of others in the United States.
Taste of Home
Filmmaker in Attendance, Has Subtitles, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker, Representative in Attendance
Taste of Home follows Mimi and Eak, a Thai couple who run a beloved restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Through a blend of vérité footage and intimate interviews, we observe a full day in their lives, from morning prep to closing time, they navigate the joys and challenges of running an authentic Thai kitchen in America.
The Inner Sea
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker
The Inner Sea is an unconventional love story–a story about music, adoption, the journey of a lifetime, and a bright blue 40 foot school bus. This film explores the complex issues of identity that result from the decision to place a child for adoption. It is also a film that explores the role that art plays in suffering, and healing.
The Spirit Gardens at Bad River
Michigan Premiere, Family Friendly, World Premiere, Representative in Attendance, Filmmaker in Attendance
The pristine waters and winding channels of the the Bad River and Kakagon Sloughs hold the largest wild rice beds in the Great Lakes. Managed through time by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the sloughs are recognized internationally for their exceptional quality. They also remain under threat from an aging oil pipeline and impacts of climate change. The video is a segment of an upcoming hour-long documentary, Estuaries in the Balance: Freshwater Nurseries of Lake Superior, which is being produced by Hamline University’s Center for Global Environmental Education.
This is FLINT | Mama Sol
Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly
Mama Sol is a spoken word artist, rapper and community activist in Flint, Michigan. This is more than a hustle, it’s her passion, and she’s proud to rep the 8-1-0.
Turtle Walker
Has Subtitles, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, First Time Filmmaker, Staff Pick
In the late 1970s, Satish Bhaskar embarked on an epic journey along India’s coastline and the spectacular Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he uncovered the vital nesting beaches of sea turtles. During his death-defying quest, he unravels mysteries surrounding these enigmatic ocean creatures – and sets out to save them from extinction.
Voices of The Grand River
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, First Time Filmmaker, Student Filmmaker
Ron Yob, chairman of the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, seeks to gain federal recognition for his tribe from the federal government. Through Yob’s fight, he walks viewers through the historical evidence of the tribe’s presence in Grand Rapids to understand why the tribes deserve their federal rights.
When I'm in the Water
Family Friendly, Staff Pick, Filmmaker in Attendance
When I’m in the Water is a film centered around a group of women, called the Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage, in Cape Cod, Mass. fighting to revitalize not only their own lives and the lives of their fellow group members, but the ecosystems consisting of hundreds of ponds in the Cape. Throughout their journey to clean up the ponds, members of the group have found an accepting and supporting community to aid them in their personal journeys, harnessing their mental fortitude and discovering physical strength at their age.
Wired to Inspire: Riding the La Crosse Omnium
Filmmaker in Attendance
Elite cyclist Noah Collins reflects on his journey in the sport while hoping to inspire the next generation as he competes in the La Crosse Omnium in La Crosse, WI, the only three-day omnium in the United States.
Your Last Best: A Memphis Rox Story
Hope comes to a South Memphis neighborhood that has struggled with basic resources. It takes the unlikely form of a climbing gym, where Jarmond Johnson and others experience different outcomes on the wall.