A video essay about Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Fir Tree,” perhaps the saddest Christmas story every written.
Midwest
34 films at Fresh Coast 2021
A Sad Story About a Tree
After Antarctica
Staff Pick
A journey across both poles, After Antarctica follows polar explorer Will Steger’s life journey as an eyewitness to the greatest changes to the polar regions of our planet. …
Bløm | From Farm to Fourth Ave.
Filmmaker in Attendance
After a gluten allergy shook up a brewer’s career, him and his wife turned to a new fermentation project using all local ingredients from Michigan; Bløm Meadworks in Ann …
Cities to Crags: Minnesota x The UP
Subject in Attendance
Showcasing and amplifying the climbing culture from each of these places, from the city to the crag.
Color Out Here: Shaping Narratives
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance
Alice Lyn (she/her) is a sustainability professional and outdoor enthusiast. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Alice relocated to Michigan where she attended college at Northern …
Coreyon
Filmmaker in Attendance
The Coreyon Reef restoration is aimed at bringing open water spawning reef habitat back to Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay. Throughout history, land use, pollution, overfishing and …
Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't: A Sampler Platter
Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Adult Language
A low-brow, crass approach to plant ecology and evolution as muttered by a misanthropic Chicago Italian. Amidst mild (or not so mild) profanity and general irreverence, Joey …
Freshwater
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, …
Gretchen Metsa and the Arrowhead Ultra
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 …
Ice Ball
Michigan Premiere
Best known for his legendary polar explorations, Will Steger’s life work grew out of a single log cabin he built after moving to the Minnesotan wilderness at age 25. Reliant on …
Leelanau Conservancy - Farmland Protection
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 …
LOON
Filmmaker in Attendance, World Premiere
Is wilderness more valuable than money? It depends on who you ask. Loon is a through hiking naturalist who understands what’s truly valuable in life. At 80 years old with …
Native and American
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 …
Nibi: The fight for water, rights and a way of life
While there has been a widespread focus on the controversy of Line 5, this film takes a closer look into perhaps one of the most often overlooked, yet most important perspectives …
Ode to Minnesota
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 …
Operation Wolf Patrol
Staff Pick, Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Adult Language, Michigan Premiere
“Operation Wolf Patrol,” is a feature length documentary about eco-activist, Rod Coronado, and his attempt to end wolf hunting in the United States.
Over the course of …
Oshkigin: Spirit of Fire
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 …
Our Water
Staff Pick, Filmmaker in Attendance, Adult Language
Four friends set out on an expedition inspired by Lake Superior. They travel in kayaks, paddle stroke by paddle stroke to circumnavigate the worlds largest freshwater resource. …
Reclaimed
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 …
Riwaka | A Hop's Journey From Farmer to Brewer
Filmmaker in Attendance
Hop Butcher is always searching for new experiences through hops and the search was a long one when trying to find Riwaka. Once connected with Hop Revolution farms in NZ, they got …
Saving Buffalo Reef
Filmmaker in Attendance
Buffalo Reef is a natural cobble feature in Lake Superior, located just off the eastern edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the U.P of Michigan. The reef has historically maintained …
Second Wind
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 …
Sweetwater
Filmmaker in Attendance
Cast your line into another world. What is out there? An unknown.
Meet the people who explore the hills and valleys of the lake bottom.
Why do they do it? What happens when they …
The Humongous Fungus Among Us
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. …
The Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative
The Arctic Grayling disappeared from Michigan waters over 100 years ago. This is the story of what it will take to bring it back. The Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative is a …
The No Service Program
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 …
The Other Border
Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere
High school student Gerardo Hernandez - raised in the United States since six months of age - was arrested by ICE in Ohio, spent almost 2 months in prison and is scheduled to be …
The Waterbird Counter
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 …
Traverse City's Not So Haunted Past - The Northern Michigan Asylum's creation and fall.
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 …
Weird Waves Season 1: Great Lakes Surf
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 …
Wild Side
After competing in 3 Olympics for speed skating, this is my story of retirement and discovering a new side of the sport.
Will to Live: The Gary Edinger Story
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 …
Win(d) Over Cancer
Subject in Attendance
When the world closed, our waters opened and so did an opportunity for this crew of kids to make a difference. Follow our crew of kids as they compete in a sailboat race to raise …
You And The Thing You Love
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 …