2024 • USA • 5 min • Kody Kohlman

Adult Language, Michigan Premiere

Anton Krupicka is an icon of mountain running in the USA. At 23-years-old he won Leadville 100 in Colorado and more recently has blazed a high altitude trail on extensive bikepacking tours.
We wanted to know what drove Anton to chase these experiences. A need for self reliance and a desire for discovery have fueled years of awe-inspiring achievements that have motivated runners, cyclists and climbers around the world. In this film, Anton dives into the purpose behind his pursuits.

2024 • USA • 3 min • Erik Sudheimer

World Premiere, Staff Pick

An examination of how two small sticks, randomly acquired in Minnesota’s north woods, have slowly transformed into treasured possessions.

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 • 18 min • Nate Sheppard

Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere

PETE’S CASTLE tells the story of Pete Kelley, creator of Kelley Castle in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. The film follows Pete and his brother Pat as they tour around the castle and recount the process of putting the castle together, piece by piece. Enjoy this amusing synthesis of old-world classical sensibilities and folksy American pragmatism and humor.

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.

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 • 17 min • Eric Machiela

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

Ghosts towns in the Upper Peninsula aren’t abandoned communities. Some of them are still very much alive. Told from the perspective of the Nahma Inn employees, they recount the spooky and unexplainable happenings that occur on a regular basis.

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.’