A Circus Life
Shot at the world renown Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI, this colorful documentary takes an intimate journey into the world of the early American circus and circus parades.
American Commune
In 1970, 1,500 hippies and their guru Stephen Gaskin founded a commune in rural Tennessee. Raised in this alternative community, filmmakers and sisters Rena and Nadine return for the first time since leaving in 1985.
Betting The Farm
A group of Maine dairy farmers—dropped by their national milk company—launch their own milk company in a bid to save their farms. But faced with slow sales and mounting bills, can the farmers hang together long enough for the gamble to pay off?
Billy Club
A memorial for their little league coach reunites four friends until the secrets from their past return to haunt them. Shot in Milwaukee.
The Bitter Buddha
For a few decades, Eddie Pepitone has proven to be a startling force in the alt-comedy scene. Within “The Bitter Buddha” we follow Eddie as he deals with a middle-age career surge, while struggling with self-doubt, sobriety, and a challenging family history.
Black Web
A computer programmer named Easton has been tracking the growth of the internet phenomenon since the beginning. When he suddenly discovers his future obituary buried within a cryptic web file, he’s forced to confront his troubled past in order to prevent his predicted demise.
Bridegroom
BRIDEGROOM tells the emotional journey of Shane and Tom, two young men in a loving and committed relationship– and the struggles that resulted when that relationship that was cut tragically short by a misstep off the side of a roof. Winner of the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Dead Before Dawn
With only two weeks until college graduation, Casper Galloway’s future is one big question mark. But just when Casper thinks things couldn’t get any worse, he and his friends accidentally unleash a curse that causes people to kill themselves and turn into Zombie Demons, aka Zemons.
Down By The River
The Wisconsin Great River Road parallels the Mississippi River for 250 miles from Prescott in the north to Kieler in the south. Along the way, you’ll experience some of the most incredible scenery in the Midwest and 33 unique communities, some of which are the oldest in Wisconsin. Sponsored by the Platteville Area Chamber of Commerce
Fall And Winter
FALL AND WINTER is an epic and spectacularly photographed journey across the U.S. in search of what is causing our unfolding global crisis.
Fifty Lakes One Island
In 2011, Chicago filmmaker George Desort spent eighty nights on Isle Royale, a wilderness island on Lake Superior. Desort explored the rugged terrain of the island, filming himself each difficult step of the way.
Fight Like Soldiers, Die Like Children
FIGHT LIKE SOLDIERS, DIE LIKE CHILDREN follows the journey of the former UNAMIR force commander through Congo, Rwanda, and South Sudan, in his battle to end the use of child soldiers.
Hit And Stay
The amazing story of radical priests, nuns, and everyday people who risked prison and took on the government to end the Vietnam War.
Houdini
A haunting journey into the life of the world’s most celebrated escape artist, Houdini features never-before-seen footage and interviews with Houdini experts to unlock the myths surrounding one of the most compelling personalities of the 21st century.
Into The Wake
A dark existential action film in the tradition of Deliverance and No Country For Old Men, INTO THE WAKE tells the story of a man on the run who is lured to the banks and bluffs of his youth and back into a violent clan war. Shot on the Wisconsin River and in the communities of Spring Green, Mt Horeb, and Sauk City
The Librarian And The Banjo
Tells the story of Dena Epstein, a music librarian, now 96 years old, whose trailblazing scholarship was the first to take on the old myths about the banjo and prove its African-American origins and West African roots.
The Life And Crimes Of Doris Payne
The story of how a poor, single, African-American mother from segregated 1930s America wound up as one of the world’s most notorious and successful jewel thieves.
Maidentrip
14-year-old Laura Dekker sets out—camera in hand—on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to be the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. Laura finds herself far from home, exploring the world in search of freedom, adventure, and distant dreams of her early youth at sea.
The Moo Man
Tells the story of dairy farmer Steve Hook, favorite cow Ida, and his 53 other cows in the English marshland. It’s a heartwarming tearjerker of a film about working a farm in the way we would all to love to see, yet which is so difficult in a world where the supermarkets call all the shots.
Muscle Shoals
Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals, Alabama is the unlikely breeding ground for some of America’s favorite music. In this movie, legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Mick Jagger, Etta James, Alicia Keys, and others discuss the magnetism of Muscle Shoals and why it remains a global influence today.
Northern Light
Set against the backdrop of a town’s annual snowmobile race, NORTHERN LIGHT follows three working families as their lives change profoundly in recession-era America.
Not Yet Begun To Fight
A retired Marine Colonel reaches out to the next generation of traumatically wounded combat veterans, and brings them to the quiet trout streams of Montana.
Of Some Fair Place
Tells the stories of artists and building restorers who transformed the town of Mineral Point, WI after the Great Depression. Mineral Point’s story is a testament to the triumph of creative passion and a love story about what it means to make a place home.
Out Of The Fire
Provides a look into the world of wood firing potters. Along with portraying the camaraderie, techniques, and drama of the firing, the film explores the drive to create and the roles of risk-taking and authenticity in creating the best possible work – and living the most fulfilling life.
Pints & Pins
Beer and Bowling go together. So where is the best place to find this match made in heaven? Wisconsin. In the summer of 2012 four friends traveled all over the state of Wisconsin to find the smallest bowling alleys out there.
The Pledge
When Tory is caught vandalizing a patriotic town statue of a WWI vet, he is ordered to perform community service at a local veteran’s hospital. THE PLEDGE is a family drama that incorporates documentary footage of vets sharing their views of on patriotism, young people, and how the worlds is changing before them.
The Price Of Sand
The current boom in fracking has triggered a ‘gold rush’ for frac sand. Minnesota and Wisconsin have plentiful deposits of frac sand, underneath bluffs and farm fields. THE PRICE OF SAND seeks to find the real price of frac sand, not just in dollars, but in lives, friendships, families and the future of our region.
Running Wild
Conveys the emotional healing that the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary nurtures in Dayton Hyde, the volunteers and each and every horse that now runs free. Beyond telling this intimate story the film also serves as an enduring record of tales from “a West that was and will never be again.”
Tiny
A documentary about home, and how we find it. The film follows one couple’s attempt to build a Tiny House from scratch. Exploring homes stripped down to their essentials, the film raises questions about good design, the nature of home, and the changing American Dream.
Unforgettable
Brad Williams can recall almost any day within his lifetime: where he ate breakfast, whether it had rained, what was on TV that night. In “Unforgettable”, filmmaker Eric Williams follows his brother Brad’s travels as his rare mental gifts vault him from small-town anonymity to sudden mid-life notoriety.
We Cause Scenes
Since their humble beginnings in New York City in 2001, Improv Everywhere has grown from a small gang of jokesters into an internationally recognized collective and a viral video-making machine. WE CAUSE SCENES is the inside story of this groundbreaking group that turned the world into a stage, inventing an art form for the Internet age.
We Will Be Back: The Lake Delhi Story
This is a story about a lake, about a flood, but it is much more than that. This is really a story about a way of life, shared by generations and at risk now unless we all pull together and determine that, no matter what, we will be back.
Wild Bill’s Run
This is the strange but true story of Wild Bill Cooper. Part Arctic adventure and part crime caper, WILD BILL’S RUN is an unforgettable ride with a true American folk hero.
SHORTS
Angorki In Exile
A portrait of artist Angorki Spytec.
Beast. Bike. Beauty.
Lost in the darkness of his own personal depression, our protagonist hits the road on his motorcycle, only to discover more than expected at journey’s end.
The Birdman
With CDs, VHSs and old cassette tapes stacked head high, Rainbow Music is a hoarder’s paradise. However, its quirky owner, known as ‘The Birdman’, knows exactly where everything is. Due to the weak economy, online music sales and pirating and gentrifying neighborhood, this charismatic curmudgeon is struggling to sell what he has in his store. Despite these challenges, The Birdman carries on to his own tune.
Damed
DAMED a comical film noir short….explores love, loyalty, deception, stupidity and lust all in just 7 minutes.
Flo
New York photographer Flo Fox has been documenting the streets of New York City since the 1970s. Now in her 60s and battling a series of health complications, Flo continues to pursue photography and maintain her adventurous, feisty spirit and dirty sense of humor.
Gates Of Lodore
A high water journey through the Lodore Canyon of the Green River, exploring the cultural, geologic, hydraulic, and rafting aspects of the river with an original score.
Haven’t Been Then
The timely tale of a man who is forced to face himself…from the future! But why has he come back to talk to himself? To talk to himself.
Horses Of A Different Color
Few things in life are as certain as love and death. -The 1920′s saw the dawning of an exciting new age. Years earlier Tesla had invented the remote control, the Victrola was bringing the music of big cities to small towns across the heartland and women were taking more control of their own lives. But in the case of one vengeful horse baron and his three daughters, their love affairs are nearly always followed by death.
Inside The Whale
Matt Kish thought it might be fun to draw one image per day for every page of “Moby-Dick,” but the project nearly ate him alive. The Ohio-based artist embarked on an 18-month odyssey to illustrate the Signet Classics edition of Herman Melville’s great American novel, earning him the admiration of scores of Great White Whale fans along the way.
The Ladder
It’s late on a school night and CB has just been invited to his first romantic rendezvous with a girl in his class. Everything is riding on the shoulders of the boy’s ingenuity and gumption as he struggles to carry a ladder through the hazards of the night before reaching young love’s window.
Love You Still
John, an aging fisherman, struggles with memories of his young love, Alice. He longs for her return and lives in regret. One day, a bottle washes ashore. Inside is a note that begs the question: did John lose the love of his life, or did he lose his mind?
The Mercantile
The Mercantile is a glimpse into a young couple’s proprietorship and preservation of an unchanged, century old business enterprise in a modern and ever-changing world.
Mysteries Of The Driftless
A documentary about a team of explorers and scientists kayaking down deeply cut tributary valleys, flying in ultralights, and climbing rocky bluffs to reveal answers to the mysteries within the Driftless area.
Potosi: The Good Ol’ Days Are Back
The story of a small town working to restore some of their former glory and the brewery that made them famous.
Running Blind
The story of EJ Scott, who set out to run 12 marathons in 12 states in 2012 for charity, and he did them all blindfolded! EJ suffers from a hereditary retinal-degenerative disease that causes blindness, and several years ago, EJ was diagnosed as legally blind.
Soul Chamber
The surrealist tale of a father who becomes corrupted as he betrays his daughter. Removing her soul, he places it in a chamber and displays it and her doll-like body for profit throughout the countryside. For the daughter it is a journey of becoming herself and rising above betrayal through forgiveness. Most of the actors are notable musicians from the Milwaukee music scene including Victor from the Violent Femmes, Keith from Die Kreuzen, and Stonie from Psychobunnies.
While It Lasts
A short documentary that features the words and work of Mineral Point artist Jamie Ross.