Documentaries

FILM GUIDE

F: Family Suitable for all ages M: Mature Contains mature themes & strong language

SPONSORED BY BETH GILBREATH

A DECENT HOME Iowa Premiere 86 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: SARA TERRY / CAST: CANDI EVANA, LUZ GALICIA When housing on the lowest rung of the American dream is being devoured by the wealthiest of the wealthy, whose dream are we serving? A DECENT HOME addresses urgent issues of class and economic (im)mobility through the lives of mobile home park residents who can’t afford housing anywhere else. They are fighting for their homes—and their communities—as private equity firms and wealthy investors buy up parks, making sky-high returns on their investments while squeezing every last penny out of the mobile home owners who must pay rent for the land they live on.

SPONSORED BY BETH GILBREATH BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINEE

AGAINST ALL ODDS: SURVIVING THE HOLOCAUST Iowa Premiere 80 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: PAUL STUART BACHOW CAST: GERALD BIEGEL, RYSZARDA ROZENBERG, WALTER LEBENSOHN Incredible stories of bravery and luck outside the concentration camps. Jews were hunted like animals. Discovery almost always meant death. This film showcases and memorializes four amazing survivor stories.

SPONSORED BY TIM AND MARY ALTHAUS - FAMILY BEER & LIQUOR BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINEE

THE AUTOMAT Iowa Premiere 79 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: LISA HURWITZ / CAST: RUTH BADER GINSBURG MEL BROOKS, HOWARD SCHULTZ, CARL REINTER, WILSON GOODE, ELLIOTT GOULD Featuring an original new song written and performed by Mel Brooks, THE AUTOMAT Premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival. It tells the 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, the inspiration for Starbucks, where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. From the perspective of such former customers as Brooks, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Horns, the Hardarts and key employees, we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever-changed America.

CAT DADDIES Iowa Premiere 89 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: MYE HOANG / CAST: NATHAN KEHN, DAVID GIOVANNI, JEFF JUDKINS David Giovanni is living on the streets, determined to stay with his beloved cat, Lucky. When he’s finally granted a spot in a transitional housing facility that accepts cats, the pandemic and a devastating medical diagnosis puts his future with Lucky in doubt. David’s journey is interspersed with portraits of other “cat dads.” They include firefighters, a stuntman, a truck driver, a tech worker, and a schoolteacher whose cat becomes a viral sensation. These men couldn’t be more different, but they share an unconditional love of their cats. CAT DADDIES is a refreshing exploration of modern masculinity and the unlikely bond between man and cat.

THE COLLAPSE - THE TRUE STORY OF THE QUEEN ISABELLA CAUSEWAY COLLAPSE 60 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: JOSHUA MOROLES, ROBERT ESPERICUETA CAST: ROBERT ESPERICUETA, GUSTAVO MORALES, GAIGE DAVILA TRUE STORY: Four fishermen save the only three survivors after a tow boat pushing four fullyloaded barges hits a pillar of the Queen Isabella Causeway, causing the most tragic accident on South Padre Island and Port Isabel, ultimately claiming the lives of eight people.

THE COLLINS STORY - CONNECTING THE MOON TO THE EARTH: STEPS TO THE MOON 72 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: BY COMMITTEE / CAST: STEVEN JAMES, NARRATOR Before personal computers, before the Internet provided us global communication, before GPS guided our journeys … Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts talked to Earth, navigated in space and to the moon and back and exchanged critical data with Mission Control. How was this accomplished five decades ago? By the ingenuity of a company in the Heartland: The Collins Radio Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hear the story of the people who designed the communication systems that played crucial roles in America’s race to be first to land a man on the moon. This first chapter of the three-part series tells the story of young Arthur Collins and how he grew his company into a significant contributor to the American space program. 33

GA: General Audience Suitable for most audiences. May contain adult situations/language

SPONSORED BY BOB & BETH WOODWARD

DELIVERING HOPE Iowa Premiere 89 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: JORDAN ORSAK / CAST: KEVIN KLINE, TRISH KLINE, SANY CAMPBELL, J.L. CAMPBELL, BRIAN ANDERSON, SCOTT TYNER, JEFF KING, DAVE SMITH, MARCEL MELANSON, REESE REISSIG, JORDAN ORSAK DELIVERING HOPE documents the story of people coming together for something bigger than themselves. On November 16, 2019, eight days before his 50th birthday, ultra-runner Kevin Kline set out to become the first person in history to run the northernmost 300 miles of Alaska’s Dalton Highway, in winter, to raise awareness for children battling cancer. Traversing the world’s 10th most-dangerous road, Kline and his crew face minus-40F temperatures, a road caked in ice, and near-total darkness to run at virtual top of the world. When Kline’s body shuts down after 200 miles, the crew is faced with a life-changing dilemma.

SPONSORED BY WAGNER ACCOUNTING & TAX SERVICE

DREAMER Iowa Premiere 59 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: NICK NANTON CAST: DEAN KAMEN, ANOUSHEH ANSARI, PETER DIAMANDIS They were told to get their heads out of the clouds, but they didn’t listen. These inspiring people and innovative entrepreneurs never gave up on their dreams—despite obstacles and setbacks and the world telling them, “It can’t be done.” These men and women never stopped dreaming. Now they are changing the world.

FAILURE TO PROTECT Iowa Premiere 98 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: JEREMY PION-BERLIN CAST: MELINDA MURPHY, ROBERT POWELL, VINCENT DAVIS Failed by a system that unfairly tears apart low-income, marginalized families, five parents—Anna, Rheta, Trish, Ernst and Rosa—fight to reunify with their children. But what does it take to get your children back after they’ve been taken by Child Protective Services? FAILURE TO PROTECT is an in-depth look at the child-welfare system through the forgotten lens of parents, further contextualized by experts in the field to unpack a pressing socioeconomic issue that affects hundreds of thousands of families every day.

F: Family Suitable for all ages M: Mature Contains mature themes & strong language

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CONSULATE GENERAL OF CANADA

THE FIRE CATS World Premiere 80 MIN / USA, CANADA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: KATHARINE PARSONS / CAST: PHILLIP CRAIG In 2017, after a firestorm ripped through Santa Rosa, rescuers like officer Shannon Jay devoted themselves to rescuing the hundreds of cats who survived the impossible and returning them to the families who had lost everything. But a year later, when the monstrous Camp fire wiped out Paradise, Calif., an antagonist appeared in the aftermath and tried to stop them.

SPONSORED BY TOM AND ANNE BENDA

FRANK MILLER AMERICAN GENIUS Iowa Premiere 109 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: SILENN THOMAS / CAST: FRANK MILLER FRANK MILLER: AMERICAN GENIUS follows the near half-century career of the legendary comic book writer/artist Frank Miller, through his small-town beginnings in Vermont all the way to New York City, Hollywood and beyond. This film delves into Miller’s lasting and impactful influence on art, storytelling, culture and politics. A truly epic journey of an American artist, from his failures and self-destruction through self-discoveries, fame and success. A journey that truly mirrors the depths of the human condition.

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CONSULATE GENERAL OF CANADA SPONSORED BY SUSAN AND ED RITTS

FROM EARTH TO SKY Iowa Premiere 83 MIN / CANADA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: RON CHAPMAN CAST: DOUGLAS CARDINAL, ALFRED WAUGH, PATRICK STEWART FROM EARTH TO SKY explores the work of seven unique and accomplished Indigenous architects as they design and complete extraordinary “buildings” in cities and communities across North America and Turtle Island. Beautiful and intimate, the film sparks a vital conversation paramount to transforming perspectives on how we approach our built environment.

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East Dubuque, IL 815-747-6335 FamilyBeer.com

GA: General Audience Suitable for most audiences. May contain adult situations/language

HERE. IS. BETTER. Iowa Premiere 95 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: JACK YOUNGELSON CAST: JASON KANDER, KATHLEEN CHARD, PH.D A soldier’s story is always personal, but never more than in HERE. IS. BETTER., a documentary film with unprecedented access inside trauma therapy sessions delivering hope to veterans battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Individuals featured in the film include former presidential hopeful Jason Kander, who shocked many when he left the Kansas City mayoral race in 2018 to seek treatment; a Vietnam War Veteran still haunted by events that occurred over 50 years earlier; and the voices of so-often-overlooked female veterans, all seeking the keys to unlock their places of hurt and pain.

SPONSORED BY BOB & BETH WOODWARD

I’LL STAND BY YOU USA Premiere 72 MIN / LITHUANIA / LITHUANIAN / SUBTITLES / DIRECTOR: VIRGINIJA VAREIKYTE, MAXIMILIEN DEJOIE / CAST: VALIJA SAP, GINTARE MESKIENE Two women—a psychologist and a police officer—engage in the challenging mission to reduce the record suicide numbers in their rural hometown. Valija and Gintare provide door-to-door empathy and compassion, healing the loneliest members of their community. As fear of losing another life reaches its peak, the women form a resourceful friendship. Together, they succeed to ease the crisis and prove that suicide prevention can be effective. Sensitive in its approach, I’LL STAND BY YOU conveys inspiration from a reality that is much more common than it seems.

JOE238 Iowa Premiere DRAMA / 59 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: COLLEEN STYMEIST-WOOD CAST: JESS CHAIREZ, REBECCA CISNEROS A grieving father must set aside his own beliefs to honor his son Joe’s last wish to be an organ donor. As time goes by, he finds a calling and new “normal” in the reflection of Joe’s legacy of service to others. Through multiple stories of grief and recovery, we see what happens when true heroes die and find out they never really do.

JUST US 50 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: CEDRIC B. THEUS, MAYA BEN-SHAHAR This film shares touching stories of former prisoners’ successful re-entry. It is directed and narrated by current prisoner Ced Theus, who has been incarcerated in Iowa for 25 years. From his cell, Ced profiles a network of individuals who are carving out alternative systems of justice and rehabilitation. He focuses on two men he knew in prison who have successfully reintegrated into society and are making positive changes in their communities. As a rare grassroots production, JUST US reflects the inside knowledge needed to create meaningful change—including from individuals who have done time for serious crimes.

LEFTOVER FEELINGS: A STUDIO B REVIVAL Iowa Premiere 73 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: TED ROACH, LAGAN SEBERT CAST: JOHN HIATT, JERRY DOUGLAS, DOLLY PARTON Nashville music legends John Hiatt and Jerry Douglas team up to record their album “Leftover Feelings” in Elvis’ favorite studio, RCA’s fabled Studio B. Walking in the footsteps of Elvis, Dolly and Waylon in the house that Chet Atkins built, Hiatt and Douglas revive the magical sounds of this historic room, chasing a legacy album in a sacred space where so many early hits were recorded. Along the journey, collaborators Lyle Lovett, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and others offer their reflections on these two godfathers of Americana and their memories of Music City’s iconic Studio B.

LUMINOUS World Premiere 95 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: SAM SMARTT LUMINOUS tells the story of the first astronomer in history to publicly predict the near-future explosion of a star. Will he be right? Others in the astronomical community are skeptical, and professional reputations hang in the balance. In production since 2014, LUMINOUS follows Larry Molnar’s five-year journey to test his unprecedented prediction, knowing that success or failure will unfold squarely in the international spotlight.

F: Family Suitable for all ages M: Mature Contains mature themes & strong language

OLEG Iowa Premiere 97 MIN / USA / DANISH, ENGLISH, RUSSIAN, SERBIAN / SUBTITLES DIRECTOR: NADIA TASS / CAST: COSTA RONIN, BRIAN, COX Based on his soon-to-be-published autobiography, OLEG tells the incredible story of Oleg Vidov. Born in Communist Russia, Vidov by the age of 25 had become one of the Soviet Union’s most celebrated actors. However, no amount of fame could save him from the political system that tried to control his life. He married into General Secretary Brezhnev’s inner circle, only to wind up blacklisted, threatened with death and forced to defect to the West. Reinventing himself in Hollywood, his efforts to counter anti-Russian stereotypes were attacked by the same forces that ruined his career decades earlier.

SPONSORED BY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER DUBUQUE

ONE PINT AT A TIME Iowa Premiere 89 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: AARON HOSÉ CAST: ALISA BOWENS-MERCADO, HUSTON LETT, JON RENTHROPE Craft beer generates tens of billions of dollars annually for the U.S. economy. Despite beer’s Egyptian and African heritage, these traditions have been mostly forgotten and are rarely found in American brewing culture. Today, Black-owned breweries make up less than 1% of the nearly 9,000 breweries. Eager to shift the historical perception of who makes and drinks beer, Black brewers, brand owners and influencers across the country are reshaping the craft-beer industry and the future of America’s favorite adult beverage.

SPONSORED BY PREMIER BANK BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINEE

ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN Iowa Premiere 90 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / SUBTITLES / DIRECTOR: BARBARA BENTREE CAST: KEVIN BOX, JENNIFER BOX, ROBERT J. LANG Artist Kevin Box says, “I want to have a conversation with people now and hundreds of years into the future.” ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN documents the rise of Kevin’s career through his unique approach to creating origami metal sculptures. This film is also a love story and a fascinating spiritual transformation that will inspire anyone who appreciates art and the tremendous leaps of faith that are necessary to be successful. Over 2 million people have visited Kevin and Jennifer Box’s exhibition, “Origami in the Garde.” It’s amazing what Kevin can do starting with just a simple piece of paper!

RAISED UP WEST SIDE Iowa Premiere 87 MIN / USA / ENGLISH / DIRECTOR: BRETT A. SCHWARTZ CAST: DARIUS D. JONES, REYNALDO D. ENGRAM, LIZ ABUNAW Chicago’s West Side epitomizes the violent, struggling city we see daily in the media. RAISED UP WEST SIDE peels back the layers, exposing the deep-seated segregation, food insecurity and mass incarceration that continue to shape these predominantly Black neighborhoods. Following the harrowing, yet frequently inspiring plight of ex-offenders, social activists and entrepreneurs working on the West Side, we witness the fierce tenacity required to change the narrative—and change lives.

SOLDAT AHMET Iowa Premiere 76 MIN / AUSTRIA / GERMAN, TURKISH / SUBTITLES / DIRECTOR: JANNIS LENZ CAST: AHMET SIMSEK, MARGOT VUGA, ANDREAS SIMMAR Ahmet is the son of Turkish immigrants, a tough boxer and a dutiful soldier “serving the people of Austria.” But the more he strives to fulfill the expectations of each role, the stronger his desire grows to break out of the stereotypes cast upon him.