JONAH is bringing its film festival back for the second year in a row thanks to partnerships with: the UW Social Work Department, Trinity Lutheran, HMAA, Unity Center, and Hope Methodist. Last year, we shared documentary films, many WI-based, that provided a deeper education on the issues we work on. This year our theme is Community and the films, mostly WI-made, are about people in our communities, social practices that harm our sense of community, and other practices that can create community. With multiple locations, days, times, and local experts leading discussions, it will be a fulfilling and exciting time! Everything is free, and we hope you’ll invite a friend!
For those of you who live too far away, the Friday 1pm-4pm short films portion will be hybrid! This opportunity to attend virtually or in-person is another example of all the creative ways we can build community. If you’d like to attend the short films portion virtually, please email [email protected]
Questions on the film festival? Contact our Organizer at [email protected] or 715-497-8732.
Thursday, April 3, 2025
Location: UWEC – Hibbard 100
8:30AM February by Nathan Deming
Film Topic: Rural Immigration
Description: “Miguel (David Duran) is a recent immigrant to a small Wisconsin town and struggling to fit in. His sister (Nayeli Hernandez) is worried about him, her husband (Erick Inestroza) less so – until a strange man (Ritchie Gordon) offers to take Miguel ice fishing.”
10:30AM When Rubber Hit the Road by B.J. Hollars and Steve Dayton
Film Topic: Economic Justice
Description: “When Rubber Hits the Road is more than a story about tires. It’s the story of a Midwestern city’s attempt to reinvent itself in the wake of America’s manufacturing decline. It’s a blueprint, too, for how a community can bounce back—when people commit themselves to embracing change.”
Location: HOPE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH – 2233 Golf Rd
1:00PM Series of short films: Zoom and in-person!
If you’d like to attend the short films portion virtually, please email [email protected] for the Zoom link.
- Las Chicas y Chicos de Blossom Street on PBS Wisconsin, by Steven Dorchester & Araceli Esparza
- Description: “The animated short titled Las Chicas y Chicos de Blossom Street, brings to life the work of Madison poet Araceli Esparza. The animation provides a snapshot of a day in the life in a Latino neighborhood in Wisconsin. It explores community, family and what it means to be a neighbor.”
- Breaking Silence on PBS Wisconsin, by Amy Bench and Annie Silverstein
- Description: “”Breaking Silence” explores the relationship between a deaf father and his hearing daughter, reflecting on how imprisonment has shaped their relationship and their advocacy.”
- Everything Wrong and Nowhere to Go on PBS Wisconsin, by Sindha Agha
- Description: Exploring the field of “climate psychology,” Everything Wrong and Nowhere to Go is a candid and comedic self-portrait in which the filmmaker turns the camera on herself and goes in search of a cure for her crippling climate anxiety. This personal documentary asks how we can find a space of emotional balance, where we can stay attentive to the climate crisis without becoming debilitated by it.
- Walk About Talk About by SoulShine Creative Studios
- Description: Based out of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, each episode follows Genevieve as she experiences another wonderful part of our Chippewa Valley community. The show centers around interviews with people she meets. The questions are heart-felt, positively oriented, and occasionally mind-blowing.
- Black Space by VOA Connect
- Description: In this special edition of VOA Connect, we enter Black Space; a group therapy experience for underserved communities. We join a group of Black and Brown men discussing issues particular to their lives, and help destigmatize efforts to maintain mental health.
4:00PM Bad Faith by Stephen Ujlaki and Christopher Jacob Jones
Film Topic: Christian Nationalism
Description: “[Bad Faith] Exposes how Christian Nationalism has become the most powerful anti-democratic force in America. Leaders join forces to defend our country from this march to fascism, but American citizens seem unaware of the threat.”
6:30PM Bad River by Mary Mazzio
Film Topic: Environment & Indigenous Rights
Description: “BAD RIVER, narrated by Quannah ChasingHorse and Academy-Award nominee, Edward Norton; written and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio; and produced by Grant Hill (Owner of the Atlanta Hawks) and Allison Abner (writer for Narcos, West Wing and descendant of the Stockbridge Munsee Band), is a new documentary film which chronicles the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and its ongoing fight for sovereignty, a story which unfolds in a groundbreaking way through a series of shocking revelations, devastating losses, and a powerful legacy of defiance and resilience, which includes a David vs. Goliath battle to save Lake Superior, the largest freshwater resource in America. As Eldred Corbine, a Bad River Tribal Elder declares: “We gotta protect it… die for it, if we have to.””
Friday, April 4, 2025
Location: L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library – Riverview Room
9:30AM The Power of Us on PBS Wisconsin
Film Topic: Environment
Description: “82-year-old retired Chicagoland engineer Jim Goodman and his wife Annie are alarmed about the ever more severe climate change crisis, and know their generation has failed to adequately address it. With the environmental clock ticking, the Goodmans enlist the aid of some equally concerned young people to unleash their creativity and usher in a new generation of climate change problem-solvers. The Power of Us underscores the urgency of the climate crisis and shows the power of an intergenerational, collaborative movement to fight climate change, with youth leading the charge into the future.”
12:00PM The Hidden Homeless by PBS Wisconsin
Film Topic: WI Teen Homelessness
Description: “Experience the downturns, triumphs, successes and failures of homeless teens in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula. These “average” teens are coping with extraordinary circumstances, living in plain sight, yet out of the view of most in their communities. Follow their attempts, during their senior year of high school to get a warm bed, food, health care, an education, and a simple shower.”
3:30PM Being Hmong Means Being Free by PBS Wisconsin
Film Topic: Hmong Community
Description: “Being Hmong Means Being Free highlights the history, culture and identity of the Hmong immigrants who have settled in the United States between 1975 and the early 1990s. The documentary looks at Hmong life in this country as seen through the eyes of the program host, seventeen year-old Lia Vang.”
Location: UNITY OF EAU CLAIRE – 1808 Folsom St
6:30PM Dialogue Lab: America by Brian Lawes & Jonathan Pickett
Film Topic: Having difficult conversations
Description: “Twelve Americans from across the political spectrum engage in a social experiment to test whether constructive dialogue is possible in today’s polarized culture, and if so, how dialogue might be the first step in healing our nation.”
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Location: TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH – 1314 E Lexington Blvd
10:00AM Screenagers by Delaney Ruston
Film Topic: Digital Media
Description: “Through poignant and unexpectedly humorous stories, paired with surprising insights from leading experts, Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age reveals how screens are shaping kids’ development. Most importantly, it offers actionable solutions to help adults empower kids to navigate the digital age and find balance.”
1:00PM Wisconsin Pride: Part One by PBS Wisconsin
3:00PM Wisconsin Pride: Part Two by PBS Wisconsin
Film Topic: WI LGBTQ+ History
Description: “Wisconsin has a long, but hidden, LGBTQ+ history full of trailblazers who – when faced with intolerance – responded by creating community, living authentically, and having pride in themselves. The LGBTQ+ community’s contributions from art to athletics, brave military service abroad and fearless resistance to bigotry come to light in this two-part documentary.”