An intimate, arresting portrait of the cursed Appalachian mining town of Ivanhoe, Virginia. The film captures the town as it prepares for the annual Jubilee, a wild 4th of July celebration where families and neighbors let loose and triumph over daily hardships, industrial abandonment, and race.
As their population dwindles, their businesses are all about gone, this town in rural Monterey, Indiana fights to stay alive. An in-depth look into small town life, “Welcome to Monterey” follows a town’s journey to their 20th annual Labor Day Festival, capturing the people’s passions and doubt about whether this town has a future in today’s world.
Welcome to Monterey
2020
0
The stranger-than-fiction story of a French film producer and her mafioso-turned-actor husband who attempt to turn a tiny town into the “Sundance of the East.”
Narrowsburg
2019
6
During World War I, African-Americans worked on the railroad near Corbin, Kentucky. When whites returned from the war, there was conflict. Whites sought their former jobs and positions in the community. In 1919, a race riot occurred. Whites put the African-Americans on railroad cars and ran them out of town. In Trouble Behind, members of the Corbin community speak out on the issue. The filmmakers also interview former members of the Corbin, which at the time of filming had only one black family. Some Corbin residents express confusion as to why African-Americans don't move back. Others openly use racial epithets. Some young adults seem troubled by the racism, past and present. Others don't.
Trouble Behind
1991
0
A documentary pilgrimage to the annual James Dean Festival in Fairmount, IN as seen through the eyes of the cultural icon's die-hard fans, affectionately known as 'Deaners'.
Deaners
2016
0
Paying tribute to some of America's only surviving drive-ins – and those who keep them running – this heartfelt documentary captures efforts to preserve these nostalgic theaters in small-towns across the country.
Sous les étoiles : road trip au pays du Drive-in
2022
5
RUNNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS digs into West Virginia's history of 'patriotic sacrifice,' unearthing veins of dark money and dirty politics. The film tracks grassroots candidates and ordinary citizens' attempts to save their land, water, homes, and communities - calling out the pro-extraction politicians enabling destruction, including Senator Joe Manchin and his likely replacement, coal baron Governor Jim Justice. Appalachia is the proverbial canary in a coal mine; pay attention or pay the price.
Running for the Mountains
2024
6
As the solar eclipse of 2024 races towards Houlton, Maine - a township of approximately 6,000 people - they must find a way to host 40,000 stargazing strangers the only way they know how: with open arms and open hearts.
A Moment in the Sun
2025
0
Examines the intergenerational impact of addiction by chronicling the love, labor, loss, and uncertainty of one woman’s struggle to live a life of sobriety. Weaving together moments of glee, fulfillment, acceptance, sorrow, and disappointment, this documentary takes an intimate look at the bonds that hold one family together and a disease that threatens to tear them apart.
Picture Proof
2023
0
This documentary film follows farmers and activists fighting together to stop the Indiana Enterprise Center, a mega-sized industrial park planned west of South Bend, Indiana
Prime Farmland
2020
0
Ernestina is a small town of 150 people whose peculiar inhabitants are deeply concerned by the acts of vandalism perpetrated by the people who go bathe in the river. They decide to hire private security. What is really going on in Ernestina? A suspenseful, humorous and endearing documentary about the dynamics of these small-town people.
La gente del río
2013
5
Borowitschi
1997
7
Documentary profiling an Appalachian farming family struggling to scrape out a living. Linking education and economic development, The Children Must Learn suggests that better schooling, especially in agricultural techniques, would bring improvement.
The Children Must Learn
1940
0
Mark and Dan Jury document the gradual demise of a community nestled within the Cuyahoga National Recreation Area between Akron and Cleveland, Ohio, as the National Park Service works to acquire the land of ~500 residents in order to establish a National Park. After initially being told only a handful of houses would be taken, residents are shocked by hundreds of homes and businesses being bought up, boarded up, and posted No Trespassing - and by the homes of the politically connected being spared. Significant portions of this film appeared in the PBS FRONTLINE episode For the Good of All.
For All People, For All Time
1984
0
The cultural roots of coal continue to permeate the rituals of daily life in Appalachia even as its economic power wanes. The journey of a coal miner’s daughter exploring the region’s dreams and myths, untangling the pain and beauty, as her community sits on the brink of massive change.
King Coal
2023
7
Early Errol Morris documentary intersplices random chatter he captured on film of the genuinely eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida. A few examples? The preacher giving a sermon on the definition of the word "Therefore," and the obsessive turkey hunter who speaks reverentially of the "gobblers" he likes to track down and kill.
Vernon, Florida
1981
6
Photographer Mike Lassiter journeys across South Carolina capturing the stories of historic, often family-run businesses that line main streets from the coast to the upstate.
Our Vanishing Americana: A South Carolina Portrait
2022
0
After eighteen years of operating the favourite lunch counter in Manitoba's Interlake region, Ellen and Martin Kihn have retired. A poignant look at the last day, The Kihns, their friends and their customers, demanding rural life and the place the disappearing institution of the country cafe plays in these people's lives. A tribute to the cafes found in small towns.
Havakeen Lunch
1979
0
The meaty saga of Burger Baron, a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following, run by a loose network of fiercely independent Arab Canadian immigrants.
The Last Baron
2021
10
Bandera, Texas (THE COWBOY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD) is a captivating documentary that explores the vibrant history, unique culture, and enduring values of the small town of Bandera, Texas.
The Cowboy Capital
2024
10
Part cartoon and part documentary, this film offers a humorous look at birds and the ways people perceive them.
It's Tough to Be a Bird
1969
6