This film weaves together the personal stories of those directly affected by the largest, most expensive and most brutal immigration raid in the history of the United States.  It presents the human face of immigration, the socioeconomic forces which fuel it, and serves as a cautionary tale against government abuses. (2010) Director:  Luis Argueta Guest Filmmaker Underwritten by NE Iowa...

“Media: Under the Influence”,  a panel discussion at approximately 10:30 AM Saturday, follows the 9 AM screening in Valders 206 of Miss Representation, a film written and directed by actress Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The panel will include special guests Stu Johnston, Luther College Counseling Service and Wendy Mihm-Herold, vice president for Economic Development Services at NICC. Miss Representation exposes how mainstream...

Food insecurity, climate change, and fuel risk are serious threats to communities around the world. In the small town of Wabowden, Northern Manitoba, two school teachers, Eleanor Woitowicz and Bonnie Monias, are empowering their students with the knowledge, discipline and skills to grow their own food sustainably in backyard gardens. And This Is My Garden is an inspirational documentary film...

Buck possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses – and people – with his understanding, compassion and respect. In this film, the animal-human relationship becomes a metaphor for facing the daily challenges of life.
Film Underwritten by Featherlite Trailers

For the past 26 years, 16 expeditions have tried, and failed, to climb one of Pakistan's 8,000 meter peaks in winter. On February 2, 2011, Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards became the first.  “Cold” chronicles their ascent, and the ensuing journey that brings the team to the brink of disaster.
Film Underwritten by Wadsworth Construction

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“Best of Shorts Program” features 10 of the best narrative, experimental and documentary film from this year’s Rural Route festival in New York City. Films include: ANIMA MUNDI by Kate Balsley of Millwaukee, WI HOLLAND, MI by Rebecca Rodriguez of Chicago, IL THE BEES by Rana Ayoub of Lebanon PLOT by George Sander-Jackson of Bristol, U.K. WE ARE NOT WHAT...

The thriving Midwestern family farm is no longer, having been choked by industrialized agriculture and replanted with subdivisions. A shifting economy, combined with an old-fashioned lifestyle that doesn’t translate from generation to generation, is forever altering the landscape.  Carrying one camera and one lens, Frazier walks Iowa’s gravel roads, gets his feet wet in the milking barn, pulls up a stool in the small-town bar. Through...

A dramatic and awe-inspiring feature documentary following three of the world’s greatest ski mountaineers to the Mount St. Elias in their attempt to realize the longest ski descent of the world. Set against the backdrop of Alaska’s dangerous beauty, Mount St. Elias is about a visionary borderline experience where unparalleled physical and mental pressure pushes them to the absolute limit....

Try going a day without plastic. Plastic is everywhere and infiltrates our lives in unimaginable and frighten­ing ways. In this touching and often flat-out-funny film, we follow “everyman” Jeb Berrier, who is admittedly not a tree hugger, as he embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world. What starts as a film about plastic bags...

What are we leaving our children? “Hand Me Downs” asks this question by showing what happens when trash is passed from generation to generation and finally to a baby. It dramatizes what we are doing every day in this country and around the world: Leaving our trash for our children. The message is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Return”. Behind the titles...

Only a few mountain farmers are still leading an archaic life in the Carpathians, far away from roads and the achievements of modern time. The place is called Obcina, well hidden and is reachable only by foot. Family Cut, father, mother and son are living on top of the mountain. The father’s rare skills in butchering are well known in the valley. Their modest...

The development of America’s bountiful heartland and its effect on the legendary Mississippi River are traced in this film. Knitting together federal energy, farm and environment policies against the back drop of the Mississippi River watershed, the film unifies these seemingly discrete entities into a coherent whole, helping viewers to grasp what is a profound truth – that a single...

OFF is currently accepting sponsorship for the 2012 festival.  Contact Kyra Bellrichard, OFF Director, via email: kyra@oneotafilmfestival.org, or by phone at 808 372 5958.

A young journalist questions who and what he can trust. Writer/Director:  Michael Crowe

Take part in a Q & A with director Larkin McPhee following the screening of ‘Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story’ a film about the “unintended consequences” of farming practices on soil loss, water pollution and the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.

BHOPALI documents the experience of second generation children affected by the Union Carbide gas disaster of 1984, the worst industrial disaster in history, and subsequent contamination of groundwater by Union Carbide Corporation (an American company now owned by Dow Chemical, the second largest chemical company in the world). It follows several children as they and their families cope with the...

YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip): 50 States. 1 Year. Zero Garbage? Called to action by a planet in peril, three friends hit the road – traveling with hope, humor, and all of their garbage – to explore every state in America (the good, the bad…and the weird) in search of the extraordinary innovators and citizens who are tackling humanity’s greatest...

A feature documentary about light pollution and the disappearing night sky.  After moving to light-polluted New York City from rural Maine, filmmaker Ian Cheney asks: “Do we need the dark?” Exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawai’i, tracking hatching turtles along the Florida coast, and rescuing injured birds on Chicago streets, Cheney unravels the myriad implications of a globe...

Iconic snowboarder Travis Rice and friends redefine what is possible in the mountains. Experience the highs, as new tricks are landed and new zones opened, alongside the lows, where avalanches, accidents and wrong-turns strike.
Film Underwritten by Decorah Bicycles

Take part in a Q & A with director Luis Argueta following the screening of ‘abUSed: The Postville Raid’ a film where immigration is revealed through the gripping personal stories of the individuals, the families, and the town that survived the most brutal, most expensive, and the largest immigration raid in the history of the United States.

BEIJING TAXI is a timely, uncensored and richly cinematic portrait of China’s ancient capital as it undergoes a profound transformation. The film takes an intimate and compelling look at the lives of three cab drivers as they confront modern issues and changing values against the backdrop of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Through their daily struggles infused with humor and...

A toxic breeze covers the ecological ghetto of an eastern Iowa town on the Mississippi River where residents feel the effects of dangerous levels of air pollution. The residents of Southend, a neighborhood surrounded by several coal and chemical plants, discuss the challenge of living and breathing in the smelly, smoggy and unsafe area. This video was created by Iowa...

After a nasty fight with his girlfriend, Mark is chased by his own fear in a dream. (2011) Director:  Ethan Groothuis  

Like drawing back a curtain to let bright light stream in, Miss Representation uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see. The film exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls,...

Come and see: how people in the Decorah area are demonstrating sustainable decisions and lifestyles through raspberries, windmills, electric lawn mowers, clotheslines, and solar panels. This film was created by Luther student Kristi Holmberg during a summer research project on climate change, capitalism, and Christian discipleship under the supervision of Dr. Jim Martin-Schramm. In Holmberg’s search for a compelling, ethical, and sustainable vision for Christian discipleship, she was able to visit the homes of 13 people, see the way they live, and learn a little about their deepest beliefs, values, and motivations for living the way they do. The voices in this film present climate change as a social justice issue. They challenge Christians to wrestle with questions like, What does it mean to follow Jesus today? while offering hope, not despair, in response to climate change. But regardless of people’s beliefs and values, the film invites all to care—and even fail—as they enter into the messy, yet satisfying path towards sustainable-living. (2011) Filmmaker: Kristi Holmberg

By 2006, thousands of new electric cars were purposely destroyed by the same car companies that built them. Today, less than 5 years later, the electric car is back… with a vengeance. In Revenge of the Electric Car, director Chris Paine takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to...

Made by international award-winning documentary maker David Sington, THE FLAW tells the story of the credit bubble that caused the financial crash. Through interviews with some of the world’s leading economists, including housing expert Robert Shiller, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and economic historian Louis Hyman, as well as Wall Street insiders and victims of the crash including Ed Andrews – a...

THE GREATER GOOD looks behind the fear, hype and politics that have polarized the vaccine debate in America today. The film re-frames the emotionally charged issue and offers, for the first time, the opportunity for a rational and scientific discussion on how to create a safer and more effective vaccine program. (2011)

Many ingredients go into making healthy kids. Two of the most important are good food and physical activity. Most children today don’t get enough of either. The result is an increase in chronic illnesses, including Type II diabetes and childhood obesity. Schools are the public tables, at which many children eat two or even three meals a day. School is...

THE END OF THE LINE is nothing short of the inconvenient truth about the devastating effect of overfishing on the world’s ecosystems.  Filmed across the world – from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market – featuring top scientists, indigenous fishermen and fisheries enforcement officials.  THE END OF THE LINE challenges...

When ordinary people, share a singular passion, the extraordinary emerges. WildWater is a journey into the mind and soul of whitewater, into the places only river runners can go, places of discovery, solitude and risk. It’s a visually stunning feast for the senses, and an expedition into new ideas.
Film Underwritten by Wadsworth Construction

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A panel discussion entitled “Stick It: The Great Vaccine Debate” will be held at approximately 12:30 PM Sunday after the 11 AM screening of The Greater Good . Panelists are Dr. John Storlie, a microbiologist with a specialty in human virology, and Dr. Patricia Storlie. In The Greater Good filmmakers Leslie Manookian, Kendall Nelson and Chris Pilaro give the audience a look...

PLANEAT is the story of three men’s life-long search for a diet, which is good for our health, good for the environment and good for the future of the planet. With an additional cast of pioneering chefs and some of the best cooking you have ever seen, the scientists and doctors in the film present a convincing case for the...

From the makers of King Corn comes Truck Farm, a funny documentary about urban agriculture. Filmmaker Ian Cheney planted his truck farm in Brooklyn in the spring of 2009, after coming to New York City and realizing he did not have any place to grow food. Like his truck, this film is a unique mix of materials: “We wanted the...

The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions: while government and Big Business push for a globalized economy based on high technology and increased trade, people all over the world are working from the grassroots to nurture smaller scale, ecological, local economies. (2011) Filmmakers: Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick & John Page http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/