Set in the mid-1960s, The Featherweight presents a gripping chapter in the true-life story of Italian-American boxer Willie Pep—the winningest fighter of all time—who, down and out in his mid-40s and with his personal life in shambles, decides to make a return to the ring, at which point a documentary camera crew enters his life. Painstakingly researched and constructed, the film is a visceral portrait of the discontents of twentieth-century American masculinity, fame and self-perception.

• Cast: James Madio, Ruby Wolf, Kier Gilchrist, Stephen Lang, Ron Livingston

• Director: Robert Kolodny

• Writer: Steve Loff

TAKE THE FIELD: MICHIGAN MARCHING BAND - David Parrella

RIPPLE - CASTING FOR CHANGE - John Curtis

THE LUMINARIANS: MAKING THE LUMINARY LOPPET - Amber Danger Johnson

I’M WITH THE BAND: THE KNOW OBSTACLES STORY - Allison Doxey

UNSEEN HEROES: CAREGIVERS IN AMERICA - Brianna Johnson & Leah Cerulli

UPON RETURN - Devan Jordan & Emily Sedgwick

OUR DAYS IN DONGSHI - Hsiang-Yu Li

Destined to be remembered as one of the great films about the meaning, texture, and experience of food, this sumptuous, exceptionally well-crafted work, set in late 19th-century France, stars Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel (married, decades ago, in real life) as Eugénie, a cook, and Dodin, the gourmet chef she has been working with for 20 years. As they reach middle age, they can no longer deny their mutual romantic feelings, which have so long been concentrated in their passionate professionalism. This simple narrative—based upon Marcel Rouff’s 1924 novel La passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet—sets the table for a sublime, sense-heightening exploration of pleasure, in which the play of sunlight across a late-afternoon kitchen is as meaningful as the image of a perfectly poached pear or the crisp of a buoyant vol-au-vent. Director Trân Anh Hùng won the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his bravura, scrupulously deployed feat of epicurean cinema.

Directed by Anh Hung Tran.

In French with English subtitles

Rated PG-13

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Between light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. Filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses to fill in their absence.

Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania

In Arabic and French with English subtitles

Sponsored by Mid Michigan College as part of their Global Projects and Studies co-curricular programming for studying the Middle East. 

Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in NY. As time runs out on his work visa, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country. Starring Tilda Swinton, Julio Torres, Isabella Rossellini, RZA, Greta Lee

Directed by Julio Torres.

Rated R

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BEHIND OUR WALLS - Nate Roels

DELIVERING WHILE BLACK - Amanda Nicole Rostic

DISSENT - Chris Boyd

**This film is sponsored by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College Land Grant Office. All SCTC students and Saginaw Chippewa Tribal members will be admitted free of charge.**

COMMON GROUND is the sweeping and uplifting story of the pioneers of the “Regenerative Movement” who are forgoing the toxic seeds and sprays pushed by Big Ag in order to produce tremendous quantities of nutritionally dense food while bringing our entire ecosystem back to life.

By fusing journalistic exposé with deeply personal stories from those on the front lines of the sustainable food movement, COMMON GROUND unveils a dark web of money, power, and politics behind our broken food system. The film reveals how racist practices forged our current farm system in which farmers of all colors are literally dying to feed us.

The film profiles a hopeful and uplifting movement of white, black, and indigenous farmers who are using alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that could balance the climate, save our health, and stabilize America’s economy—before it’s too late.

Directed by Joshua Tickell & Rebecca Harrell Tickell. Appearances by Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder & Donald Glover

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A lyrical, decades-spanning exploration across a woman's life in Mississippi, the feature debut from award-winning poet, photographer and filmmaker Raven Jackson is a haunting and richly layered portrait, a beautiful ode to the generations of people and places that shape us. The New Yorker called it “the directorial debut of the year.”

Directed by Raven Jackson.

Rated PG-13

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**Michigan Premiere**

In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance. But her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself. Shuchi Talati’s debut film offers a sensitive and distinctive take on the fraught dynamics between mothers and daughters.  Fresh off it’s premiere at Sundance, this is GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS first screenings in Michigan.

In English and Hindi with subtitles.

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PLEASE IN SPANISH - Patricia Seely

JAMILA - Julia Freij

RIRI - Douglas Williams

FITTING DESCRIPTIONS - Tiffany Bedwell & John Mossman

AND WHAT IF I AM? - Bryan Powers

TINA - Laura Sweeney

FINAL MEETING - Jim Garrison

REBOUND - Moon Abbott

Two friends embark on an epic standup paddle journey through the Great Lakes and join a fight to shut down the most threatening oil pipeline in the country.

For as long as they can remember, lifelong friends Chris Yahanda and William Wright have spent their summers exploring the lakes and shores of Northern Michigan. Recently however, Chris and William noticed the lakes around them starting to change. And as the tensions build surrounding a particularly threatening oil pipeline, the two are determined to take action. Chris and William embark on an audacious 425 mile standup paddle journey down the coast of Lake Michigan to raise awareness and help protect their favorite place in the world.

Directed by Davis Huber.

Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.

PERFECT DAYS was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and for the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Directed by Wim Wenders. Starring Kôji Yakusho (Named Best Actor at Cannes)

In Japanese with English subtitles

Rated PG

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SAMHAIN - Alexis Schuknecht

STILL SCATTERED - Dominic Burgess & Jeff Lorch

HELL WEEK - Kassy Mahea

DEMO REEL - Chris Diamond

MORENDO - Kyle Cyr

FREQUENCIES - Justin Nixon

BANANA TRIANGLE SIX - Marc E Crandall