This screening is part of Middlebury New Filmmakers’ Winter Tour. The Burlington screening is organized and hosted by VTIFF. 

The screening will be followed by Q&A with Director/Producer Beth Levison

Walk-up sales only if space allows.

Dark clouds hang over the cornfields of Storm Lake, Iowa, which has seen its fair share of change in the 40 years since Big Agriculture came to town. Farmers blow their life savings on new equipment they hope will keep their livelihoods intact. Migrant workers flock here—welcome and not—for their slice of the American Dream. The people of Storm Lake confront a changing community as global forces threaten their precarious existence. Enter 63-year-old Pulitzer-prize winner Art Cullen and his family-run newspaper, The Storm Lake Times. Day-in and day- out, the Cullens deliver local news and biting editorials on a shoestring budget for their 3,000 readers. Come hell or pandemic, they’ll fight to preserve this town they call home. There’s simply too much at stake.

JERRY RISIUS | DIRECTOR + DP With over 25 years experience as DP on such projects as The Kingmaker (Toronto Int’l Film Festival 2019), Generation Wealth (Sundance 2018), Seeing Allred (Sundance 2018/Netflix), Brave New Voices (HBO 2009), The Devil Came on Horseback (Sundance 2007), and more recently, as a Field Producer/DP on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Parts Unknown series, Brooklyn- based Jerry Risius grew up on a hog farm about an hour from Storm Lake and brings a depth of filmmaking experience along with a local perspective that very few can.

BETH LEVISON | DIRECTOR + PRODUCER Beth Levison is an Emmy and Peabody-winning producer/director based in NYC. Her most recent producing efforts include Women in Blue (Tribeca Film Festival 2020/Independent Lens) and Emmy- nominated Made in Boise (AFI DOCS 2019/Independent Lens). Previous producing credits include 32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide (HBO 2017), Emmy-nominated Personal Statement (PBS 2018), and her independent directorial/producing debut, Lemon (PBS 2011). Beth is the founder of Hazel Pictures, a co-founder of the Documentary Producers Alliance (DPA), producing faculty with the School of Visual Arts (SVA), and a member of AMPAS.

Note: The theater will have a reduced capacity, so we recommend you book your tickets in advance.