The Film
This 34-minute documentary film was a personal labor of love. Developed in my off-time at a Boulder agency, I used an initial concept and treatment to relaunch my filmmaking endeavors. The work persisted for more than two years on weeknights and weekends. It included dozens of trips back to the Midwest, where I organized local crews of cinematographers and sound technicians to follow a fourth-generation dairy farmer as he struggled to mine creative ways to keep his small dairy operation running.
Through his eyes, we explored life in a typical, small Wisconsin farming town and showcased the importance of a farm like his on several small businesses that all rely on each other. More than 90% of Wisconsin dairy farms are family-owned, and his story is essentially the lifeblood of the state's identity -- milk and cheese.
I wanted to prove to myself that it is possible to chase a dream and create art on my own time, with personal investment and hard work, while still pursuing a day job. I also wanted to give something back to the state of Wisconsin by sharing a timely and essential contemporary story that impacts everyone living there.
The outcome:
Today, the film is making rounds across the Midwest at film festivals. It premiered at the Beloit International Film Festival, where it won an Executive Director's Award for local impact and played to a huge audience at the annual Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison. It played at the Eau Claire International Film Festival, the Weyaweuga International Film Festival in November, and the Oneota Film Festival (Decorah, Iowa) in March. To date, it has won Best Short Documentary at four film festivals and other awards and semi-finalists at others.