2023 : FFAnthem

Wednesday 11:00am

Length: 30 minutes

ANTHEM GRAND OPENING!

Join us for the grand opening of the Anthem Film Festival!

Wednesday 11:30am

Director: Paul Sanderson Length: 39 minutes

Director: Paul Sanderson

Length: 39 minutes

COOLIDGE: REDISCOVERING AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT

Coolidge stands as perhaps America’s most misunderstood and unjustly neglected president. A landmark new documentary film changes that, revealing a leader who offers urgent lessons for our age of inflation, exploding debt, and partisan rancor.

Wednesday 12:15pm

Length: 40 minutes

PANEL “How America Changed in the Twentieth Century”

Steve Forbes, Amity Shlaes, Douglas Brinkley, Joseph K. Kast

Wednesday 1:10pm

Director: Chase Kinney Length: 42 minutes

Director: Chase Kinney

Length: 42 minutes

TRUST US

TRUST US traces the rise of American technocracy and governance by un-elected bureaucratic experts. These experts were convinced they could engineer solutions to all of our nation’s problems, but they caused irreversible damage to the country instead. This is a true story of bureaucratic arrogance gone wild.

Wednesday 2:00pm

Length: 35 minutes

PANEL “Based on a True Story: The Challenge of Making Films about Real People”

David Henderson, Matt Battaglia, Timothy Blackwood; Sean Malone (mod.)

Wednesday 2:30pm

Director: Jonathan Cullinane Length: 85 minutes

Director: Jonathan Cullinane

Length: 85 minutes

WE’RE HERE TO HELP

This comedy-drama is based on the bestselling account of Dave Henderson's titanic, chilling, absurd - and ultimately successful - battle with that most bureaucratic of bureaucracies, the tax department. Pre-screening panel and Q&A with Dave Henderson.

Wednesday 8:00pm

Director: Meg Smaker Length: 108 minutes

Director: Meg Smaker

Length: 108 minutes

THE UNREDACTED

OPENING NIGHT! A group of men trained by al-Qaeda are transferred from Guantanamo to the world’s first rehabilitation center for “terrorists” located in Saudi Arabia. Filmed over three years, with unprecedented access, this film is a complex and nuanced exploration of the men we have heard so much about but never heard from.

Thursday 8:45am

Director: John McDonald, Nina Schwanse Length: 90 minutes

Director: John McDonald, Nina Schwanse

Length: 90 minutes

CALL ME MULE

A man traveling with three mules fights to maintain his nomadic lifestyle in the American West. His confrontations with law enforcement have resulted in fines, arrests, even institutionalization. His story celebrates the creativity, courage and resilience to choose an extraordinary way of life and defend his place in the world. (Sneak peek, not in competition.)

Thursday 10:30am

Director: Timothy Blackwood Length: 21 minutes

Director: Timothy Blackwood

Length: 21 minutes

INFRACTION

Based on the true story of Terrance Lewis, who was wrongfully convicted of second-degree murder, armed robbery, and criminal conspiracy.

Thursday 11:00am

Length: 50 minutes

PANEL “The Tragedy of Wrongful Convictions”

Jon-Adrian Velasquez, Timothy Blackwood; Jo Ann Skousen, mod.

Thursday 12:18pm

Director: Greg Burke Length: 5 minutes

Director: Greg Burke

Length: 5 minutes

BABY FORMULA DRUG DEAL

In the midst of a government-caused baby formula shortage, this mother must go to any length to feed her baby.

Thursday 12:25pm

Director: Patrick Reasonover Length: 20 minutes

Director: Patrick Reasonover

Length: 20 minutes

AN ALIEN PROPOSAL

Sass is an idealistic young Alien on a family vacation traveling the galaxy, when her family comes across Earth. This planet has been deemed a "doofus civilization" because a privileged few use coercion and centralized power structures to control the many. Comedy-- and some learning--ensues.

Thursday 12:45pm

Length: 15 minutes

PANEL “Engaging the Art of Satire”

Paul Guay, Lou Perez, Patrick Reasonover (mod)

Thursday 1:05pm

Director: Paul Guay Length: 12 minutes

Director: Paul Guay

Length: 12 minutes

THE VAMPYRE

Dark Comedy. Van Helsing encounters four worshippers with slight memory defects and one very persistent monster.

Thursday 1:10pm

Length: 25 minutes

PANEL “Not Your Father’s Saturday Cartoons: Reinventing Animation”

Matt Battaglia, Jonny Vance, Patrick Reasonover; Sean Malone (mod)

Thursday 1:35pm

Director: Matt Battaglia Length: 17 minutes

Director: Matt Battaglia

Length: 17 minutes

HOUSE ON FIRE

“Is she sick, or is the world itself sick?" HOUSE ON FIRE, the debut graphic novel by writer/artist Matt Battaglia, teases out the difference in a personal-political cruise through a fallen world, where fear is rational and obedience your only refuge.

Thursday 2:10pm

Director: Josh Oldham Length: 15 minutes

Director: Josh Oldham

Length: 15 minutes

FORTUNE IN THE BOOK

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is free to attend, but students must pass a rigorous exam. What happened when the school board replaced the exam with a new admissions process that promoted “equity” rather than race-blind admissions?

Thursday 2:25pm

Length: 35 minutes

PANEL “Getting In: The School Choice Dilemma”

Kerry MacDonald, Corey DeAngelis, Adam Coleman,Joseph K. Kast; Jaclyn Boudreau, mod.

Thursday 3:10pm

Director: Alireza Kazemipour Length: 14 minutes

Director: Alireza Kazemipour

Length: 14 minutes

SPLIT ENDS

Police surveillance cameras in Tehran have mistaken a young man for a woman because of his long hair, while a young girl who has shaved her head to avoid the law about covering her hair has also been arrested by the Tehran Morality Police. The two find a way to seek revenge. (In Farsi with subtitles.) "Panel: "Using Film to Fight for Freedom in Iran"

Thursday 3:30pm

Director: Farbod Ardebili Length: 18 minutes

Director: Farbod Ardebili

Length: 18 minutes

FORBIDDEN TO SEE US SCREAM IN TEHRAN

The front woman for an Iranian death metal band risks everything as she plots to call the cops on her own underground concert in the hopes that the raid will help her secure her asylum in another country. Based on a true story.(In Farsi with subtitles.) Panel: "Using Film to Fight for Freedom in Iran"

Thursday 3:50pm

Length: 25 minutes

PANEL “How Nations Escape Poverty: The Examples of Poland and Vietnam”

Rainer Zitelmann

Thursday 7:00pm

Length: 90 minutes

Filmmakers’ Reception and Master Class (ticket required)

Meet the Filmmakers! Featuring live entertainment by Aragona. Master Class keynote speakers: Paul Guay (screenwriter, "Liar,Liar") "Becoming an Overnight Success"; and Thomas Pack (director, Incubator) "An Exciting New Opportunity for Young Documentarians."

Friday 8:45am

Director: Rob Montz Length: 29 minutes

Director: Rob Montz

Length: 29 minutes

THE BROKEN BOYS OF KENOSHA

We thought we knew everything about the shootings of Jacob Blake and the killings of Kyle Rittenhouse. We don't. This is what really happened, with a common denominator that will shock you.

Friday 9:15am

Length: 40 minutes

PANEL “Common Denominator: The Absent Father”

Jon-Adrian Velasquez, Rob Montz, Pastor Alton Hardy; Jo Ann Skousen, mod.

Friday 10:10am

Director: Chase Kinney Length: 10 minutes

Director: Chase Kinney

Length: 10 minutes

FREE(D) BY FAITH

When a young man from Fairfield— the most dangerous city in Alabama— grows up without a single father figure to form him as a man, how does he find his way out of the poverty, violence, and cycle of broken men that surrounds him?

Friday 10:30am

Director: Jimmy Morrison Length: 21 minutes

Director: Jimmy Morrison

Length: 21 minutes

MY DAD, THE HONOR FLIGHT DIRECTOR

Bob Morrison personally took thousands of veterans to see their memorials in Washington DC, but after years of working with the elderly, a sudden battle with dementia forced him to step back and refocus.

Friday 11:00am

Director: Chase Kinney Length: 11 minutes

Director: Chase Kinney

Length: 11 minutes

FREE(D) BY FAMILY

When a young man and a young woman come from broken homes and families torn apart by poverty, drugs, and abuse— how do they form a family against all odds?The Black family is a powerful testament to the reality that you don’t have to come from a strong family to form one.

Friday 11:15am

Length: 40 minutes

PANEL “Redefining Normal: In Praise of ALL Fathers”

Jimmy Morrison, Justin and Alexis Black, Aaron Lewis, John Papola (mod.)

Friday 12:05pm

Director: Sean Schiavolin, John Papola (prod.) Length: 24 minutes

Director: Sean Schiavolin, John Papola (prod.)

Length: 24 minutes

TO MY FATHER

Troy Kotsur is the first Deaf man to win an Academy Award for acting. During his emotional acceptance speech, Troy paid tribute to his dad, who made it his mission to excel at ASL so he could be the best possible father to Troy. TO MY FATHER is the story behind the speech that moved millions.

Friday 12:50pm

Director: Andre Almeida Rodrigues Length: 8 minutes

Director: Andre Almeida Rodrigues

Length: 8 minutes

RETURN TO THE CHILDHOOD HOME BEFORE THE LAST FAREWELL

A visit to the childhood home of the filmmaker in its present condition as a ruin. As the building is about to be demolished, the filmmaker makes an autobiographic re-visitation. The portrait of a Portugal of the past, filled with nostalgia and memory.

Friday 1:10pm

Director: Tim Hedberg Length: 24 minutes

Director: Tim Hedberg

Length: 24 minutes

BITCOIN COWBOYS: WILL WYOMING BECOME THE NEXT CRYPTO CAPITAL?

Will Wyoming's unique approach to bitcoin regulation allow it to become the center of this innovative industry, or will it be a cautionary lesson of what can go wrong when straying from established regulatory norms?

Friday 1:35pm

Length: 25 minutes

PANEL “Examining ‘Bitcoin Cowboys’ and Wyoming’s Crypto Revolution”

Jerry Brito, Mark Moss, Robert Breedlove, Tim Hedberg (mod)

Friday 2:10pm

Length: 50 minutes

PANEL “The Art and Craft and Business of Screenwriting”

Paul Guay ("Liar, Liar")

Friday 3:10pm

Director: Sam Martin Length: 24 minutes

Director: Sam Martin

Length: 24 minutes

EVERYONE IS WELCOME

When DC Mayor Muriel Bowser mandated that bars and restaurants check the vaccination status of all patrons and deny service to those unvaccinated, Eric Flannery, owner of The Big Board in Washington, DC, took a stand and tweeted, “everyone is welcome.” In response, the city shut him down indefinitely. This is his story.

Friday 3:35pm

Length: 25 minutes

PANEL “Covid Aftermath”

Sam Martin, Matt Kibbe, Hawk Jensen, Scott McRae

Friday 4:15pm

Director: Adam Hawk Jensen Length: 117 minutes

Director: Adam Hawk Jensen

Length: 117 minutes

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE

Intensive scientific inquiry, personal firsthand accounts, and candid interviews all ultimately lead to the discovery that lockdowns were intrusive, damaging and ineffective at achieving the purported aim of mitigating the spread of the virus.

Friday 8:00pm

Director: Violet Columbus, Ben Klein Length: 90 minutes

Director: Violet Columbus, Ben Klein

Length: 90 minutes

THE EXILES

Produced by Steven Soderbergh and Chris Columbus, and featuring never-before-seen footage shot in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre, this film is an in-depth and personal investigation into one of the most significant events in modern history, as well as a meditation on the price of standing up for Democracy. Q&A with Ben Klein, Zhou Fenguso, Jianli Yang, Wuer Kaixi (an exiled hero of Tiananmen Square); Li Schoolland (mod)

Saturday 8:30am

Director: Ben Lawrence Length: 106 minutes

Director: Ben Lawrence

Length: 106 minutes

ITHAKA

Julian Assange has become an emblem of international struggle over freedom of the press, government corruption, and unpunished war crimes. Weaving historic archive and intimate behind-the-scenes footage, ITHAKA tracks the journey of Assange's father, John Shipton, and Julian's wife, Stella Moris, as they advocate for Julian's release.

Saturday 11:30am

Length: 30 minutes

PANEL “Moral Imperative: Protecting the Freedoms that Protect Us”

Nadine Strossen, Greg deDeugd, Dugan Bridges; Charles Santini, mod.

Saturday 12:15pm

Director: Dugan Bridges Length: 18 minutes

Director: Dugan Bridges

Length: 18 minutes

IN THE PINES

IN THE PINES is a tragic tale of a blossoming, pluralistic society cut down in its infancy by power-hungry partisans bent on suppression and division. This film highlights the importance of a free press, free trade, and cooperation in upholding the ideals of truth and freedom.

Saturday 12:30pm

Director: Jaclyn Boudreau Length: 7 minutes

Director: Jaclyn Boudreau

Length: 7 minutes

WHERE HAILEY LIVES

Mark Mucciaccio was making coffee one morning when a stranger knocked on the door of his Easton, Massachusetts, home. That’s how he found out the government was giving his family’s house to a private investment firm—leaving the Mucciaccios, including Mark’s young granddaughter Hailey, with nothing. How could something like this happen in the land of the free?

Saturday 1:05pm

Director: Charlie Fritschner Length: 6 minutes

Director: Charlie Fritschner

Length: 6 minutes

PAPA CORIANDRE

Papa Coriandre is a determined entrepreneur in Burundi, the world’s poorest country, where running a business comes with huge risks of harassment, property destruction, and even imprisonment. But he has discovered a way to overcome these obstacles and prove that a better future is possible—for his company and his country.

Saturday 1:15pm

Director: Pritchett Cotton Length: 19 minutes

Director: Pritchett Cotton

Length: 19 minutes

THE GREAT EQUALIZER

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, effective patent rights are "The Great Equalizer." But patent rights are being actively dismantled by “Big Tech” greed and large corporations crushing the individual inventor. What good are "Diversity and Inclusion" when the patent system fails at its mission to be the "Great Equalizer"?

Saturday 1:35pm

Length: 25 minutes

PANEL “Entrepreneurship: Bringing Freedom to the World”

Pritchett Cotton, Clint Pagurko, Thomas Pack, Patrick Reasonover (mod)

Saturday 2:10pm

Director: Pablo Abram Length: 12 minutes

Director: Pablo Abram

Length: 12 minutes

THE DREAM OF MAKING A DECENT INCOME

Daniel, a self-employed gardener, delivery man, and baker in Argentina, struggles to make a better life for himself in an economy melting down from inflation and populist politics. What can be done to help ordinary workers like Daniel who are suffering from policies that keep them locked in poverty?

Saturday 2:25pm

Length: 35 minutes

PANEL “The Great Inflation Scandal”

Steve Forbes, Pablo Aragona, Patrick Reasonover; Jimmy Morrison, mod.

Saturday 3:10pm

Director: Tyler Stevens Length: 26 minutes

Director: Tyler Stevens

Length: 26 minutes

TUTTLE TWINS: THE INFLATION MONSTER

With their eyes set on a big carnival prize, Ethan and Emily learn that printing more tickets causes prices to rise. They visit Ancient Rome and Modern Zimbabwe to see the Inflation Monster at work, then rush back to save the carnival.

Saturday 4:10pm

Director: Charles Santini Length: 23 minutes

Director: Charles Santini

Length: 23 minutes

STUDENT LOANS: DO THE MATH!

Student "aid" or lifetime debt? Learn how student loans work, what you'll really pay, and what you should consider before you sign on the dotted line. Panel: "How to Fix the Student Loan Crisis" Steve Forbes, Charles Santini, JoAnn Skousen

Saturday 4:35pm

Length: 25 minutes

PANEL “How to Solve the Student Loan Crisis”

Steve Forbes, Charles Santini, JoAnn Skousen

Sunday 10:30am

Director: Kip Perry, Elan Bentov Length: 56 minutes

Director: Kip Perry, Elan Bentov

Length: 56 minutes

FREE TO SPEAK

Is free speech an outdated idea? Should hate speech be banned? FREE TO SPEAK underscores why free speech is necessary for human survival as it presents thought-provoking, ironic, and often heartbreaking stories. Nadine Strossen will lead the post-screening panel to examine the power and controversy of free speech historically and today. 