The Festival, held this past weekend in Milwaukee, offered more than 30 films that celebrated the power of documentary filmmakers to open conversations and expands mind.
I was able to screen a few films.
One of the titles was “All God’s Children,” directed by Ondi Timoner and based in New York about the leaders of Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope and Antioch Baptist Church in Bed-Stuy who embark on a radical experiment.
Tackling their complex histories head on, these two Brooklyn institutions find communal traction, fighting together for justice and compassion, revealing the potential of interfaith coalitions and their shared commonalities.
Where the Blacks from Antioch viewed some things as racist, the Rabbi from Beth Elohim viewed things like the imagery of the crucifixion of Christ and the edict that “those who believe in me will be blessed, and, those who don’t will be damned” as antisemitism, as she considered the damned as being Jewish people.
Many meetings were held, and the two congregations shared the Jewish Seder and Resurrection Sunday services, as well as tackled legislative efforts to criminalize deed theft.
While in the end, there was still much work to be done, they learned much from each other in what I would call a bold experiment of a meeting of the minds.
Between Goodbyes by Jota Mun adds new dimensions to the typical adoption story by focusing equally on both the birth mother and the adoptee. After a 10-year search, Okgyun was able to locate her daughter, Mieke, a Korean adoptee raised in the Netherlands.
This reconnection was just the beginning of the story. The film delves into their fraught reunion, interwoven with flashbacks of each woman’s past.
This was a sad film; a reunion of sorts, but Mieke was still conflicted between her European life and that of her homeland.
Between 1950 and 2020, it’s estimated that more than 200K Koreans, mostly girls, were adopted outside of Korea. Eventually, it was found to be akin to baby selling.
“Malignant Practice” by Kristin Catalano is an animated short film based on the medical misfortune of a young woman whose breast cancer was missed by a doctor and a mammogram. This Milwaukee-made, deeply personal yet true story emphasizes the flaws within our healthcare system and the importance of being one’s own healthcare advocate.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is the message in the film. From docs misdiagnosing to confusing insurance guidelines to irregular blood tests, the primary character in this short is burdened from the start of her diagnosis to the end, which includes a mastectomy. She was even forced to work between chemo treatments.
My stomach turned watching this, and it was an animation. Why, because it spoke to so many women who may have dense breasts and their need to not just trust a mammogram but the importance of advocating for a second opinion!
“Natchez” by Suzannah Herbert. Winner of Best Documentary Feature at Tribeca 25, unravels the complex layers of a town in Mississippi sustained by antebellum tourism yet divided by the narrative of its own history. As hoop skirts and mansion tours clash with hard truths, “Natchez” becomes a riveting meditation on the stories America chooses to tell—and forget. The director asks the question: Who gets to tell America’s story?
“Shuffle” by Benjamin Flaherty is an eye-popping look at medical insurance and what happened after Obama Care legislated coverage for drug addictions.
Through the lens of his own recovery, the director offers an intimate look inside the billion-dollar substance abuse treatment industry in this SXSW winner in the 2025 Documentary Feature Competition.
Shot over the course of three years, “Shuffle” follows three individuals whose lives depend not on getting into treatment for their addictions, but on getting out alive, and in the process, shines a light on the insurance-fueled cycle of addiction treatment fraud spreading across the country.
These so-called recovery centers were paying junkies premiums to continue the cycle of addiction. So a person would complete treatment and be encouraged to relapse and go back in—while pocketing money. The urinalyses were in a vicious cycle of lab tests—so much so as to be called “liquid gold.”
It is an amazing look at the recovery business that started out in faith-based entities for free and blossomed into money makers with the onset of heroin addiction and lavish rehab centers.
Farming While Black by Mark Decena. In 1910, Black farmers owned 14 percent of all American farmland. Over the intervening decades, that number fell below two percent, as a result of racism, discrimination and dispossession.
This visually eloquent film chronicles the author of the book “Farming While Black,” Leah Penniman, and two other Black farmers’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact as leaders in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements.
One lesson learned: with just a bit of land, community farms can be created.
For more information and the complete list of documentaries, visit mkefilm.org.