When it comes to advocacy, storytelling is often the difference between a dry statistic and a deeply moved audience. Join special guests working on the frontlines of creating content that has the impact to change the world and join the conversation yourself in a casual, Q&A format.

Presented with support from Herrington-Fitch Family Foundation

Hope isn’t always a grand anthem - often, it’s a quiet melody found in simple stories. Like a sprout breaking through concrete, small narratives remind us that even in stillness, we are always still finding our way.

Presented by Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy and Leelanau Conservancy and Little Traverse Conservancy

with support from Interlochen Public Radio

Special Guests: Filmmakers JohnPaul Morris, Aaron Peterson, Dusan Harminc, Jason Whalen and Douglas Larson, Michigan State University Black River Sturgeon Facility

Simultaneous FREE Screenings in Arthouse Theaters Across Northern Michigan in Manistee, Frankfort, Suttons Bay, Elk Rapids, Harbor Springs, and Charlevoix

Deep within us burns a restless fire, an innate hunger to shape the world. We are not mere observers; we are creators and catalysts. Driven by hope and unyielding spirit, let’s take action!

Special Guests: Filmmakers Christy Frank and Alex Goetz

Living anywhere near the Great Lakes and all their connected inland seas and rivers means embracing a four-season lifestyle defined by vast freshwater horizons, sandy dunes, and world-class recreation that has to be felt to be truly appreciated.

Presented with support from Conservation Resource Alliance

Special Guests: Filmmakers Jason Whalen and Mike King with John Lutchko, Director of the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute at Northwestern Michigan College

2026 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Winner

In the town of Churchill, Manitoba, a polar bear’s migration is transformed into a surreal spectacle of tourism, town safety protocols, and invasive human curiosity.

Presented with North Ed Career Tech High School

If you've ever wondered how the future generation sees our world, our human condition, or what their sense of humor is then you won't want to miss this special selection of short films from the enormously talented Film and New Media program at our local North Ed Career Tech. Led by educator Zac Wendland, these students will surprise and delight you.

It’s that restless, gritty part of us that looks at a locked door and starts picking the lock. It’s built to push back and demand better. The human spirit is our relentless inner drive to endure, create, and find meaning, even when facing life’s greatest challenges.

Special Guests To Be Announced

In the late 1970s, Satish Bhaskar embarked on an epic journey along India’s coastline and the spectacular Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he uncovered the vital nesting beaches of sea turtles. During his death-defying quest, he unravels mysteries surrounding these enigmatic ocean creatures – and sets out to save them from extinction.

In the Midwest, problem-solving is a quiet, collective triumph. It’s the "roll-up-your-sleeves" grit that turns a neighbor’s broken tractor or a frozen pipe into a shared victory. That steady, practical ingenuity offers a deep sense of purpose, rooted in community, resilience, and a genuine kindness for the world around us.

Special Guests: Filmmakers Nick Loud and Grant Piering

Identity is the soul's unique map, providing the essential sense of belonging, purpose, and continuity that anchors our human existence. This is a celebration of That.

Presented with support from Green Brick Foundation

Special Guests: Filmmakers Jason Lindsey and Julián Trejo Bax with butterfly advocate Claudia Galeno-Sánchez

Hosted by Peter Payette with Special Guests Aaron Peterson, Bill Thompson, and Bugsy Sailor in a look back and a vision forward, for the beloved act known as #freshcoasting

Presented with support from Interlochen Public Radio

Exploring how environmental education - and the people who teach with it - can help heal some of our most pressing social, emotional, and political divides. Through stories of resilience and reconnection, the film reveals why nature belongs at the heart of what it means to be truly educated.

Special Guests To Be Announced

A team of evolutionary biologists from the University of Idaho travels to the Galápagos Islands to solve the Earth’s biodiversity crisis. The twist? They aren’t studying the iconic tortoises or blue footed boobies on this storied archipelago—they are Snail Hunters, studying a more unlikely subject in the crucible of evolution.

Special Guest: Filmmaker Jim Aikman

Can images truly mirror the soul? By exploring these diverse lives and dreams, these shorts invite us to create a global home, or simply remind us of what we seeking.

Presented with support from Green Brick Foundation

Special Guests: Filmmakers Jason Whalen and Maurice Champion

It's theater of the mind! It's cinema for the ear! It's a Points North listening party! Join us as we turn off the silver screen and open the curtains of your imagination. This immersive audio experience will transport you through time and space, leaving you inspired by this great region. 

Presented with support from Interlochen Public Radio

Special Guests: Points North Podcast Producers Ellie Katz and Dan Wanschura

A quiet Upper Michigan town becomes the center of an international media frenzy after three scientists discover a record-breaking ‘Humongous Fungus’ living next door. Decades later, the town and the scientists continue to embrace the fungus as a growing symbol of community and wonder. Who will be crowned Mr. Fungi? Will there be a giant mushroom pizza? Will the ‘Humongous Fungus’ outlive us all?

Presented with support from Two Sons Pizza

Special Guest: Writer, Producer and Editor Tim Warmanen

Detroit endured six decades of massive disinvestment, losing its primary industry in what is often described as the largest economic withdrawal in U.S. history. Its industry collapsed, its skyline dimmed. Yet the city’s spirit refused to vanish. Some call what followed the greatest comeback story in the nation. Others insist Detroit never left at all. Now, through the eyes of a two-time Emmy Award–winning filmmaker and the voice of a celebrated poet, comes a story told from the ground up.

Special Guest: Filmmaker Stephen McGee

Midwestern filmmakers are defined by a resourceful DIY grit and often utilizing local talent and backdrops, all while being uniquely nice. How do they find the epic in everyday life? And how do they pull off such unpretentious storytelling? Find out and ask your own questions of our special guests in this casual meeting of Midwest minds.

Presented with support from Herrington-Fitch Family Foundation

Friday Night Gala Presented by Rare Bird Brewpub

Special Guests: Filmmakers Owen and Quentin Reiser

with birder Nate Crane and ornithologist Hannah Toutonghi

Grand Traverse Audubon Club and ambassadors from North Sky Raptor Sanctuary in Attendance

Following two novice brothers, Owen and Quentin Reiser, as they attempt a competitive "Big Year" in the U.S., racing to see the most bird species in a year while living out of a minivan, showcasing the raw, obsessive, and hilarious world of extreme birding as they learn to compete at the highest level.

Pre-Show Book Signing Event with Owen and Quentin Reiser in collaboration with National Writers Series

Copies of “Field Guide to All the Birds We Found One Year in the United States” will be availble for $20

We are woven into a single, breathing tapestry. From the rhythmic hum of the bees to the steady heartbeat of beasts, we share one fragile home … bound together by love, breath, and life.

Presented with support from Ben and Erin Anderson Whiting

Special Guests: Filmmakers Nicholas Stachurski and Jason Whalen

Our waters are a central artery of constant renewal, offering a quiet sanctuary where urban life meets the wild. Flowing waters mirror the soul’s resilience, fostering deep connections, reflection, and a sense of belonging together.

Presented by Great Lakes Fishery Commission / FishPass with support from Interlochen Public Radio

Special Guests: Points North Podcast Producer Ellie Katz, Traverse City Mayor Amy Shamroe, Filmmaker Mark Wilson, and DJ Shook, Senior Project Manager and Biologist at Conservation Resource Alliance

As part of the festival’s experiences, a Guided FishPass Tour with Brett Fessell from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and Frank Dituri from the City of Traverse City, Michigan follows at 12pm. Please note tickets do not include the tour, and a separate future registration is required.

Hope isn’t always a grand anthem - often, it’s a quiet melody found in simple stories. Like a sprout breaking through concrete, small narratives remind us that even in stillness, we are always still finding our way.

Presented by Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy and Leelanau Conservancy and Little Traverse Conservancy

with support from Interlochen Public Radio

Special Guests: Filmmakers JohnPaul Morris, Aaron Peterson, Dusan Harminc, and Jason Whalen

Catching Pinecones is the story of Jan and Herb Conn, pioneering rock climbers and cave explorers who lived life to the fullest on their own terms. Rejecting a conventional lifestyle in pursuit of adventure and fun, the Conns’ story reveals a legacy of renowned discoveries and their philosophies for a simple, well-lived life.

Special Guest: Filmmaker Chad Heddleston

Exploring how environmental education - and the people who teach with it - can help heal some of our most pressing social, emotional, and political divides. Through stories of resilience and reconnection, the film reveals why nature belongs at the heart of what it means to be truly educated.

Special Guests To Be Announced

Identity is the soul's unique map, providing the essential sense of belonging, purpose, and continuity that anchors our human existence. This is a celebration of That.

Special Guests: Filmmakers Jason Lindsey, Aaron Peterson and Julián Trejo Bax with butterfly advocate Claudia Galeno-Sánchez

Narrated by Quannah ChasingHorse and Edward Norton, the documentary Bad River explores the Bad River Band’s high-stakes legal battle against Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. It contextually links this modern environmental fight for Lake Superior’s freshwater to a centuries-old history of Indigenous resistance and sovereignty.

Special Guest: Impact Strategist Bill Latka

A team of evolutionary biologists from the University of Idaho travels to the Galápagos Islands to solve the Earth’s biodiversity crisis. The twist? They aren’t studying the iconic tortoises or blue footed boobies on this storied archipelago—they are Snail Hunters, studying a more unlikely subject in the crucible of evolution.

Special Guest: Filmmaker Jim Aikman

Living anywhere near the Great Lakes and all their connected inland seas and rivers means embracing a four-season lifestyle defined by vast freshwater horizons, sandy dunes, and world-class recreation that has to be felt to be truly appreciated.

Presented with support from Northwestern Michigan College

Special Guests: Filmmakers Jason Whalen and Mike King

Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale is America’s No.1 IPA. The now infamous and iconic trout image is found in every convenience store nationwide. The legends behind this label and many others have been buried in folklore for nearly 40 years, but the vision created at Bell’s started a revolution in the craft brewing industry that changed what a beer label could be. This is the unconventional story of an artist whose love of fishing, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and beer found its way into every store in America.

Presented with support from The Minervini Group

Special Guests: Filmmakers Keith Patterson, Rory K. McHarg and (Bret Miller) with artists Ladislav and Jana Hanka

Against the backdrop of the sixth mass extinction, an all-woman team of biologists set out to save bats from a deadly fungal disease, but when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupts their work, they are sent down a path of discovery that illuminates the connections between bat conservation and the spread of infectious disease.

Special Guests: Producer Matthew Podolsky and Filmmaker Kristin Tièche

Deep within us burns a restless fire, an innate hunger to shape the world. We are not mere observers; we are creators and catalysts. Driven by hope and unyielding spirit, let’s take action!

Special Guests: Filmmakers Christy Frank and Alex Goetz

2026 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Winner

In the town of Churchill, Manitoba, a polar bear’s migration is transformed into a surreal spectacle of tourism, town safety protocols, and invasive human curiosity.

It’s that restless, gritty part of us that looks at a locked door and starts picking the lock. It’s built to push back and demand better. The human spirit is our relentless inner drive to endure, create, and find meaning, even when facing life’s greatest challenges.

Special Guests: Filmmaker Aaron Peterson and Producer Dan Wanschura

Featuring a curated collection of local guests sharing true, first-person stories about times in their lives when they threw caution to the wind (and came away with an adventure tale). If you love spoken-word, The Moth Radio Hour, or the power of one person to surprise and delight you ... then you won't want to miss this one-time-only special festival event.

Storytellers To Be Announced

In collaboration with Alluvion Arts (with support from Traverse City Arts Commission)

Creator of the 2017 Fresh Coast Film Festival look and feel, Geoffrey Holstad is the visionary behind the 2026 poster and campaign for the first ever TC edition.

Saturday Night Gala

Special Screening and Guests To Be Announced

Presented by Pancake Boy Productions

with culinary support from American Spoon

Private Event for Filmmakers and All-Access and Sunday Day-Passholders

Stacked high and warm, pancakes turn strangers into long lost friends. This shared ritual of syrup and laughter fuels the soul before everyone drifts back into the world. Join our 100% local volunteer team as they sling out breakfast to power the last day of #freshcoasting in TC.

Against the backdrop of the sixth mass extinction, an all-woman team of biologists set out to save bats from a deadly fungal disease, but when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupts their work, they are sent down a path of discovery that illuminates the connections between bat conservation and the spread of infectious disease.

Special Guests: Producer Matthew Podolsky and Filmmaker Kristin Tièche

In the Midwest, problem-solving is a quiet, collective triumph. It’s the "roll-up-your-sleeves" grit that turns a neighbor’s broken tractor or a frozen pipe into a shared victory. That steady, practical ingenuity offers a deep sense of purpose, rooted in community, resilience, and a genuine kindness for the world around us.

Special Guests: Producer Dan Wanschura and Filmmakers Nick Loud and Grant Piering

Catching Pinecones is the story of Jan and Herb Conn, pioneering rock climbers and cave explorers who lived life to the fullest on their own terms. Rejecting a conventional lifestyle in pursuit of adventure and fun, the Conns’ story reveals a legacy of renowned discoveries and their philosophies for a simple, well-lived life.

Special Guest: Filmmaker Chad Heddleston

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the birthplace of organized skiing in America. It is also home to the National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and one of the oldest ski clubs in the country. This documentary film explores the skiing culture that continues to shape the lives of those who consider themselves Yoopers.

Special Guest: Filmmaker Ryan Busch

Detroit endured six decades of massive disinvestment, losing its primary industry in what is often described as the largest economic withdrawal in U.S. history. Its industry collapsed, its skyline dimmed. Yet the city’s spirit refused to vanish. Some call what followed the greatest comeback story in the nation. Others insist Detroit never left at all. Now, through the eyes of a two-time Emmy Award–winning filmmaker and the voice of a celebrated poet, comes a story told from the ground up.

Special Guest: Filmmaker Stephen McGee

We are woven into a single, breathing tapestry. From the rhythmic hum of the bees to the steady heartbeat of beasts, we share one fragile home … bound together by love, breath, and life.

Special Guests: Filmmakers Nicholas Stachurski and Jason Whalen

Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale is America’s No.1 IPA. The now infamous & iconic trout image is found in every convenience store nationwide. The legends behind this label and many others have been buried in folklore for nearly 40 years, but the vision created at Bell’s started a revolution in the craft brewing industry that changed what a beer label could be. This is the unconventional story of an artist whose love of fishing, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and beer found its way into every store in America.

Presented with support from The Minervini Group

Special Guests: Filmmakers Keith Patterson, Rory K. McHarg and (Bret Miller) with artists Ladislav and Jana Hanka

A secret cinematic experience awaits, hidden in plain sight. Keep your eyes sharp and ears open … the reveal is coming very soon.

In the late 1970s, Satish Bhaskar embarked on an epic journey along India’s coastline and the spectacular Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he uncovered the vital nesting beaches of sea turtles. During his death-defying quest, he unravels mysteries surrounding these enigmatic ocean creatures – and sets out to save them from extinction.

Presented with support from Northwestern Michigan College

If you've ever wondered how the future generation sees our world, our human condition, or what their sense of humor is then you won't want to miss this special selection of short films from the enormously talented Visual Communications Program at Northwestern Michigan College with support from Caroline Schaefer-Hills.

Can images truly mirror the soul? By exploring these diverse lives and dreams, these shorts invite us to create a global home, or simply remind us of what we seeking.

A quiet Upper Michigan town becomes the center of an international media frenzy after three scientists discover a record-breaking ‘Humongous Fungus’ living next door. Decades later, the town and the scientists continue to embrace the fungus as a growing symbol of community and wonder. Who will be crowned Mr. Fungi? Will there be a giant mushroom pizza? Will the ‘Humongous Fungus’ outlive us all?

Special Guest: Writer, Producer and Editor Tim Warmanen