A self portrait filmed with a modified PXL 2000 Camcorder. The camcorder itself records on to audio cassette tape. The tapes themselves are recycled which means I have recorded over them several causing them to slowly degrade.
Set in the backwoods of rural Iowa, this is Regan and Addisyn's last summer after high school. Growing up next door to each other, the girls are as close as sisters. The two of them spend their summer detasseling corn at a local farm. Addisyn can't wait to leave their small hometown for college, while Regan has second thoughts. In between work, Addisyn is forced to manage her mother's recovery from opioid addiction while taking care of her little sister. Regan's feelings about leaving home are only made more complicated when she connects with Addisyn's attractive older brother, Ryder. As summer draws to a close, the girls must face their paths forward-for the first time--on their own.
A collection of personal anecdotes from those who have navigated through a tumultuous year in America.
A teenage runaway and a widowed father each fight to take matters into their own hands to redeem their dark past.
The Iowa State Fair draws millions of people to the city of Des Moines every year. However, this film is not about the Iowa State Fair or the people who attend. It's about where they park their cars. Inspired by the classic documentary, "Heavy Metal Parking Lot".
Soul-touching and moving, TWO WAYS HOME compassionately follows Kathy (Tanna Frederick), a woman newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder who is released from prison on good behavior and returns to her country home in Iowa to reconnect with her estranged 12-year-old daughter (Rylie Behr) and her cantankerous elderly grandfather (Tom Bower). Her return home is turbulent and a rough, unwelcome transition in which Kathy must come to terms with her diagnosis and its implications on her identity, while also realizing that her family was happier when she was gone. Conflict with her family intensifies as she struggles to keep her head above water, putting her self-worth and well-being to the ultimate test.
A woman returns to her hometown for her father's funeral. A couple strike a deal with her to help her fund the funeral service.
It's the end of the summer of 1994 and life is about to change for two boys on a farm.
A Local Iowa documentary about the history of trophy to the Cy-Hawk games.
A musical drama set in small-town Iowa, SAINTS REST tells the story of two estranged sisters, who over the course of one summer, form a connection through their shared love of music, as they grieve the recent death of their mother.
Jessica is one of the most famous actresses in the world, leading a glamorous – if tabloid worthy – life. But all that is thrown for a loop when she goes on location to shoot a holiday themed film in the Christmas-obsessed town of Homestead, Iowa. While a romance brews between her and Matt, a local inn keeper who is a single dad, she also gets a taste of small-town life and rediscovers the true meaning of Christmas.
When Rachel’s husband disappears, the police have one suspect: her. While trying to prove her innocence, she uncovers many secrets about the man she married.
The documentary follows two high school seniors as they attempt to win the State Wrestling Championship in their final season and join the elite list of Iowa's four-time wrestling champions.
State of Bacon tells the kinda real but mostly fake tale of an oddball group of characters leading up to the annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival. Bacon-enthusiasts, Governor Branstad, a bacon queen, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, members of PETA, and an envoy of Icelanders are not excluded from this bacon party and during the course of the film become intertwined with the organizers of the festival to show that bacon diplomacy is not dead.
The shots used in this piece were from first test shots with the Mobile Phone 60x microscope. Subjects included the fur of a cat, hair of a girl, a cutting board, and a ball of cat fur that was burned with an incense stick. Unfortunately, during the final shot the flame melted part of the microscope lens.
An essay style film in the vein of Orson Welles' "F For Fake" and Jon Jost's "Speaking Directly". From 2011 to 2013, filmmaker Kristian Day randomly documented the art and actions of the award winning metal sculptor, James Bearden. Refusing to make another artist documentary, Day insisted on illustrating Bearden's creative process through surreal and id oriented story telling.
What strange forces saved one isolated section along the Upper Mississippi River from the repeated crushing and scouring effects of glaciers during the last two million years? And what pre-Ice Age throwbacks survived here in this unique geologic refuge that holds more Native American effigy mounds, petroglyph caves, strange geological features, and rare species than anywhere in the Midwest? These questions and more are answered in this captivating new documentary. A team of scientists embarks on a journey of exploration to expose both the science and threats behind three unique features of the zone - rare plants and animals, odd geological phenomenon, and striking remnants of a Native American pilgrimage like no other.
An adopted girl discovers her talent for butter carving and finds herself pitted against an ambitious local woman in their Iowa town's annual contest.
A quiet ukeleleist and his talkative manager struggle to realize their artistic vision in this comic story of loss and friendship.
In this experimental short film, Kristian Day collected artwork created by the public. He found the majority of the pieces at "Sharpie marker demonstration tables" and it took almost a year to collect the artwork. All pieces were created by chance with no prior thought. He originally intended on using the photos for a collage canvas piece, however after deciding that a short film would stand the test of time longer, he took individual shots of over 30 pieces. The drone music was created using a variety of simple sound generators & tapes that are being manipulated by delays, filters, and reverberation effects.