Film Fest at the Crossroads

presented by

The Beverly Shores Depot
Museum & Art Gallery

Thursday, August 10, 2023 • 6pm CST

Featuring films about Northwest Indiana along with a lively discussion with the filmmakers and local experts.

Walkable USA: Sneak Peek
Special Short Preview
16 mins
Directed by Tom Desch

Walkable USA chronicles the efforts of city planner Jeff Speck as he works to help Hammond, Indiana revitalize its downtown. Central to Speck’s design philosophy is the power of people walking. His work aims to shift the design and scale of cities from the car to the individual. This short preview will ultimately be presented as an hour-long feature film.

Tom Desch has been Producing and Directing documentaries about Northwest Indiana for years.

Calumet: The Region’s River
15 mins
Directed by Sam Love & Raymar Brunson

Calumet: The Region’s River is a video journey into the industrialized heart of the Calumet watershed in Indiana, along the branches, canals, and wetlands of the Calumet River system. Gary artists Samuel Love and Raymar Brunson travel along the Calumet, exploring how the very heart of the watershed was turned into a barrier between classes and races – and the consequences for communities near the river today. Along the way they also introduce the people working to address the legacy of pollution and environmental racism, building connections to communities separated by the river, and increasing public access to the water.

Samuel Love is the editor of The Gary Anthology (Belt, 2020). Raymar Brunson has documented the impact of coal pollution for the Sierra Club’s Indiana Beyond Coal campaign.

The Erosion Project
40 mins
Directed by Jonathan Jackson

In 2020 the water level of Lake Michigan was at an all time high. The residents of Beverly Shores, Indiana, a small south shore community were hit hard after years of erosion and the encroaching lake collapsed part of a lakefront road threatening homes. Faced with an environmental emergency on their doorstep this Verite documentary picks up as the residents begin a permanent “construction project” to solidify the compromised lakefront and protect the road. In the midst of The Erosion Project, one of the oldest residents of Beverly Shores, Carol Ruzic, reveals “this is nothing new...this has been going on forever.” At 21 years old she moved to Beverly Shores in 1951. She has been photographing the destructive effects of Lake Michigan on the town ever since.