A touching and unexpectedly uplifting love story about a Scottish comic book artists with a brain tumour, who uses his art to communicate his experience of cancer.

Preceded by the short narrative, Just in Case.

Opening Night Film 

Join us for a powerful opening night celebration, starting with the feature documentary, Refuge – a story of love and fear in the American south. Set in the most diverse square mile in America – Clarkston, Georgia – REFUGE follows the friendship between a Muslim heart doctor and a former member of the KKK, revealing what is possible when we leave the security of our tribes and what is at stake for our country if we don’t.

Co-director Din Blankenship and subjects Chris Buckley and Arno Michaelis will join us for a Q&A.

And following the film, we invite you to join us on the rooftop of Capital One Hall, with a drink on us. There are food trucks galore, putt putt golf, a lively biergarten, amazing views, and more!

Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice

We hope that our film can rekindle our sense of empathy. We’ve captured a story about a community that insists that their shared humanity is more important than any kind of shared ethnicity, shared faith or even shared language. We hope that anyone who watches it will see themselves in all of the characters. If people walk out of this film and are more likely to offer compassion to someone who is different than they are – someone of a different race, a different faith, different political beliefs – if you’re more likely to see a person’s full humanity and offer understanding to one another after seeing this film, then we feel like the film will have been a success.

An HBO original documentary that chronicles the still unsolved death of Baltimore police detective Sean Suiter, fatally shot in 2017 while in the line of duty, and explores the ongoing speculation about what really happened that day.

Producer Mahrya MacIntire and actor D. Watkins will be in attendance for a Q&A and book signing. 

Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice

We hope the film sparks questions and conversations about how broken the structure of law enforcement is and how we can create a new system for public safety moving forward. – Sonja Sohn

A thoughtful exploration of Colin Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee during the national anthem and the divisive reactions it spurred in the United States, revealing unique insights into America’s ongoing racial turmoil.

Saturday Evening Showcase

Join us for a moving screening of A House Made of Splinters, an intimate documentary that captures life at a halfway home for children in Eastern Ukraine.

Special guests from our non-profit partner Project HOPE will join us after the screening to discuss their relief work on-the-ground in Ukraine and the surrounding region.

100% of our box office proceeds for the entire 2022 festival will go towards Project HOPE’s efforts to deliver medicine, medical supplies, mental health support, and other urgent assistance to families in Ukraine and those who have sought refuge in Poland, Romania, and Moldova.

We also encourage audiences to explore the work of Voices of Children, which gives psychological and psychosocial support to children who have suffered trauma due to war. This organization is doing incredibly important work in Ukraine, and is very close to the heart of Simon Lereng Wilmont, the director of A House Made of Splinters.

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After Party

Following our Saturday Showcase Film, we’ll move to the lobby of the ShowPlace Icon theater for our After Party! There will be appetizers, desserts, complimentary beer/wine, and good company as we celebrate another year of making an impact with storytelling.