A New Era for Midwest Film.
July 23–25th | Starting at $200
Three Days. Three Themes. One Future.
Midwest Royale is more than a film festival—it's a celebration of a creative community entering its next chapter.
Each day explores a different facet of Midwest storytelling: the power of film to inspire change, the artists shaping the future of cinema, and the creative industries helping those stories reach the world. Together, these themes reflect the ambition, innovation, and collaboration defining a new era for Midwest filmmaking.
A day dedicated to the power of storytelling to move culture, shift perception, and spark real change. Featuring bold films, urgent conversations, and filmmakers using story as a force for impact. For audiences who believe film can change the room and the world outside of it.
DAY 1: SHIFT THE STORY
The future of Midwest filmmaking, all in one place. Discover breakout voices, emerging directors, fresh perspectives, and the next generation of storytellers reshaping the narrative.
This is where tomorrow’s names show up first.
DAY 2: UP NEXT
Where creativity meets commerce. A full day spotlighting commercial directing, branded storytelling, trend setters and tastemakers, advertising, music videos, and the agencies and creatives redefining what great work looks like.
For the people making the work… and getting it seen.
DAY 3: MARKET READY
Films marked with an asterisk (*) are nominees for the 21st Annual Best of the Midwest Awards, recognizing outstanding achievement in Midwest filmmaking. Winners will be announced during the Best of the Midwest Awards on July 26 at CineCity Studios, the culminating celebration of Midwest Royale.
DAY 1: SHIFT THE STORY
Matters of the Heart
Love shapes us in ways both visible and unseen. It is found in the people who stand beside us, the sacrifices made in silence, the memories we hold onto, and the courage it takes to keep moving forward. This collection of films explores and challenges the many dimensions of love; its tenderness and complexity, its joys and burdens, and the enduring ways it connects us to one another. Together, these stories invite us to reflect on the relationships, experiences, and truths that stay with us long after the moment has passed.
SKATE OR DIE
Alexander Aguilera
NORMAL*
Shannon Guyton
ABEL*
Brian Zahm
BYE THE LAKE*
Harsh Gagoomal
LITTLE BIG SISTER
Alaa Al-Shameri
YOUR TOMORROW WILL BE MY SONG*
Fernando Saldivia Yáñez
DAY 1: SHIFT THE STORY
What We Carry
Life rarely arrives in straight lines. It unfolds in moments of humor, rupture, tenderness, and grace - often all at once. This collection of dramedies sits in the beautiful tension of being human: where joy and sorrow share the same breath, where ordinary days become unforgettable, and where connection shows up in the most unexpected places. These films remind us that even in chaos, we are still reaching for one another, still laughing, still becoming.
TAME*
Will Schneider
LLUVIA
Nathan Suggs
GLORY/US*
Jett Harris
PUZZLES
Brett Eitzen
ROADSIDE DELIVERY
Culumbus E Nkwocha
RIDGEVIEW
Jon Gollner
FEED THE HORSES*
Patricia Frontain
CAKE*
Erick Juarez
Feature - Traces of Home
DAY 1: SHIFT THE STORY
In this intimate and deeply personal documentary, filmmaker Colette Ghunim embarks on a journey with her parents to the ancestral homes they were forced to leave behind in Mexico and Palestine. As memory, family history, and place intertwine, the film becomes a moving exploration of identity, displacement, and the enduring search for belonging across generations.
Through deeply human conversations and breathtaking landscapes, Traces of Home reveals how the places we come from continue to shape who we become. At once a family portrait and a universal reflection on migration, resilience, and home, the film invites audiences to consider the invisible threads that connect us to our histories—and to one another.
Dir. by DNAACP Image Award Nominee Kelley Kali Perez
DAY 1: SHIFT THE STORY
Feature - Kemba
Kemba is a story of friendship forged in confinement, justice pursued across decades, and the power of a promise kept. A true-story following Kemba Smith Pradia, a college student whose life is upended after a relationship leads to a federal conviction and a sentence of more than two decades under mandatory sentencing laws. After years in prison, Kemba is granted clemency by President Bill Clinton. While incarcerated, she meets Michelle West, a Detroit, Michigan native serving a life sentence. Kemba makes a promise to fight for Michelle’s freedom. Years of relentless advocacy followed, helping bring national attention to Michelle’s case and ultimately contributing to her grant of clemency under the final act of the Biden administration in 2025. An NAACP Image Award nominee, the film stands as a testament to loyalty, resilience, and the long arc of freedom.
Join us as we welcome our Midwest girl Michelle home!
Dir. by DNAACP Image Award Nominee Kelley Kali Perez
KTQ Shorts Retrospective: 60 Years of Kartemquin Films
DAY 1: SHIFT THE STORY
Presented as part of Kartemquin Films’ 60th Anniversary, this special retrospective honors six decades of documentary storytelling rooted in social inquiry, civic engagement, and Chicago’s evolving cultural landscape.
The program brings together Trick Bag, ’63 Boycott, and a DVID micro-documentary to trace interconnected threads of race, education, and community across generations of KTQ filmmaking. Spanning archival work and contemporary reflection, these films embody Kartemquin’s enduring commitment to documenting lived experience and engaging audiences in urgent social dialogue while meeting the larger spirit of Midwest Royale: honoring legacy while actively expanding the future of Midwest storytelling.
Following the screenings, a moderated conversation with filmmakers and collaborators will further explore the historical resonance of these works and their continued relevance today.
Fresh Cuts: Documentary Voices
DAY 2: UP NEXT
Fresh Cut: Documentary Voices, spotlights bold new nonfiction shorts from across the Midwest, centering urgent perspectives, intimate storytelling, and emerging filmmakers unafraid to ask bigger questions. These are the next generation of documentary voices.
TEDA BARA’S MEMOIRS
Nadya Ellerhorst
SUBSTANCE OF VENOM
RETAZOS
Cherie Sampson
Daniela Morales Morcillo
Armin Korsos
BRAC
Angie Panganiban
COEXIST
Anthony Ciancio
HOW WE ROLL
David Quach
DAD VS. BEES*
Feature - What Rhymes with Magdalena?*
DAY 2: UP NEXT
What Rhymes with Magdalena? is about the stories we tell ourselves about love and the ones we can no longer outrun. On the night before her wedding, a poet sets out across the city to revisit the ghosts of her past relationships - seeking, in each encounter, an answer to a question she cannot yet name.
Set in Chicago’s Little Village, the film unfolds as a lyrical reckoning with memory, desire, and the unraveling of intimacy over time. What emerges is a portrait of love in its afterlife, where connection lingers, transforms, and refuses to resolve cleanly.
Dir. by Jose Perez
Emerging Filmmakers: 10×10 Voices on the Rise
DAY 2: UP NEXT
A signature program of Midwest Royale, 10x10 celebrates the next wave of storytelling talent shaping Midwest cinema.
This curated showcase features work from filmmakers in the first decade of their creative practice. Artists emerging from film schools, independent pathways, and self-taught journeys alike. Together, these films reflect the urgency, imagination, and perspective of a new generation finding its voice within the region’s evolving film landscape.
CROSSING THE DESERT*
Reena Dutt
WORN AND REBORN*
Mykhailo Bogdanov
SAVE YOURSELF: AN ANTI-SUICIDE PSA
Lawrence Q Hu
THIS GHOST WANTS A FRIEND*
Yanely Castellanos
HAMSTER IN MY HEAD*
Jerry S Gonzales
Adriana Trajkovski,
Jesse Rothenberg
PISTACHIO*
Cayson Wernick
ONE SMALL STEP*
Nathan Suggs
HAUNT
Aden Gonzales
STAY
Schantelle Alonzo
FIRST WINTER*
Feature - It Was Written: The Foundation
DAY 3: MARKET READY
Dir. by Joshua Conro aka Zoomcreep
It Was Written: The Foundation traces the origins of Chicago’s graffiti movement, from its emergence in the mid-1970s through its expansion and suppression in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Through archival material and firsthand accounts, the film captures a generation of artists who shaped a visual language across the city while navigating increasing efforts to erase it from public space.
Set against a period of intense cultural tension, the documentary reveals how writers adapted, persisted, and redefined visibility, turning walls into testimony and the resistance through the act of being seen through the marks a city tries to remove.
High Noon Horror
DAY 3: MARKET READY
Horror is back on top — and the Midwest has entered the chat.
High Noon Horror celebrates the resurgence of genre filmmaking with a lineup of bold Midwest-made horror films from the region’s most exciting voices. From psychological thrillers to slashers, these are the filmmakers pushing the genre forward.
ON BROKEN GLASS
Timothy Troy
THE COLOR OF DARKNESS
Kirk Sanders
SPANKED BY A GHOST
Katelyn Douglass
PELACARAS*
Ricardo Albarran
Connor A Botts
HELLS HOLLOW
Nicklaus Fritz
THUMB MAN
Severin Wessel
BAD INSECT*
Davis Cameron Chu, Meezahn Senbetta
BRAINROT*
Feature - All of the Above
DAY 3: MARKET READY
All of the Above is a feature documentary that follows a diverse group of high school students in a World Religions course within a public school setting. Over the school year, students engage in structured dialogue around belief, identity, and difference, navigating evolving perspectives on faith, community, and belonging.
As noted in Deadline, the film captures the complexity of facilitated dialogue in an educational environment, highlighting the tensions and breakthroughs that emerge when young people are asked to meaningfully listen across lived experience.
At its core, this is a film about what happens when we actually listen to each other and what it costs to change.
Dir. by Allison Walsh
AdCom: 11 Years of Creative Expression in Advertising
DAY 3: MARKET READY
We explore the possibilities beyond this moment, making space for growth, action, and forward momentum. As we end our time together, we honor the experience, the growth, and the connections made along the way.
BRIGHT SIDE OF THE GRID
Matt Binetti
WHERE TUNA COMES FROM
Lucas Xavier Simes
WEATHERING THE STORM
Jonathan Becker, Garrick Peterson
BEHIND THE REINS
Adam Zuehlke
LANGUAGE BACK
Dusan Harminc
GRAVE EXPECTATIONS*
Larry Ziegelman
OFF THE STREET CLUB VIDEO
Chan C Smith
WE CARRY YOU WITH US, ALWAYS
Greg Shultz
Matt Binetti
PLUGGED IN*
Jorge Arana
ARCADIAN STARDUSK
Ky Dickens
IN THE JUNGLE
Ross Phernetton, Brett Schnacky, Derek Bitter
A COLD ONE*