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North by Current
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North by Current

2021-03-01 · 86 min · ★ 6.0

Documentary

Filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown following the death of his infant niece and the subsequent arrest of his brother-in-law as the culprit. Using the audio-visual approaches of essay film, first-person cinema vérité, staged actions, and decades of home movies, Madsen navigates a town steeped in opioid addiction, economic depression, and religious fervor, while using the act of filmmaking to rebuild familial bonds and reimagine justice. Posing empathy as a tool for creating a more just world, North By Current does not seek to investigate a crime, but creates a relentless portrait of an enduring pastoral family, poised to reframe and reimagine narratives about incarceration, addiction, trans embodiment, and ruralness.

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Production details

Directors
Angelo Madsen
Production companies
Field of Vision, Ford Foundation / JustFilms, Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance Institute, American Documentary, Open Society Foundations, Catapult Film Fund
Countries
United States of America
Status
Released

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