A Fable for Four Voices/Judy's Thoughts/Beavers About Town/The Sprayer/A Shore Away/Off the Beaten Path: Aaron's Story~~~~~

One wants to pause every scene in Deb Ethier's film to soak in its visual beauty but the fairy-tale, mythic beauty of her story-- described as "utterly enchanting" by one of our reviewers-- compels us to keep going. From the filmmaker who last year brought us the magical "Once There Was a Girl," this animated film chronicles the journey of a quartet of aging animals fleeing their fates to find a place free from fear to live out their days.

A Fable for Four Voices

A quartet of aging animals fleeing their fates find each other, and together find a place free from fear to live out their days.

We have shown over a half-dozen of Melody's documentaries over the years, and this is by far the most personal of her films. In 1981, knowing her life was slipping away, Melody's mother Judy started recording her thoughts on cassette tape. For 39 years, Melody faithfully took the tape with her on each of her moves around the country and the world, but could never bring herself to listen to it. In 2020, she finally pressed "play." What she heard was deeply moving and shockingly intimate. Melody's film is her attempt to reach across the decades to partner with her mother in a moving meditation on living and dying. For her services to the Twin Cities documentary community and to the Big Water Film Festival, Big Water created its "Doyenne of Documentaries" award, which was given to Melody in 2017.

Judy's Thoughts

Thirty-nine years after Melody Gilbert's mother made an audio tape as her life was slipping away, Melody finally pressed "play."

Beavers on the Danube! You may think of beavers as denizens of the Northwoods, but 230 of them live in Vienna, Austria. This totally delightful film follows one beaver family from its jaunts on the Danube to its underwater lodge bedtime routines. In the process we learn how urban environments can be sufficiently rehabilitated to support thriving populations of once nearly-extirpated species.

Beavers About Town

A delightful documentary about beavers living on the Danube in Vienna, Austria.

In a futuristic war zone that also looks like a World War 2 bombed out European city, all plants are banned and a Nazi-like team of sprayers makes sure to exterminate any plant that may sprout. One sprayer rebels.

The Sprayer

In a futuristic war zone that also looks like a World War 2 bombed out European city, all plants are banned and a Nazi-like team of sprayers make sure to exterminate any plant that may sprout. One sprayer rebels.

Two women in a shelter for people who are unhoused share a bond of trust and affection: a former social worker and her former client whom she thought had successfully obtained housing. This sensitive film humanizes people who are experiencing homelessness, and the people who struggle to provide them services in the face of insufficient resources.

A Shore Away

Two women in a shelter for people who are unhoused share a bond of trust and affection: a former social worker and her former client whom she thought had successfully obtained housing.

What a life-affirming film! Steve Date, a long-time friend of Big Water, where we showed his first film, Welcome to Coalwood, in 2009, brings us his best film yet, about Aaron Westendorp, a 37 year old radio personality, podcaster, music afficionado, baseball fan, and percussionist, and seemingly a friend to everyone he's ever met (if they can put up with his sense of humor)-- and whose doctors gave him no chance to survive when he was born with multiple neurologic handicaps. Today, at 37, Aaron lives independently, and is the only non-verbal radio host in America, who is equally adept at using a keyboard-to-speech computer as he is at sign language. Off the Beaten Path, filmed over the seven years that Steve has known Aaron, supplemented with family video from Aaron's youth, recounts Aaron's off-the-path journey to independence and a full life.

Off the Beaten Path:  Aaron's Story

This film recounts Aaron's off-the-path journey from an infant given no chance of survival to America's only non-verbal radio and podcast host, living on his own.

Big Water Week One

Virtual Admission

Bay Area Film Society, Inc. P.O. Box 11Ashland WI 54806

Donation to {{name}}{{name}}Big Water Film Festival

Donate to BWFF

Gift Cards

These are all the passes tied to your account. Now, use our online schedule to reserve tickets. You can access your tickets via {{my_tickets_link|"My Tickets"}} or via the PDFs attached to each ticket order confirmation email. {{buy_pass_link|Looking to buy more passes?}}

While we are not charging for this festival, issuing tickets for the film blocks is necessary for our management of the festival. These are all your purchased tickets. You may use them to view the film blocks that you have chosen

One Day Pass

Virtual Screening Pass

None available

Passes

Ticket Bundles

Greetings from Big Water, again.  We have a few films for our Festival that have not yet been uploaded.  (If you have uploaded your film to Eventive, thanks, and you can ignore the rest of this message.)  We want to make sure your film successfully uploads, and we know sometimes there are glitches in the upload process.  If you encounter any problems, please contact us and we can usually figure out a way around the problem.

We're not having any livestreams at this Festival, but click "catalog" or "back to festival site" above to see all of our film offerings