The Wichita Community Foundation partnered with Mamafilm to host a screening of STORM LAKE on August 24th. The screening was followed by a panel conversation titled “The Future of Local Journalism,” with Debra Fraser (KMUW), Bonita Gooch (The Community Voice), Landon Huslig (Wichita Life ICT) and moderated by Chris Green (The Journal at KLC).

Lorena Lopez, film subject and founder/editor of Iowa’s La Prensa newspaper; co-director Beth Levison; Alicia Ramirez, journalist in residence at USC Annenberg School of Journalism and soon-to-be-founder of a news outlet based out of the Inland Empire, joined for a post-screening conversation at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles about the struggles, needs and opportunities for Spanish-language newspapers. The panel was moderated by Gordon Stables, Director of the USC Annenberg School of Journalism.

Following STORM LAKE’s Opening Night screening at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival (MNFF) in August, 2022, MNFF took Storm Lake on a February screenings tour through the state of Vermont. Beth Levison joined for post-screening Q&A’s in Burlington, Putney, Rutland, Woodstock and Randolph, VT.

Woodstock Film Festival and Upstate Films partnered to put on a special free screening hosted by filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco De Onis. Q&A with Beth Levison, Jerry Risius, and Art Cullen, moderated by Brian K. Mahoney, Editor of Chronogram.

PEN America hosted a special event ‘Saving Local News: The Story of The Storm Lake Times.’ Art Cullen and directors Jerry Risius and Beth Levison joined PEN America’s Director of Digital Safety and Free Expression Programs, Viktorya Vilk, for an important conversation about how a small, family-run paper is keeping accountability alive while local outlets across the country die out. The panel was moderated by Ashante Blaize-Hopkins, Emmy Award-winning journalist and Vice President of the Society of Professional Journalists Greater Los Angeles. You can watch the recording of the panel here.

This national screening panel featured Art Cullen, Tom Cullen, Lorena López editor of Storm Lake’s spanish language newspaper La Prensa, and Errin Haines (Editor-at-Large, The 19th) and featured remarks from Alison Bethel (Vice President of Corps Excellence, Report for America.) STORM LAKE filmmakers Jerry Risius and Beth Levison and veteran journalists Jennifer Preston and Penny Abernathy shared resources and anecdotes in the interactive chat.

The film festival featured two special panels centered around STORM LAKE including a Q&A with Beth Levison andJerry Risius moderated by Jennifer Preston, Fellow, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, and a special journalist-centered panel titled “Local Journalism: Of Deserts and Regrowth” which brought together Susan Leath, Chief Operating Officer for The GroundTruth Project, Jennifer Preston, former Vice President for Journalism at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Madeleine Bair, award-winning journalist and founder of El Tímpano, Sarah Blustain, Deputy Editor, Local, ProPublica and Beth Levison of Storm Lake.

Thank you to Freep Film Festival who bestowed STORM LAKE with the “Shine a Light Award” — a juried award honoring the documentary that best uses journalistic techniques to bring unknown or little-known information to light and celebrate journalistic perseverance.

STORM LAKE kicked off its Midwest theatrical tour across six theaters in Iowa with a special premiere in Storm Lake, IA. Screenings across the state featured appearances by Art Cullen, directors Beth Levison and Jerry Risius, and local newspaper editors and journalists.

We’re honored that The American Film Institute’s AFI Docs 2021 has bestowed its Audience Award for Best Feature upon STORM LAKE.