STORM LAKE Feature Films In Person at AFI Silver

Following the screening, watch a special conversation with directors Beth Levison and Jerry Risius and subject Art Cullen moderated by The Washington Post Media Columnist Margaret Sullivan.

Meet the Cullens — Iowa’s most impressive journalism family. For more than 30 years, Art Cullen, brother John, son Tom, wife Delores and sister-in-law Mary — plus Art’s dog, Peach the newshound — have published The Storm Lake Times, a small-town, twice-weekly newspaper that covers critically important local issues and serves as the glue that holds the community together. But, against the backdrop of a collapsing journalism ecosystem and a crushing pandemic, how can the paper avoid the fate of so many other newspapers? In Beth Levison and Jerry Risius’s charming yet cautionary documentary, we see the Cullens hard at work, occasionally sniping at each other, as they meet the moment, one deadline at a time. As Art says, “Without strong local journalism to tell a community’s story, the fabric of the place becomes frayed.” –Ken Jacobson

Continue the conversation on DOCS Connect, with filmmaker in attendance to respond to your questions, here.