North by Current

Filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown following the death of his infant niece and the subsequent arrest of his brotherinlaw as the culprit Using the audiovisual approaches of essay film firstperson 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