Midwest Film Festivel – Day 3: Market Ready July 25, 2026

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Where creativity meets commerce. Explore commercial directing, branded storytelling, music videos, advertising, and the creative leaders driving the industry’s next chapter.

TICKETING
General Admission: $25.42
Students/Seniors: $85.43

DAY 3 – MARKET READY
QUEENS ROYALE: HER HUSTLE COMMUNITY DAY

TIME: 9:00am-10:45am, in the Beer Garden

Her Hustle, Our Help: Community Packing Party & Book Drive

Start your day with purpose at our annual Her Hustle, Our Help day, a morning of service and connection at the Ramova. Festival attendees and community members will come together for a book drive in support of young patients at La Rabida Children’s Hospital and their new children’s library being built in honor of their 130th anniversary! Guests are encouraged to bring new, unused books to help brighten the days of children receiving care and recovery services. Together, we’ll turn the power of storytelling into an act of service.

*Attendees will receive a ticket for It Was Written: immediately after Her Hustle

FEATURE-1

TIME: 11:00am

12:05pm ATTENDEES WILL BE ESCORTED TO THE BEER GARDEN,

30 Min talkback & T SHIRT PRESS- LIVE ART- HIP HOP culture at its finest!

It Was Written: The Foundation (Directed by Joshua Conro aka Zoomcreep and Ulises Villa) Run time 1:34:37

It Was Written: The Foundation, traces the origins of Chicago’s graffiti movement, from its emergence in the mid-1970s through its expansion and suppression in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Through archival material and firsthand accounts, the film captures a generation of artists who shaped a visual language across the city while navigating increasing efforts to erase it from public space.

Set against a period of intense cultural tension, the documentary reveals how writers adapted, persisted, and redefined visibility, turning walls into testimony and the resistance through the act of being seen through the marks a city tries to remove.

BLOCK 1: High Noon Horror

12:40pm

Films Included:

On Broken Glass — Directed by Timothy Troy
The Color of Darkness — Directed by Kirk Sanders
Hells Hollow — Directed by Connor A. Botts
Thumb Man — Directed by Nicklaus Fritz
*Bad Insect — Directed by Severin Wessel
*Brainrot — Directed by Davis Cameron Chu and Meezahn Senbetta
Spanked by a Ghost — Directed by Katelyn Douglass
*PELACARAS — Directed by Ricardo Albarrán
*BMA Nominee

FEATURE-2

TIME: 4:00pm

All of the Above (Directed by Allison Walsh – Run time 1hr 25, 30 Min talkback)

All of the Above, is a feature documentary that follows a diverse group of high school students in a World Religions course within a public school setting. Over the school year, students engage in structured dialogue around belief, identity, and difference, navigating evolving perspectives on faith, community, and belonging.

As noted in Deadline, the film captures the complexity of facilitated dialogue in an educational environment, highlighting the tensions and breakthroughs that emerge when young people are asked to meaningfully listen across lived experience.

At its core, this is a film about what happens when we actually listen to each other and what it costs to change.

TIME: 6:00pm

Rhythm @ Ramova DJ Block in the Beer Garden -Members Mixer, Industry and Filmmaker Networking

BLOCK 2: AdComm Night

TIME: 7:30pm

Films Included:

Bright Side of the Grid — Directed by Maya Averi
*Plugged In — Directed by Matt Binetti and Zack Gripko
Where Tuna Comes From — Directed by Lucas Xavier Simes
Weathering the Storm — Directed by Jonathan Becker and Garrick Peterson
Behind the Reins — Directed by Adam Zuehlke
Language Back — Directed by Dusan Harminc
*Grave Expectations — Directed by Larry Ziegelman (BMA Nominee)
Off the Street Club Video — Directed by Chan C. Smith
In the Jungle — Directed by Ky Dickens
A Cold One — Directed by Ross Phernetton, Brett Schnacky, and Derek Bitter
We Carry You With Us, Always — Directed by Greg Shultz
*BMA Nominee