Detroit, USA | Sept. 18-21, 2025
2025 BETTER CITIES FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Sat. Sept 20
Saturday, Sept. 20 3:00 - 4:30 PM
Campus Martius Park, 800 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48226
NATURE’S NEIGHBORHOODS
57 MINS
STORIES OF PEOPLE CARING FOR THE WILD WHERE THEY LIVE
Film Lineup:
Broken Flight - Erika Valenciana, Mitchell Wenkus
Where the Water Goes - Grace Sullivan
Us & The Trees - Faith Briggs Rose
Alabama Roots - Kaleb Manske, Hannah Schoettmer
Presented by
Broken Flight
Duration
0:18:00
Synopsis
Winding through the maze of downtown Chicago, the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors work alongside the Field Museum and Willowbrook Wildlife Center to rescue birds that collide with windows, and study the birds that are killed during their annual migrations. The tenderhearted work presents a lens of environmental change that impacts every landscape.
Festival Statement - It’s a poignant reminder that a city’s greatness is measured not only by its architecture, but by how gently it holds the wild lives that pass through.
Directed by
Erika Valenciana, Mitchell Wenkus
Where the Water Goes
Duration
0:14:16
Synopsis
In Tacony Creek Park, home to one of Philadelphia's lesser-known watersheds, Julie Slavet and Malcolm Bundy reflect on their involvement with and love for the park, made bittersweet by the continuous and increasing amount of pollution that flows into its river. Combined wastewater and stormwater sewage outfalls have affected Philadelphia's rivers for years, but as one innovative program mitigates this for the Schuylkill and Delaware, Tacony gets left behind. Scientist Laura Toran educates the audience on green infrastructure and its potential positive impacts, while Slavet and Bundy discuss how they're still waiting—not without hope—for those impacts to reach their community.
Festival Statement - A grassroots effort to preserve Philadelphia’s watershed comes alive through the eyes of dedicated organizers. This short demonstrates how urban communities can protect and create public green spaces, showing that even in stressed neighborhoods, caring for natural resources enhances city life for everyone.
Directed by
Grace Sullivan
Us & The Trees
Duration
0:06:00
Synopsis
Aparna and Jayaram are raising their kids to live a life outside. Bike touring, camping and sleeping under the stars are part of how they build the moral compass for their children's world.
Festival Statement - A tender portrait of a family who bikes and camps together, this short celebrates connection to nature and simple living. While more an interstitial for a camping outfitter than a city-focused story, it’s a reminder that fostering community and shared experiences—whether urban or rural—can enrich our lives.
Directed by
Faith Briggs Rose
Alabama Roots
Duration
0:18:39
Synopsis
In "Alabama Roots", we travel across Alabama rediscovering our native plants, meeting passionate plant people along the way who are making changes big and small in hopes of preserving the last vestiges of once vast ecosystems and Alabama’s unprecedented botanical biodiversity.
Festival Statement - This moving portrait of Alabama’s rare native plants reveals both the beauty at stake and the courage of those fighting to protect it. By linking backyards, businesses, and wild places, it shows that preserving biodiversity preserves the soul of a community.
Directed by Kaleb Manske, Hannah Schoettmer
Saturday, Sept. 20 5:00 - 7:00 PM
Campus Martius Park, 800 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48226
1:38 MINS
Feature Film
THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD
Film Lineup:
The Little Things that Run the World - Doug Hawes-Davis
Presented by
The Little Things That Run The World
Duration
1:37:09
Synopsis
THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD introduces viewers to a diverse group of scientists, nature lovers, gardeners, farmers, and general bug enthusiasts in exploring the importance of flying insects amid rapid declines in their numbers. This most numerous group of animals on the planet by far - three quarters of all species - have also been called the “glue of life” on Earth. They literally hold ecosystems together. Insects were the first animals to evolve flight nearly 440 million years ago, and they survived all five of the known mass extinctions since then. But, there is evidence that the pace of decline among insects in parts of the world today is fast approaching the levels of previous catastrophes. What this means for the rest of life on Earth, including humans, is the focus of THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD. The film documents the mysteries of the declines along side creative and heroic human efforts to change the course of evolutionary history. What is causing this extinction crisis? What can be done to reverse the trend? THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD attempts to find answers to those questions and more.
Festival Statement - With enchanting visuals and playful vignettes, this film reveals how cities depend on global biodiversity, from insects to plants, to sustain life and human well-being. It’s a powerful reminder that urban life is deeply connected to the wider natural world, and that healthy cities require the vitality of all species
Directed by
Doug Hawes-Davis
Saturday, Sept. 20 8:00 - 10:00 PM
Campus Martius Park, 800 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48226
THE CITY WE WANT
STORIES OF BUILDING, BELONGING, AND BETTER DESIGN
80 MINS
Film Lineup:
Streets Make Cities - Daniel Lovering
I Went to America's Road Trip Hell - Phil Edwards
Why This Town Confronted Suburbia's Debt Trap - Rachel Leonardo, Seairra Jones
River City Rising - John Paget
Segregated By Design - Mark Lopez
Presented by
Streets Make Cities
Duration
0:10:28
Synopsis
When people think of cities, they often think of buildings. But it is streets rather than buildings that define cities, according to architect Stanton Eckstut, the narrator of "Streets Make Cities," a short film about the essential role of streets in urban life. Streets are where the life of a city occurs, and they are what we value and remember most about cities, he says.
"Streets Make Cities" takes viewers on a stroll down New York City's West 4th Street, guided by Eckstut, who points out the dazzling array of activities that play out on city streets every day.
Pedestrians, trees, wildlife, vehicles, bicycles, dogs—they all come together and compete for space on the street. "That balance, that tug-of-war, is exactly what makes it so special," Eckstut says.
"It's a place that we can learn lessons from and apply to many other locations," Eckstut says of West 4th Street, an historic thoroughfare in New York’s Greenwich Village. "Buildings of all types have grown up next to each other, but this space between the buildings has its own design.”
Festival Statement - Beautifully shot and thoughtfully paced, this film celebrates streets as the lifeblood of cities. Through vibrant visuals and engaging commentary, it highlights how streets foster social, economic, and cultural exchange, reminding us that the spaces between buildings are where urban life truly pulses.
Directed by
Daniel Lovering
I Went to America's Road Trip Hell
Duration
0:09:44
Synopsis
The host takes a trip to Breezeville, Pennsylvania to find out what happened in one of the United States' most notorious tourist traps.
Festival Statement - Through clever visuals and an engaging narration, this film turns Breezewood, PA, into a mirror of American highway culture. It’s a witty, thought-provoking meditation on how policy shapes place, reminding us that our roads carry the history—and the unintended consequences—of the choices we make.
Directed by
Phil Edwards
Why This Town Confronted Suburbia's Debt Trap
Duration
0:24:40
Synopsis
North American cities are beginning to face the reality of a decades-long, harmful development practice. A small town in Ohio, Maumee, is committed to addressing mistakes made in the past and building a place of resilience and financial stability. This is part of their story.
Festival Statement - Through a detailed, wonky look at a small town grappling with financial missteps, this video essay celebrates collaboration, accountability, and incremental civic improvement. It offers an instructive example of how engaged citizens can tackle systemic challenges.
Directed by
Rachel Leonardo, Seairra Jones
River City Rising
Duration
0:07:00
Synopsis
In Spokane, a growing city facing a housing crisis, planners and residents are rediscovering “Missing Middle Housing”—ADUs, duplexes, bungalow courts, and other human-scaled housing types once common but later outlawed by modern zoning. By embracing traditional neighborhood design, the city hopes to create homes that are both affordable and community-oriented—making space again for artists, working families, and the diverse mix that gives neighborhoods life.
Directed by
John Paget
Segregated By Design
Duration
0:17:42
Synopsis
Richard Rothstein, author of 'The Color of Law', narrates a fast-paced motion design film that illustrates the forgotten history of how all of the nation’s metropolitan areas became segregated by “de jure” segregation, racially explicit policy on the part of the federal, state and local governments. 'Segregated By Design' explores different subjects pertaining to residential segregation like many New Deal policies, racial zoning techniques like Redlining, the creation of slums, blockbusting, slum clearance, state-sponsored violence, the immense wealth gap between white families and African-American families, the effects of segregation and the constitutional remedy for the unconstitutional segregation.
Directed by Mark Lopez