VIP Watch Party featuring Independent Lens film Storm Lake

Join Iowa PBS virtually on Tuesday, October 26 at 7 p.m. for a VIP Watch Party featuring Storm Lake, a film from Independent Lens. This documentary features the Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Art Cullen and his family as they fight to unite and inform their rural Iowan farming community through their biweekly newspaper, The Storm Lake Times, even as the paper hangs on by a thread. Twice a week, they work to give citizens the scoop on forces threatening to overwhelm their precarious small-town existence.

“It’s a beautiful film,” Cullen said. “It’s a timely reflection on civic engagement that starts with an informed electorate. Journalism is the foundation of democracy but it’s withstanding economic and political attacks that erode our civic life.”

Following the hour-long program, Art Cullen and filmmakers Jerry Risius and Beth Levison will join the conversation via video to discuss the film and the importance of credible journalism. Through the online shared media viewing platform, audience members can discuss the film and ask questions during the live discussion.

Register for free for the VIP Watch Party.

Independent Lens: Storm Lake will premiere on statewide Iowa PBS November 15, 2021 at 9 p.m.