FLAG DAY - Co-directors Melissa Shea & Andrew Shea

Set in the small farming community of Three Oaks, Michigan — home to the nation’s largest Flag Day parade — Flag Day is a verité portrait of ritual, identity, and belonging in an era of deep political division. Somewhere between tradition and transformation lies this village, whose annual parade has become a pageant of American aspiration and memory. Over the course of Flag Day weekend, the film immerses viewers in the lives of a diverse cross-section of townspeople: veterans, local business owners, marching bands, and volunteers who, for one weekend each June, create an event that is at once nostalgic and reflective of the tensions of our time. Their stories reveal both the beauty and the fragility of community life in a time of polarization. Flag Day was filmed in an observational, verité style, capturing moments of humor, conflict, and grace as the community prepares for its defining ritual. The film offers a ground-level portrait of civic life — a portrait that holds both the good and the hard truths of being American. The project asks what binds us together today and whether those bonds can still be renewed.

About the filmmaker - Andrew Shea (Director, Producer, Editor) is an award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter who has enjoyed success in film, television, and theatre. His films have screened at several of the most prestigious and selective film festivals in the world: the Cannes Film Festival Critics Week, the Sundance Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, DOC NYC, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the Austin Film Festival, and SXSW. Andrew is a professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

About the filmmaker - Melissa Shea (Director, Producer, Editor) is a creative and versatile filmmaker who worked in commercials in Los Angeles before making the switch to feature films. Her narrative and documentary work has screened at major film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), DOC NYC, Austin, and Tribeca. Her creative partnership with co-director Andrew Shea began at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where they collaborated on the short film Take My Breath Away, which was invited to screen in the International Critics’ Week section at the Cannes Film Festival.