news, reviews and interviews / thorn creek productions / Seth McClellan

Sat Sept 20 - SHINERS at Global Peace Film Festival - Orlando, FL - closing night film

"We've got to actively and intentionally create structure to support people having meaning and purpose in life. This is what the humanities are for - this is what art is for - saying, I am me. I am human. This is my story." WATCH

Sun Sept 14 - Oak Park IL Film Festival

Winner - Best Director - Sat Aug 16 - SHINERS at Big Sandy Film Festival in Louisa, KY

SHINERS at FolkFest in Cumberland, Gap TN on Sat, Aug 9 at 2 pm in the Cumberland Gap Convention Center

"A celebration of youth, place, and the transformational power of storytelling."

SHINERS at Richmond, KY Cinemark - June 22, 2025 - tickets

Winner - Best Documentary 2025 Pottsville Film Festival

Winner - Jury Prize for Directing - Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival Beyond Program

SHINERS premiere - Winner - Best Documentary, March 2025 - Lindsey Film Festival

SHINERS: VOICES FROM OWSLEY COUNTY

WATCH - an excerpt from OTHERS BEFORE SELF - music and images

GUARANTEED IN GARY - WATCH on PBS YouTube

GUARANTEED IN GARY at Indyshorts and Middlebury New Filmmakers

GUARANTEED IN GARY at Milwaukee Film Festival and Cleveland International Film Festival

LISTEN to HEART OF ALL Lakota Oral History Project and WATCH the video introduction, National Endowment for the Humanities

"Tibetans in China continue to be imprisoned and tortured and killed, but the refugee community in India remains committed to teaching nonviolence and compassion - others before self." CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"I’m not sure the western obsession with individualism and personal journeys has actually made us happier or more functional in the long term. We worship a person and think they are the best ever or we demonize them as sacrifices for our sins. Our outrage or adulation blinds us to the larger complex reality." KNOCKTURNAL

"where they can model compassionate nonviolent behaviour" WATCH 20 minute interview with Seth, Global Peace Film Festival

"How does a culture survive while under threat from a dominant power?" WEDNESDAY JOURNAL

"this moving, beautifully shot documentary" CINEFILE

support or sponsor a student at Tibetan Children's Village HERE

Screening Sunday, March 20, 2022 in the West Village, NYC - Socially Relevant Film Festival - join us for a Q and A after with Seth and Tencho Gyatso TICKETS for Cinema Village

Best Director NOMINEE Seattle Film Festival

Best Karma Award WINNER Awareness Film Festival

Best Socio-Political Film WINNER Helsinki Educational Film Festival

streaming and screening, fall and winter 2021 - Global Peace Film Festival, Awareness Film Festival, Helsinki Educational Film Festival, I Will Tell International Film Festival, ChangeFest

Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago - streaming summer 2021

OTHERS BEFORE SELF on FACEBOOK

LITTLE WOUND'S WARRIORS - "stunningly beautiful" TIMEOUT

"complex and hopeful" BARBARA SCHARRES

"stark, vivid composition" VILLAGE FREE PRESS

"stunning aerial shots" CHICAGO READER

"complex experiences and deep wisdom" CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"respect and practicality, instead of demonizing our opponents" 5th AVENUE JOURNAL

wounded knee graveyard

LITTLE WOUND'S WARRIORS on FACEBOOK

Amazon Prime WATCH "This is so valuable!"

Audience Choice, Best Feature Documentary - One Nation Film Festival in Colorado Springs

LITTLE WOUND'S WARRIORS winner of Best Public Service award - American Indian Film Festival

seth in sister carrie

Seth acting in Daniel Nearing's new movie SISTER CARRIE

Films of Complex Faith interview LISTEN Holden Village podcast

CREATIVE WRITING is a "startling drama...truth is a sliding scale" GENE SISKEL FILM CENTER

"tough, provocative, honest and intelligent" WHITE CITY CINEMA

"verisimilitude...got it just right" CHICAGO READER

"Resentment, racism, yearning for fame - they're all roiling" CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"honest, realistic portrayal" GAPERS BLOCK, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

seth in creative writing

Creative Writing WATCH Amazon Prime

"heightened sense of reality" REEL CHICAGO

"the slipperiness of truth" CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"vulnerable in unexpected ways" OAKPARK.COM

Creative Writing at INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS SHOWCASE in L.A. - BEST FEATURE nominee

NewCity Film 50, 2014 SETH MCCLELLAN

GOALIE premieres at Vancouver International Film Festival

CHICAGO HEIGHTS - "brilliant" and on Roger Ebert's Best Art Films of 2010

Seth interviewed in WHITE CITY CINEMA about CHICAGO HEIGHTS

press coverage of BEVEL'S LAST SERMON
OAK LEAVES WEDNESDAYJOURNAL

WATCH BEVEL'S LAST SERMON

King in Chicago WATCH Amazon Prime

king in chicago on wttw

Seth McClellan on NPR about KING IN CHICAGO LISTEN

“In every major city you go into now, there is this land grab on one side, and ‘What are we gonna do with poor people?’ on the other side.” CHICAGO READER

"You can't end hate through legislation, but it was a pretty good start." CHICAGO SUN-TIMES