Flag Day
Release Date: June 12, 2026
Running Time: 75 min
Director: Andrew Shea, Melissa Shea
Producers: Andrew Shea, Melissa Shea
Editors: Andrew Shea, Melissa Shea
Featuring: Featuring: Shelly Taylor, Deborah Dunphy, Mya Thomas, Dyane Thomas-Niemzyk, Jason Niemzyk, Lyn Isbell, Dewey Foster, Allen "Skip" Kaiser, Monty Dunning, Albert Brayboy Jr., Rick Strauss, Albert Lee Brayboy, Levi Strauss, Marco Chavarry, Alexis McCarthy, Heather Whitlow, Barry Brown, Michael Shannon, Billy Donner, Bill Donner Sr., Barbara Donner, Laverne Brayboy, Chuck Heit, Jason Long
SYNOPSIS
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.