Out of Reach: The Struggle for the American Dream To Premiere in Milwaukee Documentary Festival

New documentary chronicles four generations of Milwaukee workers facing the stark economic reality of a disappearing middle class. What happened to the American Dream?

Milwaukee, WI (PRUnderground) September 10th, 2026

Milwaukee Film Selects Out of Reach: The Struggle for the American Dream for Dialogues Documentary Festival Lineup

Milwaukee Film has selected Out of Reach: The Struggle for the American Dream, a gritty documentary five years in the making, for its 2026 Dialogues Documentary Festival. This screening marks the film’s theatrical premiere.

The festival runs Sept. 24-27, with Out of Reach screening at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at Milwaukee’s historic Oriental Theatre.

The film is the brainchild of Milwaukee attorney, artist, and filmmaker Faith Kohler, who directed the documentary, and her brother, Executive Producer Adam Najberg, a former Wall Street Journal journalist. Editor Luis Zerón Rugerio, who has worked on award-winning television productions for Netflix, HBO and others, shaped five years of footage and four decades of economic history into a well-paced 104-minute film. Out of Reach combines deeply developed characters, historical context and emotional storytelling through the intimate, visually striking cinematography of Colin Sytsma.

The film follows four generations of Milwaukee workers confronting a stark economic reality: Working 40 hours a week at a decent job no longer guarantees entry into the middle class, let alone the ability to remain there. Told in three acts, Out of Reach chronicles a group of workers grappling with real-life challenges that workers similarly face in other cities across the United States: stagnant wages, the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of affordable healthcare, offshored work and job insecurity, strained from four decades of deindustrialization and trickle-down economic policy.

Central to the film are Milwaukee Alderman DiAndre Jackson, former Republican State Representative and businessman Mark Honadel, former Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, iron worker Randy “Iron Stache” Bryce, labor organizers Mike Bink and Decorah Gordon, political commentator and former Editor of The Bulwark Charlie Sykes and former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel journalist John Schmid.

At the nexus of the story is Master Lock, the iconic Milwaukee manufacturer once emblematic of the city’s industrial strength. During five years of filming, company leadership declined requests to speak with Kohler and co-director and former Wall Street Journal journalist John W. Miller. After 103 years in Milwaukee, Master Lock ultimately closed its plant in 2024, eliminating approximately 330 jobs.

The shutdown becomes a larger symbol in the film of the final-stage erosion of Milwaukee’s industrial economy. While the city has experienced significant redevelopment and gentrification, its transition toward a service-based economy remains incomplete, with persistent challenges involving population loss and economic growth that lags the national average.

Out of Reach: The Struggle for the American Dream will screen at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Oriental Theatre’s Abele Cinema, followed by a moderated talkback with cast and crew.

Milwaukee Film’s Dialogues Documentary Festival is presented by Potawatomi Casino Hotel and runs Sept. 24-27, 2026.

For more information, please contact Adam Najberg at adam.najberg@hakawatiproductions.com or Faith Kohler at fnkohler@gmail.com