Nick Beaulieu on “My Omaha,” a Tale of Divisions and Efforts to Bridge Them

October 2, 2026

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is documentary filmmaker Nick Beaulieu, the director of a personal and thought-provoking film called “My Omaha,” which will have its broadcast premiere on the PBS series Independent Lens on Oct 5. The film will also be available on the PBS app and its YouTube channel on the same day.
 
Set in Omaha, Nebraska — where the legacies of Malcolm X, racial segregation, and political division still shape everyday life — the film follows filmmaker Nick as he documents his city’s racial justice movement while attempting to reconnect with his terminally ill father Randy, a staunch Trump supporter.
 
As Nick delves deeper into North Omaha’s struggle and resilience, the film becomes an intimate portrait of family, race, and the uneasy search for truth inside modern America.
 
At the same time, Nick begins filming a series of increasingly difficult conversations with his father Randy, a conservative Christian and devoted Trump supporter, whose sudden diagnosis of stage-4 cancer forces both men to confront the emotional and political distance between them before time runs out.
 
What begins as a documentary about political division gradually becomes something more intimate and unsettling: a reckoning with identity, legacy, community, and the unresolved contradictions at the heart of America.
 

Making Media Now—which is available on all podcast platforms including YouTube–is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.
 
About the host: http://www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 
Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead