MADISON COUNTY
A Documentary Film Project

The residents of Madison County, Nebraska, were stunned when a foiled bank robbery resulted in the deaths of five innocent people at a local bank in 2002. The violent actions of the shooters – all members of the Latino community in the county – heightened tensions between the Anglo and Latino communities as residents struggled with issues surrounding loss of trust and personal safety. The documentary film “Madison County” will examine a small community’s lost sense of security in the wake of this explosive and deadly crime.

In this multi-racial rural community, the bank murders shocked Madison County residents and further impacted race relations. In the weeks following the crime, many residents reacted with unease: some business owners refused service to Latinos, and some local bank tellers left their jobs for fear of future incidents.

”Madison County” portrays the stories of two families directly affected by the 2002 bank murders. Both families – one Anglo, one Latino – are connected by their shared experiences of loss and healing.

Scenes of the two families in their daily lives, at work and school and interacting with the community, illustrate their shared set of values and similarities in lifestyle. The unique challenges both families face suggest the overarching changes affecting all Madison County residents in the wake of the crime. Short segments featuring various residents show direct and indirect consequences of the shootings and provide the atmosphere in which the two central stories occur.

“Madison County” will be filmed on location in the neighboring towns of Norfolk and Madison, Nebraska, where a large Latino community has settled since the 1980s. In Madison – where the county’s last operational meatpacking plant is located – over a third of the population is Latino. This shift proved difficult for longtime residents, many with little exposure to the unique culture and diversity of the new populace. As Latinos move into heavily Anglo communities, both groups are faced with the fear of losing their identity and way of life when adapting to a different culture.

Aplomb Films is an Omaha-based film collaborative founded in 2006 by Michelle Kohrs, Lauren Van Buskirk and Tessa Wedberg. Aplomb Films began research and development for “Madison County” in November 2006, studying rural communities in Nebraska that underwent a significant demographic shift in the past decade.

Aplomb Films is collaborating with individuals from the Madison County Attorney’s Victim/Witness Unit, the University of Nebraska-Omaha Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) and Nebraska Independent Film Projects (NIFP) in the development and production of “Madison County.” Funding for the production of “Madison County” is provided in part by the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.