New Westerners

The Man Behind the Screen: Northside’s David Macasaet

By Courtney Lowery, 6-28-05

	David Macasaet Photo by Scott Poniewaz/New West

David Macasaet is right, Missoula’s Northside just has something. It’s in the air, on the streets, in the backyards and parks and community spaces. It’s hard to describe, but it’s a feeling of progressiveness, of cohesiveness. Macasaet says that’s the vibe he got when he first moved to the first move to the Northside and that’s the vibe that made him stay on the Northside.

“I immediately felt the feeling of community and the spirit for change,� Macasaet says.

There are a number of things making the Northside standout these days: The Food Co-Op, the new Gold Dust Apartments, the Clark Fork Commons project and Macasaet’s baby, the Missoula Outdoor Cinema.

“The community was giving me so much, it was only natural for me to jump in,� he says.

He had worked for several years with AmeriCorps with his final stop as the state program director for Montana. Then, through his involvement with the North Missoula Development Corp. (which has helped bring all of the above to the neighborhood), he started the cinema four years ago.

It seems to be the perfect gig for Macasaet, an artist with a social conscience. He is very obviously devoted to two main things: his film work and his community. The outdoor cinema gives him an outlet for both.

In his travels to Seattle, Macasaet had seen what an outdoor cinema did do for the neighborhood of Fremont and it sparked an idea.

“The concept is not new, it was just something that wasn’t here,� he says.

When he did bring it here, it was a hit. In 2003, the cinema’s first full season, a total of 2,000 people attended. The schedule has since expanded and now, on average, 200 people show up each Saturday night for screenings at the old Whittier School on Phillips and Worden.

This year’s season kicks off this Saturday with a showing of Woody Allen’s Sleeper and it will run every Saturday night until a finale with Dr. Strangelove on August 27. The lineup is chock-full of old favorites and new classics (like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which I refuse to miss) with a bits of local works (like Macasaet’s own Donuts at Night) and historical footage mixed in between.

Macasaet says last years series of shorts, including local works from the likes of Andy Smetanka, was wildly popular. Giving local artists such an outlet just sweetens the deal, he says.

For the full summer schedule, click here

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