big sky documentary film festival

Mexiphobia
Screens Sun., Feb. 17, 10 a.m.
Director: Nevie Owens

"Everything's quiet, no one plays music anymore, there's really nothing to buy and nothing to do," says Danielle Gallo of Boquillas, a small town in Northern Mexico. "Everything has a feeling of destitution and despair, and it's not a happy place anymore. It's depressing."

Boquillas and other border towns along the Rio Grande River opposite Big Bend National Park suffocated from their isolation when visitors stopped flowing across the border from the United States: in 2002, three crossings were abruptly closed in the name of Homeland Security. Their struggles are portrayed in the documentary Mexiphobia, showing this weekend at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula. [more]

Missoula Children's Theatre Documentary

"Nobody likes me because I smell like feet," young, boisterous actors shout out one after the other. The director then tells them to holler like a scary monster that lives in the closet. So begins the documentary about the Missoula Children's Theatre The Little Red Truck by Missoula filmmakers Pam Voth and Rob Whitehair, set to be released at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

MCT has taken its show on the road for more than 30 years, empowering kids in communities around the world. They pull their red trucks into towns, hold auditions, rehearse tirelessly, and after six days a cast of little actors hits the stage in front of family and friends -- and they're all a little different than they were just six days before. [more]

Documentary Looks at Wolf Reintroduction

No wildlife species is as iconic and controversial as the wolf. Canis Lupus is a symbol of wildness and healthy ecosystems to some, but to others it is a callous killer and an economic threat.

Loathed and loved, the American Gray Wolf has gone through a tumultuous history in the West. They were hunted as vermin to virtual extinction by the early 20th Century, reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, and now are around 1,500-strong across the Northern Rockies. Biologists say wolves are officially recovered in the West and should be removed from the Endangered Species List, but – true to form – disagreements over wolf management between pro-wolf and anti-wolf groups has delisting at a standstill.

In 1999, journalist William Campbell began a documentary film to tell the story of what wolf reintroduction meant for people living in wolf territory. The result, “Wolves in Paradise,” sheds invaluable light on this story, giving a face and a voice to the many people trying to live with this species. [more]

Introducing...

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In the Spring Issue and online here:

• Montana’s Cash Cowboy
• Real Ranch Living: Not Everyone is Selling Out
• Essay: The Family Farm, Version 2.0
• Essay: Tracks Across A Landscape
• Have Your Ranch & Develop It, Too
• Design Showcase: The Big and Little of Western Building
• Stuff It: Can Wolf Hunting Help Conserve the Species?
• Traffic Perplexes New Western Communities
• Boise in Its Own Little Bubble
• Revenge of the Resource Economy
• Spotlight North Idaho: On the Agenda: Youth, Growth & Silver
• Spotlight North Idaho: Players of the Panhandle
• Spotlight North Idaho: Coeur d’Alene Tribe Rides the Idaho Boom

[more]

By Robert Struckman, 2-01-08 | comments (23) | email story | print story

 

Saving Snow, Saving Lives

Sam Porter is on to something; if you want a skier’s attention, talk about snow. Porter (Porterhouse Productions) is about to take this attention-grabber to a whole new level.

Avalaunch – Porter’s latest “medium for change” through the arts and environment– begins this week at the Salt Lake City Outdoor Retailer Show at The Depot, January 24, 25 and 26. The hybrid event is the launching pad for what Porter hopes will be a nation-wide tour through 21 major North American ski communities bringing entertainment, education and sustainability together in an effort to save lives and snow.

“There are 200 million skiers all over the world,” Porter says. “I know skiers that almost love snow more than their kids. Snow reaches a demographic of this planet that is incredibly passionate about this world because they love it.”

The focus of Avalaunch is two-fold: raising avalanche awareness and reducing global warming contributions from the many, many people who rely on snow for fun and survival. [more]

February 14-20, 2008

Official selections for the 2008 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival are now on-line, here. See complete list after the jump.

From February 14 - 20, 2008, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival celebrates its 5th year by showcasing 98 films from 40 countries. The official selections represent a broad array of filmmaking styles, formats and production dates, from classics to World Premieres. The 2008 films were selected from nearly 1000 submissions from across the globe. [more]

The Time of Their Lives (Again)

However perfect or awful one’s prom may have been, the Bozeman Adult Prom proves that with enough willing, nostalgic partners, it’s never too late to experience the big night all over again. For those who never graced the dimly lit gymnasium floor in high school, the Adult Prom provides a perfect chance to unleash those pent up dance moves and ultra-cool attitudes buried deep inside for so long.

The original adult prom went down at a Bozeman house party. The event soon got so big that founder Phil Baribeau had to move the dance to its present home, the Eagles Lodge in downtown Bozeman. After Baribeau moved, current organizers Caitlin Magbee and Julianne Scuman happily took the helm of the prom committee.

The 2007 Adult Prom was unforgettable. There were corsages, crimped hairdos and hairsprayed bangs. There were flasks, frilled shirts, Max Headroom sunglasses and mascara-smeared faces. Glittery bodies grooved to synthesizer beats, and best of all, there was plenty of making out and no chaperones to stop it.

Click here or on the image to view photos from this very special night. [more]

Two Bozeman Shows Saturday

You have to love the indie music community and the speed at which unassuming but talented, dedicated musicians can rise through its ranks. Take, for example, Band of Horses: Ben Bridwell moves from South Carolina to Seattle where he at one point becomes happily homeless, works at the legendary Crocodile Café, plays in an obscure band for awhile, forms a new band with fellow southerners, joins longtime friend Sam Beam of Iron & Wine at a Subpop Records dinner and within months has a record deal. And not only has a record deal, but also goes on to produce a really, really good album that everybody loves.

Such is the life now of Ben Bridwell and Band of Horses. The band just released another great album—Cease to Begin—and are in the first stages of a tour that will take them to Bozeman this Saturday and then across the U.S. and Europe.

Bridwell’s Southern sentiment and love of straightforward rock and roll render a decidedly simple, gritty, guitar-driven sound, and his echoing, sheer voice cuts to the chase of his words. On Cease to Begin, Bridwell fully takes the sound formed in Seattle back to his Southern roots. [more]

Three Beer Awards on the Wall, Three Beer Awards…

Montanans are not afraid of beer, nor are they afraid to brew the stuff. There are 18 breweries in Montana, and though it may not seem like a huge number, it is significant for a state with less than one million citizens. Per capita, only Nevada, North Dakota and New Hampshire consume more beer per capita than Montana.

One brewery in particular is celebrating one of the top brewing honors in the United States: the Montana Brewing Company in Billings recently won the “Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year” award at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado. The Billings brewery also took home a gold medal for its Whitetail Wheat and two silvers for its Custer’s Last Stout and its Sandbagger Gold Ale.

For head brewer Travis Zeilstra, brewing doesn’t get any better. “This is the ultimate goal, to be one of the brewers of the year,” Zeilstra says. “Not many people can say they’ve done that.” [more]

many scenes too rude to mention

Just ask a husband to go to a performance of “My Fair Lady” and note his facial expression, which will be universal for “oh please no don’t make me.”

Then ask him to accompany you to Monty Python’s SPAMALOT, the musical based on the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, and see what you get. My musical-loathing guy said yes.

If yours isn’t quite convinced, tell him there will be flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits, and a legless knight, live on stage. [more]