2011 Press & News
December 2011
Mountain lion film made by MSU grads kicks off Nat Geo Big Cat Week
BOZEMAN -- A film made by a group of graduates of Montana State University's Science and Natural Filmmaking program will
lead off National Geographic's second annual Big Cat Week at 6 and 9 p.m. Dec. 11 on the Nat Geo WILD channel.
Grizzly Creek Films "Stalking the Mountain Lion with Casey Anderson," leads off programming for the seven-night Big Cat Week
series that features stories about nature's fiercest felines and the people working to save them at 6 p.m. Sunday.
"American Cougar," a film featuring Bozeman-based scientist Howard Quigley, follows. "Stalking" will repeat at 9 p.m. The members of Grizzly Creek Films will be on hand at a premiere event that begins at 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at PUB 317 in Bozeman. "Stalking the Mountain Lion" is the latest one-hour television production from Grizzly Creek Films. Filmed in the backcountry outside Yellowstone National Park throughout the winter of 2010-11, "Stalking the Mountain Lion"
features local residents Casey Anderson and cat tracker Tyler Johnerson as they track and film "the ghost of the Rockies." The show blends high-speed imagery, advanced camera technology and compelling natural behavior.
Grizzly Creek Films is a Bozeman-based production company formed by graduates of MSU's MFA program. The company specializes in natural history, commercial, documentary and narrative productions for clients in Montana and worldwide.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by the MSU News Service.
November 2011
Mansion backdrop for French Revolution film
One of Butte’s historic mansions has proven to be a picture perfect location for a budding filmmaker. Montana State University student Wyatt Maw needed an old home to shoot his film, which is a period piece set during the French Revolution. To his surprise, he found the Charles W. Clark Chateau, formerly called the Arts Chateau.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said Wednesday while filming at that location at 321 W. Broadway St. “When I saw it I said, ‘this has got to be in my film.’ ”
Fellow students spent the day filming an important scene inside the building. Since the film is set in 18th century France, Wyatt needed a place that would match this period. He discovered the Clark Chateau after going to the Film Montana Office website. Wyatt said he had no idea the mansion existed. On a scouting trip a few weeks ago, he toured the chateau.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by John Grant Emeigh of the Montana Standard. Photo credit - Walter Hinick.
October 2011
Geographic Channel films central Montana Hutterite colony for new series
A National Geographic crew is filming a
documentary about a Hutterite colony in
central Montana, hoping to give viewers an
inside look at one of the country's most
misunderstood people. Several weeks ago, the National
Geographic Channel began following a
Dariusleut colony outside of Lewistown. The
network is planning to use the footage in a
10-part series tentatively titled "One Big
Family: The Hutterites," to air sometime in
2012.
Because of a confidentiality agreement, the
network declined to name the colony that
will be featured but said it is one of the
smaller colonies in the state, with just 59
members.
Jeff Collins, the director of the National
Geographic Channel production, said the
film will show Hutterite people telling their
own story without an outside narrator. The
series will be told through the colony
members' words and day-to-day
interactions. Collins said the story focuses on one
particular colony and will not be a
commentary on the entire Hutterite
population.
"(The colony) is taking somewhat of a risk
by doing it this way, and there may be
some Hutterites who don't agree with the
way they tell their story," Collins said. "(But)
I think the show is going to be amazing —
no one has ever had this kind of access
before."
Collins said viewers might be surprised
with how the colony deals with modern
problems.
"The documentary is not a valentine, they
have problems, trials and tribulations and
issues just like any other family does,"
Collins said. "The way they solve them is
what's interesting to us because they
believe in resolving them when problems
come up whereas a lot of families can be
passive aggressive and let things fester
until it turns into a bad wound that can't
heal anymore."
Woven into those conflicts is the struggle to determine how many modern conveniences
to accept into their lives.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Jake Sorich of the Great Falls Tribune. Photo credit - National Geographic Channel / Ben Shank.
October 2011
HISTORY'S "Ax Men" Shoots in Northwestern Montana
Emmy Award-winning Original Productions, known for its non-fiction programming featuring everyday heroes in extraordinary situations, is currently shooting its fifth season of HISTORY's "Ax Men" in northwestern Montana. The reality documentary series follows logging crews as they brave the extreme dangers of the industry.
Northwestern Montana has a long history of logging. Its thick forests have been the source of income to loggers for generations; yet, their beauty remains. Pine, fir and larch trees carpet remote mountainsides and border alpine lakes, providing scenic backdrops to filmmakers who wish to capture the danger or the serenity of the Montana wilderness.
Locations and incentive package, visit www.montanafilm.com.
Click here for a PDF of the P3 Update article. Photo credit Michelle Niland.
October 2011
Locals part of national TV show
The TV show “America’s Most Wanted” will feature the search for David Burgert, an ex-militia leader from Flathead County, during the show’s season premier which airs Saturday on Fox. Whitefish folks may recognize a few faces during the show. Morgan Phelps, Brian Cain and R.J. Buzzard all had roles in a reenactment for the show. Local residents Noma Buzzard and Liz Cain also assisted with production for the show.
The “America’s Most Wanted” crew recently spent time in Missoula and the Flathead Valley filming. Reenactments were shot in Lolo and the Trumble Creek area. Many Montana residents, including Flathead and Missoula law enforcement officers, participated in the shoot.
The show, in an episode listed as “50 Fugitives in 50 States,” is featuring the story of David Burgert, who in June shot at Missoula County sheriff’s deputies and fled into the woods. Burgert is known for his affiliation with the group Project 7.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Heidi Desch of the Whitefish Pilot.
October 2011
History channel features northcentral Montana custom cutterCut Bank farmer Roger Sammons’ interstate custom-harvest crew will be one of three custom cutters featured on a four-part History Channel show called “Harvest” that starts this Thursday.
Sammons is proud of the honor, but a little wary.
“I’m a bit nervous about what’s going to be on the shows,” he said. “History Channel producers and cameramen spent parts of three weeks with us in Montana, Kansas and Colorado. They had their cameras and microphones running during most of those 16-hour days. They picked up everything and, depending on how they edit it, could make us look like heroes or jerks.”
A promotion on the History Channel’s website indicates the shows will lean toward the dramatic and emphasize the crews’ hard work and valor.
“‘Harvest’ follows three custom-harvesting crews as they dash from border to border on a six-month cannon-ball run, chasing crops and millions in cash,” it says. “As these hard-core harvesters driving monster machines dash from one job to the next, they are only one mistake away from losing a job — or their lives. The clock is always ticking, and man, machine or Mother Nature could wipe them out at any moment. But like true American heroes filled with courage and grit, they put their lives on the line every day because they love what they’re doing.”
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Peter Johnson of the Great Falls Tribune.
October 2011
Local filmmaker to screen Banff Grand Prize winning documentary at Procrastinator Theater
BOZEMAN, MT, September 28, 2011 – Devolution Films and the MSU School of Film and Photography will present Mi Chacra (My Land), the feature length documentary debut of MSU alum Jason Burlage, at the Procrastinator Theater in the Strand Union Building on the campus of Montana State University on October 22nd at 6:30pm. Burlage will be in attendance and will answer questions after the screening.
Mi Chacra world premiered at the Starz Denver Film Festival in November of 2009, and has gone on to screen at festivals around the world, including the prestigious Margaret Mead Film Festival at the Museum of Natural History in New York City, and South America’s top documentary festival It’s All True in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The film has won several awards, including the Grand Prize at the 2010 Banff Mountain Film Festival.
With breathtaking views of the Peruvian Andes as a backdrop, the film tells the story of Feliciano, an indigenous Peruvian farmer who works as a porter on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in hopes of some day taking his son to live in the city. Framed by the seasons, Mi Chacra chronicles one year in Feliciano’s life, from the planting season in his community to the harvest, and through a season of work on the Inca Trail. It paints a vivid picture of this man’s world, of the conflict between his love of the land and the desire to see his son living what he sees as a better life in the city.
Burlage studied film in the Media and Theatre Arts program at Montana State University. He first went to Peru as staff and then director for a program that conducted community service projects in small villages in the area known as the Sacred Valley. It was during one trip that a Peruvian friend told him about the situation of the porters on the Inca Trail and the disappearing culture of the indigenous people. Many porters are subsistence farmers who leave their communities to work on the trail and have difficulty adapting to the outside world. Burlage was struck by this story and knew there was a film to be made. He spent a total of five months filming Feliciano and his family.
Tickets for the screening will be $12 for general admission and $10 for students, and can be purchased at the door or in advance at Cactus Records. For more information, go to www.michacrafilm.com, or contact Jason Burlage at jason@michacrafilm.com. Sponsored in part by the MSU School of Film and Photography.
Click here for a PDF of the full press release.
September 2011
On the Set: It's taken a state to make 'Winter in the Blood'
The film has been a labor of love for Montanans from the governor on down. It was made by local-boys-made-good (the Smith brothers), funded locally and based on a novel by a local Native American author.
Reporting from Havre, Mont. ——
If, as has been said, Montana is a small town with really long streets, that's never more true than in the remote but stunning area known as the Hi-Line.
Originally created by the tracks of the Great Northern Railway, this region close to the Canadian border features venerable hamlets such as Cut Bank, Shelby and Rudyard ("596 Nice People, One Sorehead") strung out along U.S. 2 like links in a long and stubborn chain. "When you drive Highway 2," says Chaske Spencer, shaking his head, "you really go back in time."
Despite brooding grain elevators dominating the skyline and lonesome freight trains bisecting the endless fields of winter wheat, no one has brought a movie star like Spencer — he plays werewolf Sam Uley, a mainstay of the "Twilight" series — to the Hi-Line in years. Until Alex and Andrew Smith's "Winter in the Blood," based on the landmark novel by James Welch and featuring Spencer, "Twilight" colleague Julia Jones, David Morse and Gary Farmer, filmed here this summer.
Brimming with so much vibrant Montana history and connections that the good wishes of the entire state have lined up behind it, "Winter" is the quintessential little film that has used what one crew member called "smoke and mirrors and miracles" to get made. A genuine passion project for everyone it's touched (including Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who made his plane available to fly in potential financiers and visited the set over the Labor Day weekend), the film got on its feet against considerable odds.
Welch, who died of a heart attack at age 62 in 2003, was a product of the Hi-Line, born in Browning of a Blackfeet father and Gros Ventre mother and raised on the Ft. Belknap Reservation. He put everything he knew about the area and about modern Native American life into "Winter in the Blood," a landmark debut novel published in 1974.
The story of a nameless young Native American man who struggles with his heritage and his life, who feels "as distant from myself as a hawk from the moon," "Winter" is a book where not a lot happens but everything is revealed. As costar Farmer explains, raising his outstretched arm ever so slightly, "the character's arc goes like this, nothing really changes. It's the audience who grows. I've known this author my whole life, and that's what I love about his writing."
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times. Photo taken by Patricia Williams.
September 2011
Montana Film Office competition attracting filmmakers to shoot on location
A new competition could help long-term plans to raise Montana’s profile as a production centre in the US. The Montana Film Office is offering production equipment and services worth USD20,000 to a filmmaker who can give the best reason why their project should be filmed in Montana.
Dubbed ‘Pitch the 406’, the competition is targeting new filmmakers working with low budgets. All they need to do is submit a three-minute film explaining why their project is ideally suited for Montana. This could be in the form of a straightforward pitch-to-camera or a more adventurous trailer or sample scene from their project, which can be in any genre or style.
Sten Iversen, Montana Film Commissioner, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for filmmakers who have the inspiration they need to shoot a movie in Montana. The contest also offers young and aspiring filmmakers great exposure to some of Hollywood’s very talented veterans, who are sitting on our judging panel.”
The judging panel will include Marty Katz, former Executive Vice President in charge of Motion Pictures and Television for Walt Disney Studios. There will also be Mike Fantasia, who first scouted Montana in the 1980s for Steven Spielberg’s Always and has worked with the director many times since.
The submission deadline for the competition is 30th November 2011 and the winner will be announced in the first week of January 2012.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Nick Goundry of The Location Guide.
September 2011
Governor offers support to 'Winter in the Blood'
HELENA (AP) — A new film based on a James Welch novel is being shot in Chinook and Havre.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer visited the set last week and says the film called "Winter in
the Blood" is a remarkable Montana story.
Missoula-born directors Alex and Andrew Smith developed the screenplay based
on Welch's coming of age story about Native American life in Montana, The pair
previously filmed the Montana-based movie "The Slaughter Rule."
The film stars Montana native Chaske Spencer from the Twilight series of movies,
David Morse and others.
The Montana Film Office says the movie is taking advantage of incentives offered
to movie production in the state.
Click here for a PDF of the full article from the Havre Daily News. Photo taken by Nikki Carlson/Havre Daily News.
September 2011
State incentives help directors produce movie in Chinook, HavreHELENA — A new film based on a James Welch novel is being shot in Chinook and Havre.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer visited the set last week and says the film called "Winter in the Blood" is a remarkable Montana story.
Missoula-born directors Alex and Andrew Smith developed the screenplay based on Welch's coming of age story about Native American life in Montana, The pair previously filmed the Montana-based movie "The Slaughter Rule."
The film stars Montana native Chaske Spencer from the Twilight series of movies, David Morse and others.
The Montana Film Office says the movie is taking advantage of incentives offered to movie production in the state.
Click here for a PDF of the full article from the Billings Gazette.
September 2011
"Winter In The Blood" filming on Montana Hi-Line
Hollywood has come to Montana again, this time with a movie being filmed in several communities along the Hi-Line. "Winter in the Blood" began shooting in August and has filmed in and near Chinook and Havre.
Missoula-born directors Alex and Andrew Smith - who also wrote and directed "The Slaughter Rule," which was also filmed in north-central Montana - are both award-winning filmmakers. They developed the screenplay based on James Welch's novel about Native American life in Montana. The brothers chose to film near Havre and Chinook to honor the authentic story and location of "Winter in the Blood". Welch (1940-2003), an acclaimed Native American author, drew inspiration for his first story while growing up on a ranch on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.
Governor Brian Schweitzer took note of the film, saying that he couldn't be more pleased with the Smith Brother's choice. Schweitzer noted, "This film is Montana. It's remarkable to see a Montana story, written by a Montana author, brought to life on the Hi-Line, by two very talented homegrown filmmakers."
Montana and Idaho native Chaske Spencer ("The Twilight Saga") stars as the main character, Virgil First Raise. The synopsis of the story reads: "Virgil First Raise embarks on a wild and comic odyssey to retrieve his renegade wife-- and the beloved rifle she stole. He ultimately finds: himself."
Click here for a PDF of the full article from KXLH.com.
September 2011
From Hollywood to Havre – the Film “Winter in the Blood” Shoots on Montana’s Hi-Line
(HELENA) – Governor Brian Schweitzer offered his support to a new Montana-made film by paying a visit to its set in Chinook.
“Winter in the Blood” began shooting on the Hi-Line in August, and has already captured the attention of both the national Native American community and Hollywood. Missoula-born directors Alex and Andrew Smith, (writers/directors of “The Slaughter Rule”) both award-winning filmmakers and professors at the Universities of Montana and Texas, developed the screenplay based on James Welch’s coming of age novel about Native American life in Montana. The brothers chose to film near Havre and Chinook to honor the authentic story and location of “Winter in the Blood”. Welch (1940-2003), an acclaimed Native American author, drew inspiration for his first story while growing up on a ranch on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, on the northern plains of central Montana.
Governor Schweitzer says he couldn’t be more pleased with the Smith Brother’s choice.
“This film is Montana,” said Governor Schweitzer. “It’s remarkable to see a Montana story, written by a Montana author, brought to life on the Hi-Line, by two very talented homegrown filmmakers.”
Montana and Idaho native, Chaske Spencer (“The Twilight Saga”), stars as the main character, Virgil First Raise. The cast also includes first-time actors from Montana’s Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy reservations along with Hollywood veterans, David Morse (“The Green Mile,” “The Hurt Locker”), Gary Farmer (“Smoke Signals”), Julia Jones (“The Twilight Saga”), and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (“Tombstone,” “Friday Night Lights”).
Smith Brothers say they are honored to receive the support of the communities on which the story is based, and it was important to them that the film, in turn, support those communities. By choosing to shoot Winter in the Blood on the Montana Hi-Line, the Smith Brothers are creating a series of symbiotic relationships that are allowing them to film this project with the spirit of James Welch at the forefront.
As producer Susan Kirr puts it, “We’re not tourists. We’re here to live and work with the people and be involved in the community.”
The Montana Film Office has worked closely with the Smith Brothers to bring this film to production in Montana. Over the last two years, the MFO has hosted two location scouting trips for the production team. In addition to free location scouting, “Winter in the Blood” is also taking advantage of other Studio 406 incentives offered by the MFO, including free office furniture and traffic control signage. For more information on the Montana film industry, its locations and incentives package, visit www.montanafilm.com.
Click here for the official press release.
September 2011
Local Filmmakers Seek to Compete in National Market
Helena, Montana – September 2nd, 2011 – Local Montana filmmakers Isaac Marble and Martin
Rogers are looking to bring their independently produced feature film, My Favorite Movie, to
national audiences by selling it at the American Film Market, the largest film market in North
America, in Santa Monica in November.
The Carroll College grads have spent several years fine tuning the film and are eager to see how
it stacks up on a nation scale, “We’re excited to see how our work is going to be received by
distributors and what kind of bargaining leverage we will have” says Marble.
My Favorite Movie is a family comedy centered around depressed office worker, Dave, and his
host of crazy friends seeking to break his slump. Marble acted as the primary producer while
Rogers directed the film.
Click here for a PDF of this press release. Photo credit Dream Team Cinema. Watch the trailer for the film here.
September 2011
Montana law enforcement featured in cable series
One night while on patrol, Yellowstone County Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Paris, then a deputy, responded to a disturbance at an area gas station involving an Iraq war veteran.
The incident ended up getting solved peacefully, with Paris driving the man home, but the entire incident was caught on tape and has been seen by people all over the country.
The incident was featured in a recent episode of the National Geographic Channel's television show "Frontier Force," which focuses on the day-to-day duties of law enforcement agencies across Montana.
"I think it's a good show," said Capt. Bill Michaelis. "It's a positive light and it's really edited well. It's really done very professionally."
Producers and camera crews spent about a year over 2010 and 2011 following agencies across the state.
Besides the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office, they spent time with the Billings, Missoula, Miles City and Darby police departments; the Custer, Gallatin, Missoula, Flathead and Roosevelt county sheriff's offices; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; and in Glendive with various agencies.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Zach Benoit of the Billings Gazette.
September 2011
Weeks Latest "Where the Yellowstone Goes" Begins FilmingLivingston, MT - A launch party was held on Friday, Aug. 26 at Yellowstone Valley Lodge
south of Livingston to celebrate a new film project titled, “Where the Yellowstone Goes.”
The film’s presenting sponsor, Trout Headwaters, Inc., along with other long-time
protectors of the Yellowstone River, welcomed the film crew’s drift boat as it arrived in
Paradise Valley. The crew had put in near Gardiner, MT. a few days earlier on Aug. 22.
From the producers of the award-winning adventure film, “Ride the Divide,” and
acclaimed director Hunter Weeks, the feature-length Yellowstone documentary will follow
a small crew on a month-long journey as they navigate America's longest free-flowing waterway. Weeks will apply his
style of journey-documentary filmmaking to create a story that inspires and captures anecdotal happenings along the
way, helping illustrate a sense of how much the river has evolved since Lewis & Clark explored the region a mere 205
years ago.
"Given recent news about the Yellowstone River, I think this is a really timely and important journey and I suspect the
story that unfolds will teach us so much about ourselves, the vanishing West, and some really special places in
Montana," said Weeks.
Click here for a PDF of the full article from MTBusiness.com.
August 2011
MSU film instructor nominated for Emmy for wolverine film
Filmmaker Gianna Savoie's passion for the elusive wolverine
has helped her capture something nearly as rare -- a
nomination for an Emmy in documentary programming.
Savoie, who is an adjunct instructor in Montana State
University's Science and Natural History Filmmaking
graduate program, is nominated for an Emmy for her
documentary "Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom." Savoie
wrote and produced the program for PBS' Nature series.
The film, which can be viewed online at the PBS Nature site is
nominated in the outstanding nature programming category.
The winner will be announced at the National Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences news and documentary Emmy
presentation on Sept. 26 in New York City. Her film faces
competition from Discovery Channel's "First Life" with David
Attenborough, Animal Planet's "Secret Life of Elephants" and
another PBS Nature program, "Hummingbirds: Magic in the
Air."
"To my knowledge, Gianna is the first faculty member of the
film school to be nominated for a national primetime Emmy," said Dennis Aig, MSU film professor and director of
MSU's MFA program in Science and Natural History Filmmaking. "This is a great honor for her and MSU. She is a
great, talented colleague, and she is part of an internationally distinguished group of nominees."
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Carol Schmidt of the MSU News Service.
August 2011
MSU filmmakers premiere second extreme skiing and boarding film on Sept. 1
"Set Your Sights," the second extreme ski and snowboard film
by a group of current and former students in the Montana
State University School of Film and Photography, will have its
world premiere at 7 and 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, at the
Emerson Cultural Center in Bozeman.
"Set Your Sights," made by Toy Soldier Productions, was
filmed during the epic 2010-2011 winter in locations
throughout the Pacific Northwest. It includes several skiers
and snowboarders from MSU as well as the surrounding area.
Toy Solder Productions was formed two years ago by Justin
Brodin, Andy Hahn, Jonny Dust and Shane Dowaliby, who
were all students in the School of Film and Photography as
well as extreme athletes.
The group's first effort, "Come Find Us," which featured the
semi-underground world of extreme skiers and snow
boarders in Montana, was released a year ago. Since it was
made, Dowaliby and Brodin have graduated from MSU.
"That film did better than we expected," Dowaliby said.
The members of Toy Soldier Productions felt they had learned
so much during their first effort that they jumped into a
second film that would benefit from what they learned in the
first.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Carol Schmidt of the MSU News Service.
August 2011
Independent Movie Being Filmed At Historical Metlen Hotel
DILLON, Mont. -- "Cooper" is a contemporary western movie being filmed throughout the state of Montana, but started its shooting today in the famous Melten Hotel in Dillon.
There are about 20 people working on the independent film and all are from Montana.
The movie is about the lifestyle and hardships that come along with ranching.
The son of a rancher is one of the main characters and the plot thickens when it is revealed he picks up a dangerous sport.
According to the crew the controversial sport along with research on the ranching lifestyle in Montana is what really developed the plot of the film.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Alyx Sacks of the NBC Montana.
July 2011
Missoula filmmakers slate 'Winter in the Blood' movie
Montana is in the very DNA of a new movie producers hope to begin shooting this summer. The film adaptation of Blackfeet/Gros Ventre author James Welch's "Winter in the Blood" is the vision of Andrew and Alex Smith, the writers, directors and co-producers. They grew up in Missoula.
"The author is a native of Montana and one of the state's most prominent writers," Andrew Smith said.
"The story is set specifically in a place that could only be that region of Montana. So many of the people involved — including major investors and partners — are Montanans or at least have a deep love for Montana," he said. "We're casting a number of actors who are either from here or have a strong connection to this place."
When the Smiths focused on Chaske Spencer — alpha werewolf Sam Uley in the "Twilight" Saga and a Lakota Sioux in real life — for lead character Virgil First Raise, they knew him as a New York actor and only later learned he's from Poplar. They met casting director Rene Haynes, who also worked on "Twilight" movies, in Burbank, Calif., and later discovered she graduated from C.M. Russell High School and went to the University of Montana. Production designer David Storm hails from Havre. Lily Gladstone, cast as Marlene, is from the Blackfeet and Nez Perce nations and attended UM.
"We've just encountered this critical mass of 'oro y plata' all the way down the line," Smith said.
Others came from Oklahoma, California and New Mexico. Some had been part of the Smiths' 2002 film "The Slaughter Rule," starring Ryan Gosling, David Morse and Amy Adams and filmed in and around Great Falls. Another cast member with "Twilight" ties is Julia Jones, who will play Agnes. She was Leah Clearwater in the "Twilight" Saga and is of Choctaw and Chickasaw descent.
"There's a quality in Chaske and Julia that's very powerful," Smith said. "We're excited we get them at this point in their career where they're still willing to be in a low-budget film. It will be interesting to see them in a completely different realm. They're going to have fun playing off each other."
Filming is scheduled for late August and early September. They'll shoot in Havre and points west and east to Malta. Chinook, Harlem, Dodson and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation are expected locations.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Kristen Inbody of the Great Falls Tribune. Photo taken by Eric Edwards.
June 2011
Filmmaker debuts horror flick online
BadFritter Films latest project is 15 minutes long and features only two words of dialogue. Producer Adam Pitman, of Whitefish, says that many who tune in to watch the online premiere this Sunday will have a lot of questions.
“And those questions won’t get answered,” Pitman told the Pilot.
He admits the horror short “Cliff Lake” — shot entirely at Cliff Lake near Tally Lake — is a convoluted and artistic experiment, and “some people won’t like it.” But the home grown film company is betting that it will please the horror connoisseurs who follow the crew and possibly lead to a bigger TV or online series.
The film company known for producing the award-winning flicks “Roulette” and “Paper Dolls” filmed “Cliff Lake” last summer. Since then, the crew of Pitman, director Adam Stilwell and producer David Blair went their separate ways in search of steady work. With Pitman in Whitefish, Blair in Arizona and Stilwell in Los Angeles, the trio edited and wrapped up the short. They decided the best way to release the film was via the Internet.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Matt Baldwin of the Whitefish Pilot.
June 2011
‘Winter in the Blood’ to begin filming
Summer may have just begun, but two Missoula filmmakers are planning to bring “Winter in the Blood” back to the Hi-Line in the next few months.
The 1974 novel by James Welch, the late writer of Blackfeet and Gros Ventres bloods, is being directed for the screen by Alex and Andrew Smith, Montana-born award-winning filmmakers and professors at the Universities of Texas and Montana respectively.
The brothers were raised on a ranch about 30 miles outside of Missoula, where Welch used to spend time and in fact met his wife, they said.
As they grew older, “Winter in the Blood” not only grabbed them, but has held on to this day.
“As teenagers it really helped us, ” Alex said. “We’ve read it several times over the years, using it as a map home, something to get strength from. ”
It’s that strength that they want to share with all of the unfortunate non-Montanans.
“We feel Montana has been under-filmed, ” Alex said. “So we were excited to bring a bunch of film folks up to Montana. ”
As most of the story of novel was heavily drawn from Welch’s life, growing up on a ranch on Fort Belknap, the Smiths say that they couldn’t imagine filming this novel anywhere else but here, and on the Hi-Line in particular.
The brothers said that throughout the filmmaking process, they’ve faced pressure to film the movie in other parts of the state, like near Bozeman, or even in Canada, where the production could get larger tax breaks, but they’ve insisted on the Hi-Line.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Zach White of the Havre Daily News.
June 2011
Film could be shot locally, if funding is secured
An independent feature film focused on a fictional Crow youth and his family will be made in Montana this fall, if funding can be secured.
The producer of "Last Man Stands" is Petra Ahmann of Silverline Cinema in New York City. Ahmann is a 2004 graduate of Laurel High School. Alex Portugal, also of Silverline, wrote the screenplay and will direct the full-length film.
Locations for the movie could include Laurel, Hardin, the Crow Reservation and other local spots. Ahmann and Portugal were in town for about 10 days to solidify more of the production details.
Most of the cast is already in place, Portugal said, with Alex Meraz, one of the wolves from the "Twilight" movies in the lead role of Taylor Brewer. Irene Bedard, who plays the part of his mother, is best known as the voice of Pocahontas in the Disney movie of the same name. Raoul Trujillo, who has a part in the upcoming "Cowboys and Aliens," has been cast in the role of Taylor's father, and Chaske Spencer, another "Twilight" wolf, has the role as Taylor's older brother.
"Last Man Stands" is the first full-length movie the pair has tackled, Ahmann said. They met three years ago, Portugal added, when he directed a short film called "B-Hurst" on which Ahmann worked as line producer.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Susan Olp of the Billings Gazette.
June 2011
Film Office Wins AFCI Marketing Awards
The Montana Film Office won several awards for their marketing initiatives at the recently-attended AFCI Locations Show in Los Angeles, CA. The AFCI Marketing Awards is a global competition encouraging film commissions to put forth winning components of their marketing and advertising campaigns. An independent judging panel of professional marketers and entertainment industry experts assessed each entry according to the criteria and selected finalists. The Montana Film Office received awards in the following categories:
• Campaigns: 2nd Place – Print Advertising Ad Series (click here to download a PDF of the ad series)
• Other/Specialty Item: 1st place – Montana Film Office Magic Cube
• Digital Video: 3rd place – Studio 406 DVD, "Montana. The Ultimate Location" (click here to watch web series)
May 2011
MAPS goes to Washington (D.C.)Peter Rosten of the MAPS Media Institute recently received a letter from the United States Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement. The letter states how they are impressed with the quality of "After the Bell - Inside the MAPS Media Institute" DVD the students created as well as the curriculum cards and other wonderful work the team at MAPS has done. Congratulations to Peter and the MAPS Media Institute!
Click here for a PDF of the letter.
May 2011
Missoula horror flick so bad it's good
Over the next few months, Missoula movie-maker Christian Ackerman's film, "Wisconsin Project X," will be seen by audiences around America and possibly even around the world. And nobody, but nobody, is more surprised by this development than Christian Ackerman.
Here are just a few things that Ackerman, a 30-year-old employee at Missoula Community Access Television and hobbyist horror filmmaker, has to say about his latest project:
"It's a really stupid, crappy film."
"We don't sit and try to show our amazing acting talents, because they're not amazing - like, at all."
"Overacting, bad digital fire, lots of people dying for reasons that don't make any sense - we've got it all."
"There was a script, believe it or not. I have it somewhere; but if you look at it, there's red ink all over it from where we had to change it because people wouldn't show up for filming or we got sidetracked or bored with something we were doing. It's a total mess, just like the movie."
If none of that sounds like a ringing self-endorsement of the project that Ackerman and a group of friends spent some three years putting together, there's this to consider:
"I'm always like that - I'm the dog with his tail between his legs. I just do movies because I have fun doing them, not because I think I'm good at them."
Actually, Ackerman is quite good at making movies. Exquisitely bad movies, that is.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Joe Nickell of the Missoulian. Photo by Michael Gallacher.
April 2011
Montana Film Office Newsletter Update
The Montana Film office is in full swing into a busy festival season. To see past festivals as well as upcoming events, check out the newsletter update. Articles include re-caps on the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (February 11-20, 2011) and South by Southwest (March 11-20, 2011) and a look at upcoming festivals including the International Wildlife Film Festival (May 7-14) and the Produced By Conference/AFCI Locations Trade Show (June 3-5, 2011).
Click here for a PDF of the update.
April 2011
Portion of 'Dead Files' filmed in Great Falls home
Rob Toth, a Californian who grew up in New Jersey, always wanted to see Montana. He got his chance last week as director of photography for a new Travel Channel series called "Dead Files," which is scheduled to debut in September. More than a dozen professionals were enlisted to film in Great Falls on the Lower North Side for what's expected to become episode seven of the series. Toth said he liked what he saw of the Electric City.
"I just like the big, old houses," he said.
One house that garnered special attention from the "Dead Files" crew was a stately house built for Theodore Gibson, son of city founder Paris Gibson, at 400 4th Ave. N.
"There have been reports of some paranormal activity," Toth said.
However, when it came to specifics, the filming of the episode was strictly hush-hush. A Tribune photographer even got the boot when he showed up to try to shoot a few frames of the crew's nighttime work last week.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Richard Ecke of the Great Falls Tribune.
March 2011
Film crew scurries to finish snow shots
While some Flathead Valley residents were rejoicing at any recent sign of spring, filmmaker Andrew Wiest was hoping for an extension of winter. After about three weeks of intense shooting - launching into the project with 14 straight long days on set - the local director and crew are about to wrap up their shoot of "Treasure State," a movie that Wiest, 32, says "showcases the Montana winter."
"We had to make sure we had snow, and crammed big outdoor action set pieces into the first two weeks," he said last week. "We're mostly into interiors now, but do have a few traveling scenes where we need snow and mountains."
The locally produced independent film features the story of two teenage boys, Levi Hogue and Trey Stanton, whose families are both dealing with financial blows. They set off separately on searches for valuable cargo from a plane that has crashed in the snow-covered wilderness of Montana, all the while fending off the villains who caused the accident. The twist is that the two come from feuding families and they must put aside their differences and work together if they are going to succeed and gain the offered reward. The film fills Wiest's desires to make a family-friendly action picture featuring young people in peril, and a tribute to the Western landscape and lifestyle.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Heidi Gaiser of the Daily Inter Lake. Photo by Nate Chute.
March 2011
Getting the shot: MAPS students produce documentary to air on PBS
Setting up with two cameras and a boom mic, Ian Marquand walked into the Westview Center over and over and over again. Some shots were soft on the focus. Other shots weren't zoomed out far enough. Others were just shaky. But they wanted to get things just right. After all, what a group of MAPS Media Institute students were working on Wednesday after school will be broadcast across all of Montana.
The state will be getting a taste of what MAPS has to offer when its documentary - "After the Bell: Inside the MAPS Media Institute" - airs on PBS next month, hosted by Marquand, a MAPS instructor. The 26-minute program will air April 16 at 5 p.m., again the next day at 10:30 a.m. and a third time on May 27 at 11:30 a.m.
Cody Tredik, a junior at Hamilton High School, was helping out on Wednesday's shoot.
"I'm what's called a grip. I'm the extra hand on set that plugs stuff in, carries things around, that sort of stuff," Tredik said.
This is Tredik's first year with MAPS. He is currently taking the film class. He said he's enjoyed his time working on "After the Bell."
"It's really fun and we're going to see it on PBS, which is really cool," Tredik said. "The payoff is getting to see it on TV."
The idea of putting together a look into the after-school program has been in the works for a couple of years, according to executive director Peter Rosten.
"Finally, this year we felt comfortable doing it," Rosten said. A close to half-hour documentary isn't anything new for these students, Rosten said. They created a film for this year's Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, as well as another documentary on smoking that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control picked up and ran nationally, Rosten said.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Whitney Bermes of the Ravalli Republic. Photo by David Erickson. Click here for a PDF of another article by Whitney Bermes titled "MAPS program turns pro-bono work into class".
February 2011
MFO Hits the Film Festivals to Market Montana
Sundance Film Festival
The Montana Film Office (MFO) once again partnered with the Bozeman Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) to market Montana and Bozeman to the film industry at one of the most influential and well-attended film festivals in the United States, the Sundance Film Festival, January 20-20, 2011.
The MFO and Bozeman CVB had a week-long presence on Park City’s Main Street in the Moving Pictures lounge. The partnership with Moving Pictures offered many benefits, including extensive signage and presence at the lounge, a meeting space while at the festival and a perfect location to host the Montana Film Office/Bozeman CVB filmmaker reception on January 23 for producers and directors that attended the festival.
Montana musician Stephanie Quayle provided the perfect blend of musical entertainment and Montana flair. The MFO also took part in the Sundance Institute’s Outreach booth where non-profit organizations spend time in the filmmakers lounge talking to filmmakers about their offerings. To cap things off, the MFO also took part in a brunch co-hosted by the Association of Film Commissioners International, AFCI on Monday January 24.
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
The MFO was pleased to return for a seventh time as a supporter to the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival held in Missoula, MT, February 11-20, 2011. “The Montana Film Office has been a part of this festival since its beginnings and we are really pleased that it is a self-sustaining film festival that brings in top documentary filmmakers from all over the world every year,” said Sten Iversen, MFO Manager.
Approximately 15 notable documentary films are shot in Montana every year that lead to economic benefit to the communities they were shot in as well as national exposure to Montana’s stories, making this festival the MFO’s top marketing event focusing on documentary filmmaking.
Filmmakers journey to Montana every year to screen their films and take part in this welcoming, filmmaker-friendly environment. The Montana Film Office held a “Welcome to Montana” reception for the visiting filmmakers and VIPs, as it has done in years past. The MFO also had a presence in the Filmmakers Lounge for the entire festival, as well as both print and Internet presences for the festival.
Click here for a PDF of the full article or visit Montana Tourism News.
February 2011
From Helena to Hollywood
Story A group of young Helena-based filmmakers wants to leave its audience speechless in their seats. They’re shooting a pro-grade, epic sci-fi drama about vampires and the humans who encounter them. But the producers say you can forget about any similarity between this project and the recent vampire craze — this one is gritty and real. Think the sci-fi realism of “Alien” and the epic scope of movies like “Braveheart,” “Gladiator” and “Rocky,” they say. These vampires branched off from the human race some time ago and continued to evolve in remote corners of the world — like the wintry mountains around Helena.
The core team includes Bryan Ferriter (director, lead writer and lead vampire), Nick “Milo” Milodragovich (writing and lead nonvampire), Isaac Marble (producer), Brandon Day (unit line producer and vampire), Martin Rogers (unit production manager), Ryan Pfeiffer (writer and props master), Dave Noel (writer and actor) — all past or current Carroll College students — and others.
Most of the team, led then by Rogers and Marble, already managed to shoot the low-budget comedy “My Favorite Movie” in Helena in 2008, with Ferriter in the lead role.
“That was the first time I could see, OK, this could be done — a pro-budgeted film can be done with not a huge budget, and it can be done in Montana,” said Ferriter. “And it was a really, really cool experience.”
Now, they’re reaching higher, going for a bigger story with special effects, high production values and a $100,000 budget (for now). They’ve raised the money and began shooting Jan. 31, building on the lessons of the earlier film. With Marble leading the business end, they set out to raise money from investors, who stand to earn a return if the film makes money. Armed with many local contacts and a boatload of passion, they sold the idea hard to nearly everyone they knew, and had the money raised by Dec. 1.
“If we’re going to go through with this, we’re going to go through and make it a full-bore, legitimate, independent, fully budgeted film,” Ferriter recalled thinking as the plans developed.
That means scenes well beyond those typical of low-budget movies. “Vampire” will have scenes shot from a helicopter and inside an underground cavern with large crowds and other big-production elements that they say will make the movie more appealing to distributors when it comes time to bring the project into theaters.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Sanjay Talwani of the Independent Record. Photo by Eliza Wiley.
February 2011
'Moonhair' first U.S. movie with all Indian cast
BROWNING — At book signings for his story "Shoot
Minnie Shoot" about the 1904 Fort Shaw basketball
team, Jack "Happy" Feder was thanked time and again
for portraying Native Americans in a positive light. The comments inspired him to write a mythic
adventure movie set during the Dog Days, but told in a modern-style to appeal to today's teens. Once complete, "Moonhair" will be the first American
movie with an all Native American cast.
"People were so tired of films and books that
showed the dire side of life on a reservation," Feder
said. "My goal was not to have a political message —
just to have an adventure."
Inspired by traditional Native American myths, the
story is an original tale of a woman with shocking
white hair that carries untold powers. Moonhair must take a fantastical and often
dangerous adventure as she tries to retrieve her
tribe's Singing Buffalo Stone from an evil
neighboring tribe the Dung Eaters. Without the
stone, the tribe can't hunt and will perish. A trickster god creates problems for but Moonhair
gets help from a man named Easy Runner whom she
meets along the way.
Though neither of the tribes in the screenplay is
real, Feder based much of the myth on Blackfeet
history and folklore. Feder credits Harold Ernest
Gray, Long Standing Bear Chief, a longtime teacher
and Indian advocate. Unfortunately, Long Standing Bear Chief died shortly
after filming of the movie ended. Feder said he plans
to pay tribute to Long Standing Bear Chief in the
film's credits.
While the three lead roles feature rising stars,
roughly half the 20-person cast are Browning-
based actors. The title role is being played by N
atasha Kaye Johnson, who was a best actress
nominee at the 2007 American Indian Film Festival,
and her love interest is played by Meegwun
Fairbrother, who is the lead actor in "Time Traveler" on Canada's Aboriginal People's Television Network. Feder enlisted former CNN journalist Thomas Nybo
as the camera man. The Rocky Mountain Front will also be a featured
character as the movie was shot near Choteau,
Augusta and on the Blackfeet Reservation.
Click here for a PDF of the full article in the Great Falls Tribune. Visit www.moonhairfilms.com to see the film's teaser.
January 2011
Sundance 2011: Montana rolls out the red carpet for one film, 'Winter in the Blood'
It's not only finished movies that come to the Sundance Film Festival to be seen. Pictures that are in
pre-production also are brought to Park City to raise both awareness and funds. It's not every film,
however, that comes with the good wishes of an entire state behind it.
That state is Montana and the film, set to begin shooting in June, is "Winter in the Blood," directed by
Andrew and Alex Smith and based on the landmark novel by James Welch about Native American life
that has never gone out of print since it was published in 1974.
The Smith brothers have been to Sundance before, with another Montana-based film, the Ryan
Gosling-starring "The Slaughter Rule," and their ties to the state are intense. Not only were they born
and raised there but Welch was also a family friend, and their mother, celebrated writer Annick
Smith, was the co-editor (along with William Kittredge) of the renowned anthology of Montana
writing "The Last Best Place."
Welch's novel is so respected in Montana that the state's governor, Brian Schweitzer, has offered to
make his plane available to fly in potential funders, Native American tribes have OK'd filming in
previously off-limits spiritual places, and two Montana friends of the brothers hosted a "friend-raiser"
for the film in Park City, Utah, on Saturday night.
The event was an especially warm and affecting one and included remarks by two of the film's stars,
David Morse (who was also in "The Slaughter Rule") and Chaske Spencer, who plays werewolf Sam
Uley in the "Twilight" series.
Click here for a PDF of the full article in the LA Times. Credit: Robert Gauthier/LA Times.
January 2011
Montana Film Office a growing presence at Sundance Film Festival
Montana Film Office staff are heading down to the legendary Sundance Film Festival. They say the state's presence and significance at the festival is growing.
The Film Office has taken part in the festival in a number of ways over the last few years. They are a major sponsor in one of the event's biggest filmmaker lounges. The Office hosts a large reception this Sunday night. Speaking to KBZK from the road on his way to the Festival, Film Office Manager Sten Iversen says this could yield some real benefits for the state.
"In the filmmaking business, so much is done based on relationships," said Film Office Manager, Sten Iversen. "So having personal relationships with filmmakers, producers, well it will lead to increased inquiries at least."
Iversen said a few years back a group of filmmakers the office met at that Sunday reception made a film in the Bozeman area that next Spring. The Sundance Film Festival runs through January 30th in Park City, Utah.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Dan Boyce of the KBZK.
January 2011
Former MSU filmmakers' 'Prairie Love' debuts at Sundance
A feature film made by former Montana State University film school students, "Prairie Love," will premiere Sunday at the prestigious 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
The film, a quirky love story set in North Dakota, was one of 118 films selected from 10,000 submissions to this year's festival, and one of just 40 narrative features accepted.
Four of the film's principals attended MSU's School of Film and Photography: co-producer, co-writer and director Dusty Bias; co-producer and co-writer Ashley Martin Bias; lead actor Jeremy Clark; and associated producer Darren P. Leis.
Selection to Sundance, the largest film festival in the United States, effectively launches a filmmaker's work into the world of contemporary independent filmmaking world and puts the filmmaker and the film, "on the map," so to speak, said Cindy Stillwell, MSU film professor.
Click here for a PDF of the full article by Carol Schmidt of the MSU News Service. Photo by Ashley Martin-Bias.
