Distinctly Montana Magazine

BY VALERIE HARMS F rom wannabes to veteran professionals, Mon- tana filmmakers are busy in every corner of the state. But how come I don't see their films, you Winter in the Blood (L. to R.) Producer Susan Kirr, Writer/Director Andrew Smith, Writer/Director Alex Smith, Production Designer David Storm, Location Manager John Ansotegui, Writer/Co-producer Ken White may wonder? While some make it to the big screen, others depend on film festivals organized by film lovers, Internet sites, mobile Apps, and MontanaPBS (think Butte America by Pam Rob- erts, Class C by Justin Lubke, Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom by Gianna Savoie, and In the Valley of the Wolves by Bob Landis). No doubt Buck (directed by Cindy Meehl) came to a theater in your town as it is about the man known as the "horse whisperer," Buck Brannaman, who has helped solve horse/human relationship problems all over Montana—and the world. The film shows popular clinics in Libby and Sheridan as well as clips with Buck's family, Robert Redford, and Buck's superior skills at riding, cuttin' cattle, and roping. Brannaman, an MSU graduate, was recently awarded an honorary doctorate in equine science. A winter's week-long feast for movie lovers is the Big Sky Film Institute's hosting of documentary films held annually in Missoula. Here you will find top quality films. One screened was Chris Eyre's A Thousand Roads, which became the signature film for the National Museum of the American Indian. The call for 2012's entries is now on— see www.bigskyfilm.org. High expectations abound for Winter in the Blood, based on the novel by Montana's prominent Blackfeet/Gros Ventre novelist, James Welch. The movie's visionaries are Alex & Andrew Smith, directors/ writers/producers, with a script written by Ken White (also a co-producer). Many of the crewmembers are Montanan. "We've just tapped a vein of 'oro y plata' all the way down the line," Andrew Smith said. Because Montana is so central to the story, the crew is com- mitted to shooting around Havre and Malta rather than take financial incentives in Canada. As most of the story 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. www.distinctlymontana.com 37 P RII A LO R VE E Vampire SAGE DUBOIS, MONTANA FILM OFFICE ASHLEY MARTIN BIAS PATRICK COOK

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