For the past two decades, there haven’t been many bigger advocates and fans of documentary than the residents of Missoula, Montana. To be more specific, the organizers, filmmakers and attendees of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Recent winners include Collette, St Louis Superman and The Last of the Elephant Men. The festival also includes industry panels, workshops and pitch sessions with participants like HBO Documentary, ESPN Films and of course, Film Independent.
With submission season for the big winter and spring festivals, we wanted to take a look at the festival and what it has to offer. Last month, we featured films from the Big Sky Film Fest, and our own Matt Warren spoke with Ryan Weibush about his experience working at the festival as Director of Programming, and what the festival can offer for both a visiting filmmaker and a festival attendee.
Visit our events page for more details and to register for more upcoming Festival Visions screenings—which are always online and for free—on our YouTube page.
Tell me a little bit what Missoula, and maybe more broadly Montana, is like in terms of the local film scene, local art scene.
As you would expect, the film community is very tight knit. Everybody seems to know each other at a certain level, and it’s a very large state. Missoula has a long history of being an arts community, and it seems a lot of folks were either born here or passed through at one time or another. Lily Gladstone, David Lynch, Steve Albini, even Richard Brautigan and people like Slim Moon. There’s something here that either leaves its mark or pulls people back. I think it’s a place to feel as though you can do what you want and feel supported. Outsiders are drawn here, people like Jay Rummel, maybe because we’re outside of those coastal centers. I would hesitate to say we’re the arts community in Montana, because there are little pods all over the state, but I think Missoula’s history goes a bit deeper.
This is, self-evident in the name of the festival, but talk a little bit about the focus of Big Sky and why you feel it’s important to focus on nonfiction films and showcase them at this festival.
The festival was started in 2003 as, at the time, one of the few doc-only festivals. It grew out of the founders of the festival, Doug Hawes-Davis and Damon Ristau, who were documentary filmmakers themselves and decided to just rent a theater and see who showed up.
And it turns out that there was support that really was wanting that. Our audience is a mix between the over 200 filmmakers who come to the festival and appreciate it as filmmakers would; but we also have this very localized support that has learned to really trust this over the years to where we can we feel liberated in terms of what we can ask them to watch.
I think nonfiction in general is important as a form. It’s difficult because documentary is so all-encompassing. It’s not a genre festival where you can say, it’s fantasy or it’s sci-fi or something like that. It runs the gamut between the more journalistic pieces, to somewhat avant-garde, to experimental, to verité observational pieces. Our modern, fractured world. We’re most interested in authorial voices we haven’t heard or seen before.
So, you get a little bit of everything, and I think that’s why the audiences appreciate us. Because they can find something that they’re interested in. And then be pushed to find something else. The Big Sky term, you know, it’s kind of cliche, but at the same time it’s undefinable in its scope.
Absolutely. That sort of relates to my next question, which is, what are some real standout projects that you’ve been proud to feature and how are they representative of the perspective Big Sky is trying to get out there?
One thing that we really take pride in is that 90% of our films come from open-call. Growing up as an independent filmmaker with not a lot of means, your vision of a film festival is that everybody has a shot. You get into it, and then things change for you. While we can’t promise to change your life, one of our main goals is lifting films to new, often wider audiences.
So that means the projects that we have are sometimes passion projects from emerging filmmakers. We had Jeanie Findlay as a retrospective artist last year, and her first film, Teenland, played here, and it was the first festival that she got into. It’s where she connected with her longtime cinematographer. So that builds this deep connection with these filmmakers who eventually go on to this longer, illustrious career.
Something that we’ve also done for a number of years is, we’ve really made a point of focusing on our Native Filmmaker Initiative and bringing in indigenous voices and supporting their stories. We offer free submissions for indigenous filmmakers. Then we are a part of the 4th World Fellowship that continues to nurture and support emerging indigenous filmmakers, as well. And there is an audience there, some of our most popular films last year.
People refer to us as a “regional festival”, so in this way place is very important to us and is something we consider in our programming.
So for you personally, what has been your favorite festival related memory?
A few years ago, I attended a 10AM screening of Steven Bognar’s Personal Belongings. He and Julia Reichert were our retrospective filmmakers that year. A special year for many reasons. There was something about being in a theater at 10AM and watching a film I knew very little about, with other people who were doing the same thing, and completely resonating with it. Those moments keep you going, you know, as both a filmmaker and human being.
Recently, we started to spotlight some of our attendees, people who had been coming to the festival for a long time. There was this family that makes the trek from Idaho every year with their three kids, just to go to the festival. And they’ve been doing it for like ten years. So, just those moments are pretty special.
And from the attendee perspective, what are some festival tips for Big Sky?
Two years ago, it was a constant blizzard with below zero temps and last year it was quite pleasant. So, paying attention to the forecast is an important thing. And if you don’t have winter boots, you can get them here!
But also, if you’re an attendee, getting the program early, circling those films and taking risks. Choose some things that go beyond your comfort level.
Let’s say I have a film. It’s gotten into big Sky. How do I make the most of that opportunity once I’m sort of on the ground there in Montana?
One of the valuable things for filmmakers who are attending is to take advantage of the DocShop. It’s our weeklong industry and filmmaker conference, It’s full of panels and masterclasses on different topics. Each year we have a different focus on what the main theme will be, this year it’s understanding the documentary audience of the 21st century.
I think what is good about us also, is that we are also independent filmmakers. So we understand how tall of an order it is to be able to afford going to a place. We try to make that realistic for people and try to feed them, so they can enjoy themselves. I think it’s a great place to make friends. I’ve made friends over the years that I still keep in touch with. Filmmakers who meet here end up collaborating and coming back with their work. And even if a party every night isn’t your scene, there’s still plenty to do, culturally. It’s a cool old mountain town where you can find your pace.
My favorite kind of town. One of the things I hear pop up as reoccurring themes is just to meet other filmmakers and build that community.
Yeah, exactly. I think just realizing that we’re all human beings trying to make difficult work for not a lot of reward sometimes and building that community is essential.
Festival Visions is a series of free online screeningsthat shines a light on films discovered this year in regional film festivals across the US. Our next Festival Visions screening is of Magic Ring and Boys at Twenty. They start next Monday, August 19th and go until Wednesday, August 21st. Both screenings are 100% free and open to both members and non-members, and include a pre-recorded Q&A with the filmmakers. Register here to see both films.
If you want to submit your film to next year’s Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the standard deadline is August 31.
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