Documentary Film Festival Starting
By Jean Clark, Downtown/Heart of Missoula Neighborhood Advocate
OK, I freely admit it, I write about this event every year because I get so jazzed about it. The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is my favorite event in downtown Missoula and it’s starting this weekend!! I just love tapping into the cultural aspect of these great films and stepping outside of my own little world here in Missoula, if just for a short time.
If I can encourage you to do anything downtown this year, this would be it. Pick up the booklets that describe each film and go to at least one film this year.
I encourage you to go to their website and check out what it’s all about:
http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/
And taken directly from their webpage, here’s a brief description to whet your appetite.
About the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
Now in its 8th year, The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival has become the largest cinema event in Montana and the premiere venue for non-fiction film in the American West. In 2010, the festival drew an audience of 10,000 and received nearly 1000 film entries from every corner of the globe. A unique setting for filmmakers to premiere new work and for audiences to see innovative new films and also classics in the genre, the festival presents an average of 125 non-fiction films annually at the historic Wilma Theater in downtown Missoula, hosting over fifty visiting artists.
In addition to screenings, public events include panel discussions, workshops, pitch sessions, panel discussions, parties and receptions. Special retrospective programs have included the films of The Maysles Brothers, Kartemquin Films, Frederick Wiseman, Joe Berlinger, Doug Pray, and Les Blank. Special guests have included Academy Award® winning director Steve James (Hoop Dreams), Les Blank (Burden of Dreams), Greg Barker (Sergio) Joe Berlinger (Crude), Ron Mann (Grass), Brendan Canty & Christoph Green (the Burn To Shine series) (Hart & Dana Heinz Perry (Sex: The Revolution).
Recent Award winners at the festival have included Last Train Home (Lixin Fan), Sweetgrass (Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Castaing-Taylor), Gasland (Josh Fox), Rough Aunties (Kim Longinotto), Ashes of American Flags (Brendan Canty & Christoph Green) In A Dream (Jeremiah Zagar), and Bronx Princess (Yoni Brook & Musa Syeed).
