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Dear Friends, Welcome to the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival! Our 12th year promises to be the biggest one yet, as we are screening over 150 films from around the world that will inspire, educate and enrich our lives. We believe in the power of stories and the power of watching them together on the big screen. In addition to the films you will enjoy over the course of the festival, we invite you to attend our special events off the big screen, too. Live performances from filmmakers Sam Green and John Cohen, interactive film installations, panels and workshops about the changing business of film, and a ceremony honoring our competition films are all on the docket. I came to the festival as a documentary filmmaker, and I’m honored to be leading it as a member of the Missoula community. As an Oscar- qualifying festival and one of the top documentary film festivals in the nation, we attract filmmakers from all over the world. And as a community supported organization, what we accomplish is all thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who help us put the festival on, the altruistic organizations that sponsor us, the thousands of patrons who attend, and the national partners and filmmakers who value this extraordinary event. Get ready to be transported to new worlds – near and far – through the magic of the real stories these films tell. Enjoy the show. Gita Saedi Kiely Executive Director Big Sky Film Institute BSDFF is produced by the Big Sky Film Institute, a 501c3 whose mission is to celebrate and promote the art of non-fiction filmmaking, to establish Missoula as a center of documentary filmmaking, exhibition and criticism, and to encourage media literacy by fostering public under- standing and appreciation of documentary film. Table of Contents Tickets and Passes 3 Special Features 4 Strands 11 Festival Jury 14 Big Sky DocShop 16 Film Descriptions (Alphabetical) 18 Schedule of Films center insert Awards & BSFI Membership 74 Cover Art by Levi Hastings TAKING OFF 5,000 TIMES A DAY. TAKING ON EVERYTHING ELSE. America’s most-awarded airline employees. OFFICIAL AIRLINE Box Office Information • Online Option! Passes are available for purchase online at bigskyfilmfest.org or at the Wilma Theatre any time during the festival. • Passes purchased online will be held at the Wilma ticket window and available for pick-up any time during the festival. Bring valid ID. • Passes are non-transferable. • All-Access Passes are good for all screenings, including Awards Nights, and all filmmaker and VIP events/parties. Includes access to balcony seating in the Wilma Theater. All-Access Pass holders have access to parties and receptions EVERY NIGHT of the 10-day festival as well as access to the Filmmaker Lounge. • All-Screenings Passes are good for all screenings, including Awards Night and the 2/14/15 performance of The Measure of All Things. Does not include special events or parties. Includes access to balcony. • Five-Punch Passes and single screening tickets can be purchased in advance online at bigskyfilmfest.org/bsdff/festival/tickets/(Online single screening ticket sales will close at midnight prior to the day of screening). PRICES All-Access Festival Pass......................................................$299.00 All-Screenings Pass.............................................................$149.00 Single Screening Ticket ....... $8.00 (Students and seniors $6.00) Five-Punch Pass.....................................................................$35.00 Schoolhouse Docs Special (4 pm weekdays)...$2 (kids under 12) After School Pass (One adult, one child all 4 screenings)......$25 PLEASE NOTE: Most of the films at the festival are not rated by the MPAA. We've rated our Schoolhouse docs, but if you are bringing children, please read film synopses carefully as some films may have sensitive content. If you have questions, please call the festival office, (406) 541-FILM (3456). IMPORTANT! We recommend you arrive at least 10 minutes early for daytime screenings and 20 minutes early for evening screenings. Seats are first come, first served. 3 Opening Night Special Feature Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief Director: Alex Gibney In this sneak preview of the upcoming HBO Documentary film, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney interviews Pulitzer-winning journalist Lawrence Wright and eight former members about the Church of Scientology. The publication of Wright’s 2013 book of the same name generated controversy and legal challenges from the church, and the film is sure to do the same. And thanks once again to HBO’s generous support, this opening night screening is FREE to the public! Fri. Feb 6, Wilma 1 FREE ADMISSION! 7:30 PM Doors: 7:00 Big Sky Interactive at the MAM Interactive Exhibit While story will always be the heart of non-fiction filmmaking, the rapid evolution of content-delivery technology is making its presence known in new markets of the documentary film industry. BSDFF is excited to host its first-ever interactive exhibit at the Missoula Art Museum, where visitors will participate in shaping their own viewing experience. Viewers will have the opportunity to select and sequence short clips, photos and thematic elements from three different films. As reality continues to play itself, you now get the chance to play with reality! Whale Hunt An experiment in human storytelling, Whale Hunt depicts a multi-day excursion for Bowhead whales by Inupiat Eskimos in northern Alaska. Director Jonathan Harris snapped 3,214 photographs over the course of a week, establishing what he calls a “photographic heartbeat” of the event. Each viewer will experience the whale hunt narrative differently, and not necessarily in a linear fashion. Hollow Hollow is an interactive documentary that merges cinematic techniques with web- based storytelling. The project examines the lives of 30 individuals living in McDowell County, W. VA. Hollow combines video portraits, data visualizations, photography, soundscapes, community-generated content and grassroots mapping to bring these stories to life. Directed by Elaine McMillion. Highrise An Emmy-winning, multi-year, many-media, collaborative documentary experiment from the National Film Board of Canada, Highrise explores vertical living in the global suburbs. Directed by Katerina Cizek. Opening Reception at MAM February 10, 5-7 PM. Free & open to public. 4 Opening Night Special Feature JOHN COHEN Retrospective We are honored to have musician, filmmaker and photographer John Cohen join us this year with his inspiring breadth of work. John Cohen is best known as a musician, who in 1959 co- founded the NEW LOST CITY RAMBLERS, but his artistic prowess expands many mediums. Cohen shot a series of iconic photographs documenting New York culture, including seminal figures like Bob Dylan and Jack Kerouac. Cohen’s documentary filmmaking career began with the 1963 film THAT HIGH LONESOME SOUND. Cohen will present an exhibit of his photographs, a lecture, and a musical performance with the Montana band BALLED IN BURLAP. Seven of Cohen’s films Special Events Feb. 5: lecture at the Rocky will be screened at the festival as well, Mountain School of featuring Q&As with Cohen. Photography (7-9pm) Feb. 6: photo exhibition at Films showing at BSDFF 2015 the Brink Gallery (5-8pm) THAT HIGH LONESOME SOUND, 68 minutes (p.65) END OF AN OLD SONG, 27 minutes (p.36) GYPSIES SING LONG BALLADS, 28 minutes (p.41) DANCING WITH THE INCAS, 58 minutes (p.32) MOUNTAIN MUSIC OF PERU, 58 minutes (p.54) VISIONS OF MARY FRANK, 58 minutes (p.69) Feb. 8: live performance Opening Reception at MAM February 10, 5-7 PM. Free & open to public. with Balled in Burlap at the ROSCOE HOLCOMB FROM DAISY, KENTUCKY Top Hat Lounge (6pm) 29 minutes (p.60) 5 BringingSam live Green documentaries to Missoula Sam Green’s body of documentary work is anchored by 2004’s Oscar-nominated The Weather Underground, an exploration of the titular radical movement of the 1970s. The film is one of a dozen Green-directed films on the festival docket, but two of those screenings would be more accurately classified as live performances. Both The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller and The Measure of All Things feature live soundtracks (from indie rock titans Yo La Tengo and a trio led by Brendan Canty of Fugazi fame, respectively) that accompany Green’s narration and media projection. Don’t miss these innovative performances! Photos courtesy of http://dev.buckminsterfullerfilm.com/ The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller Wed. Feb. 11 Wilma 1 With Yo La Tengo 8:00 PM Missoula locals are still buzzing about the last time Yo $25 in advance La Tengo appeared at the Big Sky Documentary Film $28 at door Festival. It was 2011, when they performed The Sounds of $15 passholders Science—a live soundtrack to a series of experimental documentaries—to a packed house at the Wilma Theater. This time around, the band will accompany director Sam Green for a live performance of his documentary, The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller (p.52). 6 The Measure of All Things with Brendan Canty, T. Griffin, and Catherine McRae Sat. Feb. 14, Dennison Theatre 8:00 PM The Perfect Valentine's Day Date With concert before film performance! $12 in advance, $15 at door, free for passholders Although he’s a highly accomplished documentary filmmaker (see pg 36 for more info on the world premiere of Every Other Summer: Solid Sound Festival 2013, his latest film), Brendan Canty is best known as the drummer for post-hardcore legend Fugazi. Canty, along with T. Griffin and Catherine McRae, will perform the score to Sam Green’s live documentary The Measure of All Things (p.53). Demand for these shows will be high,get your tickets today at bigskyfilmfest.org! Showing at BSDFF 2015 THE LOVE SONG OF BUCKMINSTER FULLER, (w/Yo La Tengo 2/11/15) (p.52) THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS (with live performance) (p.