Rick Moulton – Voice of America: Lowell Thomas

VOICE OF AMERICA – LOWELL THOMAS & THE RISE OF BROADCAST NEWS is featured at the 2019 BZN International Film Festival on Saturday, June 8th in the Hager Auditorium of the Museum of the Rockies at 3 pm. It’s an extraordinary story about Lowell Thomas, whom many call “The Father of Broadcast News,.”

Even if he had not been the major pioneer in that regard, he was an incredible adventurer and film director and producer, bringing footage from forbidden countries such as Afghanistan and Tibet long before any others, and in the case of Tibet, just in time before their ancient culture was radically disrupted and dispersed by the Chinese Communist invasion.

Lowell Thomas and his stalwart cameraman, Harry Chase, were the only ones to film T.E. Lawrence during the WWI Arab Rebellion against the Ottoman Empire.

Lowell was largely responsible for Lawrence’s fame after presenting pioneering multi-media productions using photographs and film to more than 3 million theater goers.

Rick Moulton directed VOICE OF AMERICA – LOWELL THOMAS & THE RISE OF BROADCAST NEWS.

Sarah Menzies – Afghan Cycles

AFGHAN CYCLES follows young Afghani women, who brave physical danger and cultural taboos to follow their love of racing bicycles competitively in contemporary Afghanistan.

Afghan Cycles was awarded the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, as well as the Best Documentary Feature at the Brooklyn Film Festival, both in 2018.

Sarah Menzies and her team follow young women in Kabul and Bamiyan Province as they join the Afghan National Women’s Cycling Team and learn bicycle racing under very difficult conditions.

A main focus of the film is Frozan, whose mother – pictured above with Sarah Menzies – encouraged her to join the team, a dream she had not been able to achieve for herself.

Not only girls are inspired by the women’s racing. In Bamiyan young boys expressed the desire to emulate them as well.

Afghan Cycles is featured at this year’s Mendocino Film Festival on Saturday, June 2nd, at the Coast Cinemas in Fort Bragg at 10:30 a.m. More information at:

mendocinofilmfestival.org

It will also be featured at The BZN International Film Festival on Saturday morning, June 8, at 10:00 a.m. at the Rialto Black Box. More information at:

bozemanfilmcelebration.com

Jana Brown – The Divide

Jana Brown is the award winning writer of The Divide. She spoke with us on May 7, 2019, about the upcoming screening on opening night of the BZN International Film Festival on June 6 in the Emerson’s Crawford Theater.

The Divide is a story about the drama of ordinary life, following Sam Kincaid, who is suffering from the onset of dementia in 1976, when Alzheimer’s did not yet have a formal name. Sam is supported by an unlikely ally in migrant ranch hand Luke, who summons Sam’s estranged daughter, Sarah, to help with Sam’s growing memory lapses. The film is set in one of the worst droughts in California history, a plight that mirrors the dry patches in the characters’ lives.

Jana Brown and actor/director, Perry King, whose make-up regime was to rub dirt from is pick-up truck on his face, partnered to create The Divide.

Jackie Sanders – Arlene Francis: That Certain Something

The work of television pioneer, Arlene Francis, went far beyond her 25 years on the famed game show, “What’s My Line.” From hosting NBC’s first morning show, “Home,” to decades in radio and acting in Broadway shows and feature films, Francis’ career covered all bases. Narrated by Cherry Jones with stories from Arlene’s friends, Betty White, Carl Reiner, Walter Cronkite and many others, this film retraces the career and life of Television’s first leading lady.

Pamela Green – BE NATURAL: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

Although largely forgotten to history, Alice Guy-Blaché was one of the very earliest pioneers in moving pictures, exploring and innovating from the late 1890s til the 1920s, when Wall Street and Trust capitalism squeezed her out of the art and business of filmmaking.

Pamela Green’s film resurrects her work and re-establishes her place in film history.

To this day, Alice Guy-Blaché is the only woman to have ever built her own film studio.

Although French, Alice Guy-Blaché was one of the pioneers of The Western genre. Hers were distinguished by the strong women who were featured in principle roles.

Although she had originally written The Fool and His Money for an inclusive cast, because the actors of European descent declined to participate, Alice Guy-Blaché became the first writer/director/producer of an all African American cast.

Cady McClain – Seeing Is Believing: Women Direct

Cady McClain began working as an actor at age 9. She is a 2 time Emmy award winner & 6 time nominee. She’s worked in theater, movies, television, as well as having written a memoir, Murdering My Youth, an in-depth look into life as a child actor. but we speak with her today about her film, which she directed and produced, SEEING IS BELIEVING: WOMEN DIRECT. It will be featured at the Bozeman Film Festival on Saturday June 8th at the Emerson at 3pm.

Inventing Tomorrow

In this edition, recorded on May 16, 2018, we interview three of the producers of INVENTING TOMORROW, an inspiring documentary that features six passionate teenage scientists from Indonesia, Hawaii, India and Mexico, creating cutting-edge solutions to the world’s environmental threats-right in their own backyards. It follows them, as they eventually journey to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018.

(L-R) Producer Diane Becker, director Laura Nix and producer Melanie Miller

Laura Nix is known for her films The Yes Men Are Revolting (2014) as well as The Yes Men Fix the World (2009), The Light In Her Eyes (2011) about Houda al-Habash, a conservative Muslim preacher, founded a Qur’an school for girls in Damascus, Syria when she was just 17 years old. Her work in film goes back to 1997.

Melanie Miller is known for her work on Detour (2013), and Alaska Is a Drag (2017). Her film work goes all the way back to 2001 as associate producer on the Liars Club

Diane Becker has films going back to 2006, including Five Came Back(2017), Homegrown: The Counter-Terror Dilemma (2016), Legion of Brothers (2017), Jaco (2015) and many more.

(L-R) Melanie Miller, Laura Nix, Jose Manuel Elizade Esparanza, Fernando Miguel Sanchez Villalobos, Sahithi Pingali, Shofi Latifa Nuha Anfaresi, Jared Goodwin, Diane Becker, Jesus Alfonso Martinez Aranda

Project ENEV063T: Bangka’s Tin Sea Sand-Fe3O4 as a Removal of Heavy Metals in By-Product of Tin Ore Processing (above): Intan Utami Putri Shofi Latifa Nuha Anfaresi  Banka, Indonesia

Project EAEV008 – An Innovative Crowdsourcing Approach to Monitoring Freshwater Bodies

above: Sahithi Pingali  in Bangalore, India

Project EAEV018 – Arsenic Contamination through Tsunami Wave Movement in Hawaii: Investigating the Concentration of Heavy Metals in the Soil from the 1960 Hilo, Hawaii Tsunami

Jared Goodwin  is from Hilo, Hawaii

Project CHEM059T: Photocatalytic Ceramic Paint to Purify Air
Fernando Miguel Sanchez Villalobos Jesus Alfonso Martinez Aranda Jose Manuel Elizade Esparaza  above: in Monterrey, Mexico

When not producing films, Diane, Laura and Melanie can be found promoting science in other ways.