Monthly Archives: May 2018

Gale Anne Hurd MANKILLER

In this edition of Radio Goes to the Movies, Gale Anne Hurd tells us about her feature length film, MANKILLER, which recounts the life of Wilma Mankiller, who overcame rampant sexism and personal challenges to emerge as the Cherokee Nation’s first woman Principal Chief in 1985.

It is the story of an American hero. One who stands tall amongst the likes of Robert Kennedy, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, Jr. Someone who humbly defied the odds and overcame insurmountable obstacles to fight injustice and gave a voice to the voiceless. And yet few people know her name.

Although beset with numerous health problems over many years, Wilma Mankiller persevered in breaking the cycle of poverty among her people and forged a new economic model to bring health and prosperity to the Cherokee Nation.

She was the embodiment of the Cherokee principle of Gadugi – in a positive manner that benefits the entire community.

MANKILLER Centerpiece Screening at the Bozeman International Film Festival

WHEN: Saturday June 9th, 8:15pm

WHERE: The Crawford Theater at the Emerson Center for Arts and Culture; 111 South Grand Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59715

A Q&A with Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd and Director/Producer Valerie Red-Horse Mohl to follow.

Discounted individual ticket offer here: https://bit.ly/2IAdRfB

Jill Momaday Return to Rainy Mountain

In this edition of Radio Goes to the Movies, we speak with Jill Momaday about her documentary short film, RETURN TO RAINY MOUNTAIN.

Based on the life of her father, Pulitzer Prize winning author, N. Scott Momaday, they retrace the route of his bestselling book, The Way to Rainy Mountain, visiting sacred Kiowa ancestral sites that inform the ancient myths, legends and oral traditions of their people.
It will be screening Friday morning, June 8 at 10:00 in the Hager Auditorium in the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, MT, as part of the BZN International Film Festival.

Kimberly Reed: Dark Money

We continue our annual Radio Goes to the Movies series featuring films screening at the 18th annual Mendocino Film Festival. In this segment we speak with Kimberly Reed, who is the director, and co-producer, writer of DARK MONEY. It’s a political thriller, which examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials. The film takes viewers to Montana—a frontline in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide—and follows an intrepid local journalist, working to expose the real-life impacts of the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Kimberly Reed’s work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, NPR. One of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” she directed/produced the film, PRODIGAL SONS, and was recognized as one of OUT Magazine’s “Out 100.” Her other films include PAUL GOODMAN CHANGED MY LIFE and THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON, which listeners can actually view now on Netflix.

Billings Republican candidate, Debra Bonogofsky, became suspicious when her election was thwarted by last minute inaccurate, malicious ads and mailings, the source(s) of which could not be traced. She filed suit with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices.

Powerful Republican Representative Art Wittich’s name, along with eight other 2010 Republican candidates, first appeared on documents found in three boxes discovered in Colorado. Based on this and other information, Wittich was included in the investigation on the complaint filed with the commissioner of political practices by Debra Bonogofsky against Dan Kennedy and unnamed “others.”

Underfunded and understaffed, Jonathan Motl, MT Commissioner of Political Practices doggedly followed slim leads, ultimately filing indictments.

Gene Jarussi (foreground) was appointed Special Attorney General. He served pro-bono and spent thousands of hours preparing the case. From left to right: Art Wittich, his attorney from Missouri, Lucinda Luetkemeyer, with Jonathan Motl behind Jarussi.

Tenacious investigative journalist, John Adams, persevered after his job with Lee family paper, Great Falls Tribune, was eliminated. He then founded the MT Free Press, and was crucial in finding the truth about Dark Money in MT.

Rodents of Unusual Size

Quinn Costello, editor & co-producer of the documentary, RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE, share his thoughts & experiences in creating this joyful exploration of the “Giant Swamp Rats Are Literally Eating Louisiana”.

Hard headed Louisiana fisherman Thomas Gonzales doesn’t know what will hit him next. After decades of hurricanes and oil spills he faces a new threat – hordes of monstrous 20 pound swamp rats. Known as “nutria”, these invasive South American rodents breed faster than the roving squads of hunters can control them. And with their orange teeth and voracious appetite they are eating up the coastal wetlands that protects Thomas and his town of Delacroix Island from hurricanes. But the people who have lived here for generations are not the type of folks who will give up without a fight. Thomas and a pack of lively bounty hunters are hellbent on saving Louisiana before it dissolves beneath their feet. It is man vs. rodent. May the best mammal win.

Award winning non-fiction filmmakers Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer have traveled to many corners of the world in search of unique stories highlighting the important environmental, scientific and cultural issues of contemporary society. With the success of documentary projects as varied as PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA, THE NEW ENVIRONMENTALISTS and EVERYDAY SUNSHINE: THE STORY OF FISHBONE they have gone on to screen their work at SXSW and Tribeca along with national TV broadcasts on PBS and the Sundance Channel. Along the way they have continued to pursue other sub-cultural documentary subjects, including: rogue economists, lucha libre wrestlers, ganja-preneurs and evangelical Christian surfers.
The filmmakers of RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE grew up in different parts of the country, but a passion for the swamp sealed their pact. Cajun Reeboks were donned and the journey began in search of the notorious “nutria rat”. Four years after first setting sail for Louisiana they emerged from the bayou covered in mosquito bites and an unwavering love for a place at the “End of the World” that is bursting with joy.

One person’s pest is another person’s pet.

Native to South America, nuria were introduced to the Bayou to be farmed for fur production during the Great Depression. Some escaped, and with no natural predators, they out-populated the native muskrats. Their numbers were kept somewhat in check until the anti-fur movement of the 1980s wiped out the fur market.

The population soon sky-rocketed to more than 25 million, literally eating the wetlands & causing tremendous environmental destruction. The state of Louisiana instituted the Nutria Control Program, which pays $5/tail.

Righteous Furs, a collective of fashion designers, prides themselves in utilizing nutria pelts. Their motto is “Save Our Wetlands. Wear more nutria.”

Efforts to create a nutria cuisine have been less successful.

Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?

BURNED: ARE TREES THE NEW COAL? tells the little-known story of the accelerating destruction of our forests for fuel, and probes the policy loopholes, huge subsidies, and blatant green-washing of the burgeoning biomass power industry.

A dedicated group of forest activists, ecologists, carbon scientists, and concerned citizens fight to establish the enormous value of our forests, protect their communities, debunk this false solution to climate change, and alter energy policy both in the US and abroad. The directors/producers of BURNED, Alan Dater & Lisa Merton say, “It’s not too late.”

Alan Dater has decades long experience in many different aspects of film making, working on such films as “Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music”; Emmy Award winning TV medical series, as well as National Geographic Specials. He moved to Vermont in the 1970s, where he started Marlboro Productions.

Lisa Merton joined him in 1989. Together, she & Alan have co-directed/produced such films as HOME TO TIBET, about a Tibetan refugee’s return to his homeland, and TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI, founder of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya, & the first environmentalist, as well as African woman, to win the Nobel Peace Prize. It won numerous international awards. Since 1996, Lisa has been a member of New Day Films, a documentary film collective.

How spending billions on subsidizing an efficient coal-burning power station to burn wood is actually WORSE for the planet than before. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4255010/Idiocy-replacing-coal-power-stations-burning-wood.html)

Jamie Redford – Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution

In this edition of Radio Goes to the Movies film maker, Jamie Redford, discusses his film, Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution. It will be opening the BZN International Film Festival on June 7 in the Crawford Theater at the Emerson Center for Arts & Culture at 7pm, and he will be attending.

Jamie Redford embarks on a colorful personal journey into the dawn of the clean energy era as it creates jobs, turns profits, and makes communities stronger and healthier across the US. Unlikely entrepreneurs in communities from Georgetown, TX to Buffalo, NY reveal pioneering clean energy solutions while James’ discovery of how clean energy works, and what it means at a personal level, becomes the audiences’ discovery too.

Reaching well beyond a great story of technology and innovation, Happening explores issues of human resilience, social justice, embracing the future, and finding hope for our survival.

On June 8, at 10a.m. in the Hager Auditorium of the Museum of the Rockies, he’ll be joining area luminaries in a discussion, Designing for a Clean Energy Revolution in Montana: Design & Construction Experts on the Leading Edge.

Lindsay Schack of Love Schack Architecture is one of the first certified designers in Montana for the Passive House Institute US. She is a licensed architect in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, an adjunct instructor at MSU’s School of Architecture and founding board member of Passive House Rocky Mountains.
Lindsey Love of Love Schack Architecture is an expert in natural materials and construction methods. She built her own hybrid straw bale home in Teton Valley, Idaho and strives to coordinate healthy, holistic design in high performance building assemblies.
Kyle MacVean of Harvest Solar is proud to get up and work for the sun every day. He’s worked in the solar industry for over 10 years and lived in an off-grid, straw-bale house for six years—an experience which has taught him to never take energy for granted.
Susan Bilo serves on the Montana Renewable Energy Association’s Board of Directors and heads Green Compass Sustainability Consulting where she teaches and advocates for natural resource conservation, energy and water efficiency, electric vehicles, and solar-powered net zero energy buildings.
Jaya Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D., LEED AP, teaches courses on Environmental Control Systems at the Montana State University School of Architecture and has over 15 years experience in building energy modeling, energy codes, and assessment of commercial and residential energy performance.