For all you filmgoers out there...

Thinking of holding court at the Wilma during the fest?
Well, we've got the schedule for YOU!

Sweet!

Check out our BLOCK SCHEDULE to see what's happening day by day,
minute by minute at Big Sky.

Film Schedule Released

Start planning your February 11th-20th NOW!

FILM SCHEDULE

Or download it PDF Style
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2011's Selections Announced, Yo La Tengo Headlines.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


January 14, 2011

Missoula, MT - Big Sky Documentary Film Festival has announced the
official selections for their eighth annual event to be held in
Missoula, Montana February 11-20, at the Historic Wilma Theatre. The
140 film program, culled from nearly 1000 entries from all over the
world will feature a live performance by indy rock band Yo La Tengo,
a free opening night screening of Peter D. Richardson's How To Die In
Oregon (sponsored by HBO Documentary Films), a retrospective of films
by venerable filmmaker Chuck Workman, and more than twenty-five
World, North American and US premiers of new non-fiction films.

The Festival will feature three venues this year--two screens at the
Wilma and a special screening room at the former Pipestone
Mountaineering store at 129 W. Front Street in downtown Missoula. In
every way, the festival continues to grow, said Festival Director,
Mike Steinberg. It's a clear reflection of the enormous support we
have from our community and our national and local sponsors.

Film info, passes and tickets for Yo La Tengo are available on the
festival website, bigskyfilmfest.org . Tickets for Yo La Tengo can
also be purchased at Ear Candy Music, 624 South Higgins Avenue.


The Official Selections for the 2011 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival:

OPENING NIGHT FILM
How to Die in Oregon (Director: Peter D. Richardson)
Free Screening sponsored by HBO Documentary Films


FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
Corner Store (Director: Katherine Bruens)
Feathered Cocaine (Director: rn Marino Arnarson & Thorkell S. Hardarson)
Granito (Director: Pamela Yates)
Holy Wars (Director: Stephen Marshall)
Kati With An I (Director: Robert Greene)
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (Director: Chad Friedricks)
Steam of Life (Directors: Joonas Berghall, Mika Hotakainen)
Summer Pasture (Directors: Nelson Walker, Lynn True)
This Way of Life (Director: Thomas Burstyn)
Troubadours (Director: Morgan Neville)
The Two Escobars (Directors: Jeff Zimbalist, Michael Zimbalist)
We Still Live Here (Director: Anne Makepeace)


SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Albert's Winter (Director: Andreas Koefoed)
Broken Doors (Director: Goro Toshims)
Indelible Mark (Director: David Alvarado)
Sin Pais (Without Country), (Director: Theo Rigby)
This Chair Is Not Me (Director: Andy Taylor Smith)
Yizkor (Remembrance) (Director: Ruth Fertig)


MINI-DOC COMPETITION
Bye (Director: Anthony Morrison)
Dreams Awake (Directors: Kevin Gordon, Rebekah Meredith)
Bathing Micky (Director: Frida Kempff)
Mrs. Birks' Sunday Roast (Director: Kyoko Miyake)
Tarkio Balloon (Director: Torben Bernhard)
Top Spin (Directors: Sara Newens, Mina T. Son)


BIG SKY AWARD COMPETITION
Columbus Day Legacy (Director: Bennie Klain)
Darwin (Director: Nick Brandestini)
Hood to Coast (Directors: Christoph Baaden, Marcie Hume)
Play Again (Director: Tonje Hessen Schei)
Roll Out Cowboy (Director: Elizabeth Lawrence)
Tuned In (Director: Kevin Gordon)


YO LA TENGO Presents The Sounds Of Science
Hoboken's legendary Indie rock trio performs LIVE musical
accompaniment to the extraordinary underwater films of Jean Painleve


CHUCK WORKMAN RETROSPECTIVE
Words (1988)
Pieces of Silver (1989)
Precious Images (1989)
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990)
The Source (1999)
Visionaries (2010)


WRITERS BLOCKS - Films About Language & Literacy
And Everything Is Going Fine (Director: Steven Soderbergh)
The Art of Jihad (Director: Alaa Eldin el Dajani)
Chekov for Children (Director: Sasha Waters Freyer)
Doc (Director: Immy Humes)
Henry Miller: Asleep & Awake (Director: Tom Schiller)
Hey Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill A Mockingbird (Director: Mary Murphy)
In the Wake Of The Flood (Director: Ron Mann)
King in Milwaukee (Director: Nicole Brown)
Radiografia dun Autor de Tebeos (Director: Marcos Nine)
Richard Hugo: Kicking The Loose Gravel Home (Directors: Annick Smith,
Beth Chadwick Ferris)
Sayed Kashua: Forever Scared (Director: Dorit Zimbalist)
Scent of Strawberries (Director: Guy Natanel)
Unearthing the Pen (Director: Carol Salter)
William S Burroughs: A Man Within (Director: Yony Leyser)


INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY CHALLENGE The finalists from the 2010 film
contest.

Death Goes Green (Director: Gabe Franz)
Grounded By Reality (Director: Phoebe Brown & Elizabeth Strickler)
Hanging Out (Director: Ben Campbell & Veena Rao)
I SAW U (Director: Maile Martinez & Lane Stroud)
Legend: A Film About Greg Garing (Director: Emily Branham)
Life is but a dream... (Director: Kelly Saxberg)
Lynching, America's Nightmare (Director: Christian Appleby)
Old Radicals (Director: Matthew Leahy)
Oneironauts (Director: Dafni Kalafati & Kiriakos Stilianopoulos)
Tami Tushie's Toys (Director: Melody Gilbert)
The Four Dreams (Director: Chris Sinclair)
Walk Across America (Director: Jon Ward)


NATURAL FACTS - Films About Nature, Wildlife & the Environment
Bag It (Director: Suzan Beraza)
Broad Channel (Director: Sarah J. Christman)

Clover & Her Mob (Erin Belmont, April Johnson, Joe Johnson, Char Sawatzke Jones, Dave Jones, Michelle McConnaha)
The Comfort of Cold (Director: Sara Newens)
Corner Plot (Directors: Ian Cook, Andre Dahlman)
Fireline (Director: Sara Newens)
Learning To Love The Gun (Director: Joseph Matthews)
Nenette (Director: Nicolas Philibert)
On Coal River (Director: Francine Cavanaugh)
One Lucky Elephant (Director: Lisa Leeman)
Queen of the Sun (Directors: Taggart Siegel, Jon Betz)
Rushland Ridge (Director: Kyle Repka)
Sea Is a Harsh Mistress, The (Director: Jason Sussberg)
Second Nature (Director: Guy Leiberman)
Snake Fever (Director: Wendy Greene)

DUST-TO-DIGITAL PROGRAM with Lance Ledbetter
Desperate Man Blues (Director: Edward Gillan)
Dust To Digital Picture Show (Various Artists)
Ten Thousan Poiints Of Light (Director: George King)


SIGHTS & SOUNDS - Films About Art & Music
The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi (Director: Andrew Thomas)
Black Dog Running (Director: Scott Ray Becker)
Black February (Director: Vipal Monga)
David Bailey, Four Beats to the Bar and No Cheating (Director: Jrme de Missolz)
Do It Again (Director: Robert Patton-Spruill)
Everyday Sunshine: The Story Of Fishbone (Directors: Lev Anderson,
Chris Metzler)
Ghost Noise (Director: Marcia Connolly)
Keep Dancing (Director: Greg Vander Veer)
Marwencol (Director: Jeff Malmberg)
Portrait to America (Director: Peter Kovacik)
Sacred Transformations (Director: Justine Nagan)
Sand Mountain (Director: Kathryn McCool)
The Secret to a Happy Ending: A Documentary About the DriveBy
Truckers (Director: Barr Weissman)
The Tao of Blake (Director: Kathy Corley)
Waste Land (Director: Lucy Walker)
A Weaverly Path (Director: Kenny Dalsheimer)


BIG SKY/BIG WORLD New Films from Around the Globe
Armadillo (Director: Janus Metz)
Bastards Of Utopia (Director: Maple Razsa)
Bye Bye Now (Director: Aideen O'Sullivan)
Cultures of Resistance (Director: Iara Lee)
Disappearance of McKinley Nolan (Director: Henry Corra)
Farewell (Director: Ditteke Mensink)
Into Eternity (Director: Michael Madsen)
If These Walls Could Talk (Director: Anna Rogers)
Keepers of the Art (Directors: Gabriela Weeks, Karen Sztajnberg)
Kings of Pastry (Directors: Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker)
Kinshasa Symphony (Director: Claus Wischmann)
Irma (Director: Charles Fairbanks)
My Playground (Director: Kaspar Astrup Schrder)
The Sound of Insects: Record of A Mummy (Director: Peter Liechti)
To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America (Director: Gayle Ferraro)



AMERICAN SPECTRUM
Boxing Gym (Director: Frederick Wiseman)
Breaking & Entering (Director: Benjamin Fingerhut)
Brutal Beauty (Director: Chip Mabry)
Don't Bury Me in Trona (Directors: Vicky Wetherill, Jason Skriniar)
Eat the Sun (Director: Peter Sorcher)
Final Chapter, The (Director: Mina T. Son)
Food Stamped (Directors: Shira, Yoav Potash)
Git Along, Little Dogies (Director: Kate Lain)
Like a Lion (Directors: Shane Nelson, Eric Iberg)
Lines (Director: Joselito Seldera)
Lost Angels (Director: Thomas Napper)
Love, Etc. (Director: Jill Andresevic)
Michael & His Dragon (Director: Briar March)
Missoulaquatsi (Director: Andy Smetanka)
Night Awake (Director: Jenni Nelson)
Plasticity (Director: Ryan Malloy)
Quadrangle (Director: Amy Grappell)
Skydancer (Director: Katja Esson)
Summer Snapshot (Director: Ian McCluskey)
Two Worlds Inside Out (Directors: Moeko Crider, Dana Johnson)
Voyagers, The (Director: Penny Lane)
Wana Dubie's War (Directors: Jerod Welker, Andrew Sheeley)


Major Sponsors of Big Sky Documentary Film Festival:

HBO Documentary Films, Sony Electronics, The Documentary Channel,
Montana Pubic Television, The Missoula Independent, Montana Public
Radio, Montana Film Office, International Documentary Association,
Morris & Helen Silver Foundation, ITVS, Docurama, KBGA, Northwestern
Energy, First Security Bank, Montana Arts Council, ITVS, Missoula Art
Museum, Blossoms Bed & Breakfast, Doubletree Inn, The Mountain Valley
Inn, Grant Creek Best Western and Campus Inn.

LINKABLE PRESS RELEASE

Film Sponsors:

HBO, Blue Cross Blue Shield, LEAW Family Foundation, Fact and
Fiction, Humanities Montana, Silver Foundation, The Green Light, Lost
Trail, Bob Wards, Poverello Center, Rocky Mountain School of
Photography, The Artists Shop, Ear Candy Music, Hellgate Roller
Girls, Runners Edge, Farm to Family, Montana Museum of Art and
Culture, Missoula Winery, Bernices Bakery, and Trail 103.3.

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Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Announces 2011 Pitch Sessions

Two exciting pitch sessions will take place during the 8th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, an International Call and "Documenting the Big Sky" a special session focusing on films to be produced in Montana. Confirmed panelists include Yance Ford (Series Producer, POV/The American Documentary), William Marcus (General Manager of KUFM/Montana Public Television) Aaron Pruitt, Director of Programming (KUSM/Montana Public Television, and Kim Anderson (Humanities Montana). More participants will be added as they are confirmed. December 23 is the entry deadline for both sessions.

Here's all the details:

"Documenting the Big Sky" Pitch Session
February 16, 2011 - University Theater/University of Montana campus
Entry fee: FREE
Submission Deadline: December 23, 2010

Pitch your documentary work-in-progress (WIP) to Montana Public Television and other important documentary funders in Montana. The pitch session will be held on February 16, 2011 in the UC Theater on the University of Montana campus with a live audience of filmmakers, industry representatives, and students. Projects must have a Montana focus to be eligible. All non-fiction forms are acceptable including hybrid doc/narrative projects. Historical fiction and "docu-drama" projects are not eligible. Submit a brief (250 words maximum) project summary and an additional one-paragraph project status report via email. The project summary should concisely describe the focus of the film as well as a brief treatment which should include shooting format and any other relevant technical details and production credits (if known). The project status should describe the current state of the production (eg. pre-production, production, post, etc.) in some detail. A short (5 minutes maximum) sample reel of the work-in-progress may be submitted in addition to the written application. Work-in-progress reels may be submitted on-line only via vimeo, youtube.com, blip.tv, etc. Provide a direct link with your written application. Do not send DVD screeners as part of your application. A maximum of 15 projects will be selected to pitch on February 16, 2011. Selected projects will have 20 minutes to pitch their project and show a short sample (if available) for the panel. If selected to pitch, filmmakers will be required to pay an additional $50, which includes the right to pitch the selected project to the panel of broadcasters and funders. For an additional $50, participants will receive an All Access Pass for the 2011 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival ($250 value). Selected projects will be notified of their acceptance by January 10, 2011.

Confirmed Participants - William Marcus (General Manager of KUFM/Montana Public Television), Aaron Pruitt, Director of Programming (KUSM/Montana Public Television), Dawn McGee (High Stakes Foundation) and Kim Anderson (Humanities Montana).

Application materials must be submitted to pitch@bigskyfilmfest.org Entry fee must be paid online. More info here.


International Documentary Pitch Session
February 17, 2011 - University Theater/University of Montana campus
Entry Fee: FREE
Submission Deadline: December 23, 2010

Pitch your documentary work-in-progress (WIP) to some of the top commissioning editors and funders for documentary film in North America. All documentary forms (eg. first person, direct cinema, observational, etc.) and all subjects are eligible to submit. The session will be held February 17, 2011 at the UC Theater on the University of Montana campus with a live audience of filmmakers, industry representatives, and students. Commissioning editors will have the opportunity to critique and comment on each pitch. A maximum of 15 projects will be accepted to pitch in this session. Submit a brief (250 words maximum) project summary and an additional one-paragraph project status report. The project summary should concisely describe the focus of the film as well as a brief treatment which should include intended length, shooting format and any other relevant technical details and production credits (if known). The project status should describe the current state of the production (eg. pre-production, production, post, etc.) in some detail. A short (5 minutes maximum) sample reel of the work-in-progress may be submitted in addition to the written application. Work-in-progress reels may be submitted on-line only via vimeo, youtube.com, blip.tv, etc. Do not send DVD screeners as part of your application. Selected projects will have 20 minutes to pitch their project and show a short sample (if available) for the panel. Selected projects will be required to pay an additional $150, which includes the opportunity to pitch and an All Access Pass to all events at the 2011 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival ($250 value). Selected projects will be notified of their acceptance by January 10, 2011.

Confirmed participants - Yance Ford (Series Producer, POV/The American Documentary), Kate Pearson (SVP Programming, The Documentary Channel).

Application materials must be submitted to pitch@bigskyfilmfest.org Entry fee must be paid online. More info here.