Missoula’s Own Rapping Cowboy

Back by popular demand, Roll Out Cowboy, Elizabeth Lawrence's wildly successful feature-length documentary about rapping cowboy Chris “Sandman” Sand, will screen for its second year in a row this Saturday afternoon, Feb. 18, at the Crystal Theater. Nominated for last year's Big Sky Award, Roll Out Cowboy went on to take countless prizes and Jury Selections, including Best Documentary at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival, Flint Film Festival, and Arizona Underground Film Festival. The movie crossed Europe in screenings last year and is now back to Western Montana to entertain Big Sky audiences.

Chris Sand made his start performing at open mic nights in Missoula’s very own Top Hat and The Rhino in the early 1990s. He went on to release ten full-length CDs of his solo music and collaborations. Lawrence’s documentary follows Mr. Sand’s traveling musical antics from North Dakota to Washington and back again in the 2000s. Described as Woody Guthrie meets L.L. Cool J, Mr. Sand’s performance style is both hysterical and sincere.

The Sandman credits the making of Roll Out Cowboy with helping him move onto a new chapter in this life. For example, Chris met his wife, Hanna, on set the last day of filming. These two have recently welcomed their first baby girl and relocated the whole family to Missoula’s lower rattlesnake neighborhood full-time. After suffering a vocal chord injury this past year, The Sandman is taking time out from touring to recuperate and be with his family. Asked how he feels about Roll Out Cowboy’s encore appearance at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the Sandman says, “it’s extremely thrilling, a big honor.” The film’s screening will be followed by a special musical performance by the Sandman himself! Keep your eyes peeled for a cowboy rapping around Missoula, and also for the Roll Out Cowboy DVD release in the near future. For more information, visit the Sandman’s blog at http://www.chrissand.net/.

Roll Out Cowboy screens at the Crystal Theater, 515 S. Higgins Avenue, Saturday February 18^th at 4:45 pm. Sandman CDs will be available.

Article by BSDFF Promo Team member Cecile Berberat

OPENING NIGHT Free Movie Friday

The 9^th annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival kicks off tomorrow night - Friday, February 17 - at the Wilma Theatre with a free 6:30 pm screening of Matthew Akers’ film Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present sponsored by HBO Documentary Films.

Controversial performance artist Marina Abramović has been challenging traditional notions of Art for nearly half a century with her groundbreaking work. Akers’ film chronicles her three-month performance at the MoMA, in which she sat silently in a chair every day from open to close while visitors flocked from around the world to sit with her and share in the experience of her mountainous discipline. But if this sounds too avant-garde for you, fear not. Abramović’s life story—from her communist upbringing to her foot-journey across the Great Wall of China—transcends the art world. Ultimately, the story Akers tells is one that explores the difficulties and possibilities of finding meaning in a chaotic and noisy world.

“A lot of these films would never play in Missoula,” says Festival Director Mike Steinberg, and he hopes The Artist is Present will serve as audiences’ “gateway drug,” wetting appetites for the feast of over 100 documentary films that will hit Missoula over the next two weeks. With a slew of rock 'n' roll performance films and other features whose subjects range from sushi to rapping cowboys to the VW Bus, there’s bound to be something for everyone. So come on out tomorrow night for some free nonfiction fun, and learn more about The Artist is Present in the interview with the director below.

BSDFF: What do you hope the audience will take away from your film?

AKERS: That it’s not a film about art, specifically - that it’s really about something larger. It’s really about slowing down in our lives, and thinking about how to be in the present and look at each other and have a genuine human interaction. It seems to me a particularly important message, since we all live in such a crazy over-mediated world right now, communicating through all these different devices without having to be physically present.

BSDFF: How did you meet Marina Abramović?

AKERS: I met her through my producer, who I’ve worked with for a number of years. When he found out that she was going to invite these 36 performance artists up to her house, he asked me if I’d like to shoot it and try to cut a trailer. I said sure and went up there. He’d been telling me how charming Marina is and how much fun she is to be around, her sense of humor, etc. I wasn’t really doubting him, but at the same time I was exhausted from having just spent a year shooting footage of clowns and acrobats for a documentary called Circus. It was difficult to go from that right into another very difficult project—performance art—and the whole thing was a little scary. But I just thought, you know, I’ll go up there for a week and see what happens, and I met her and we immediately hit it off. I told her that I was skeptical of performance art, and she liked that. She’s been faced with that apprehension—that question of “why is this art?”—her whole career.

BSDFF: What were your goals for this project, in the initial stages of filming?

AKERS: To find a way to film something that is by nature ephemeral, and to make a film that is somehow not just documentation or biography, but also communicates the true transformative power of Marina’s work.

BSDFF: How did the element of unpredictability play into the shooting of this film? Obviously, you didn’t know how Marina’s 3-month performance would be received, or if she would even finish it.

AKERS: Well, I knew just from her legacy that there was absolutely zero percent chance of her not completing the performance. I mean, this is a woman who once laid out 72 objects, half of which caused pleasure, and half of which caused pain, and she stood motionless in a gallery for six hours while the audience freely used the objects on her body. Two of the objects on the table were a bullet and a gun, and someone towards the end of the six hours put the bullet in the gun. They put the gun in Marina’s hand and made her hold it up to her head, and cocked it. There was a sort of brawl that ensued and the guy was tackled by some of the other people there, but it didn’t faze Marina.

BSDFF: How many hours of footage did you shoot to make this film?

AKERS: I know I personally shot between 600 and 700 hours. We have many, many films we could still make out of this material. Everything I shot was kind of amazing. You know, one day she tells me she’s meeting Ulay, her ex-lover of 12 years, whom she hasn’t seen in over two decades. And then every week after that she would tell me something equally incredible that I felt like I had to film. Before I knew it 11 months had gone by and I had essentially given up all work for a year just to keep shooting. It was amazing.

Article by BSDFF Promo Team member Peter Schumacher

Big Sky Brewing Hosts BSDFF Launch Party

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival kicked off with a launch party hosted by BSDFF sponsor Big Sky Brewing.

Like participating in the greatest ever Mr. Rogers factory tour, festival board members and staff explored the cavernous Big Sky Brewing facility.

We even got a sneak peek at this year's fantastic merchandise.

The night ended with everyone eagerly anticipating this year's Big Sky Documentary Film Festival - the films, the Doc Shop, the parties, the excitement. We hope to see you there!

Photos by Michelle Gustafson. Click here for more photos from the launch party.

2012 Film Selections

Photograph by Marco Anelli (© 2010)

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival has announced the official selections for their ninth annual event to be held in Missoula, Montana February 17-26, at the Historic Wilma Theatre. The 144 film program, culled from nearly 1000 entries from all over the world will feature a free opening night screening of Matthew Akers' new film Marina Abramović The Artist is Present (sponsored by HBO Documentary Films); a massive music sidebar of new and classic films and live performances (sponsored by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences); and retrospective and visiting artist programs featuring films by Barbara Kopple, D.A. Pennebaker, Agi Orsi, Caveh Zahedi, Dave Markey and celebrated animator Bill Plympton.

Other special features of the 2012 event include live musical accompaniment to classic silent City Symphonies, performed by Stellarondo & NextdoorPrisonHotel; Two programs from Emily Armstrong & Pat Ivers acclaimed Nightclubbing series featuring rarely seen CBGB & Mudd Club vintage punk performances by Iggy Pop, Blondie, The Talking Heads and others; Work-In-Progress screenings; and The Big Sky Doc Shop, a new industry-focused four-day event that offers documentary filmmakers opportunities for networking, discussion, and professional development, through workshops, panels, and the annual Big Sky Documentary Pitch session. Confirmed guests of Doc Shop include Diane Weyermann (Food, Inc) Yance Ford (POV) Lois Vossen (Independent lens/ITVS)and Marshall Curry (If A Tree Falls).

The Festival will feature three venues this year, two screens at the Wilma and a third at the Crystal Theater, 515 South Higgins on the Hip Strip. "This is going to be an incredibly exciting year," said Festival Director, Mike Steinberg. "The energy and joy inherent in this years line-up is a reflection of the enormous support we have seen from our community and our national and local sponsors."

Visit the festival website, bigskyfilmfest.org for film info, volunteer opportunities and to purchase passes online.

The Official Selections for the 2012 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival:


OPENING NIGHT FILM

Marina Abramović The Artist is Present (Director: Matthew Akers) 
Free Screening sponsored by HBO Documentary Films
(Filmmakers in Attendance)

CLOSING NIGHT FILM

Under African Skies (Director: Joe Berlinger)


FEATURE FILM COMPETITION


Andrew Bird: Fever Year (Director: Xan Aranda)
Battle For Brooklyn (Directors: Suki Hawley & Michael Galinsky)
Calvet (Director: Dominic Allan)
The Carrier (Director: Margaret Betts)
Chasing Ice (Director: Jeff Orlowski)
Faceless (Director: Jason Lapeyre)
Laura (Director: Fillipe Gamarona Barbosa)

SHORT FILM COMPETITION

After (Director: Jeremy Cohan)
Aside the Sea (Director: Sine Skibsholt)
A Force of Nature  (Director: Barbara Kopple)
Ben Franklin Blowing Bubbles (Director: Jonathan Napolitano)
Blue Rinse (Director: Matt Leigh)
Guanape Sur (Director: Janos Richter)
Hombre mquina (Machine Man) (Director: Roser Corella) 
Kudzu Vine (Director: Josh Gibson)
Making Noise In Silence (Director: Mina T. Son)


MINI-DOC COMPETITION

Grandpa Looked Like William Powell (Director: David B. Levy)
Mr Smith's Peach Seeds (Director: Stewart Copeland)
The Noble Earth (Director: Bryan McManus)
No Wine Left Behind (Director: Kevin Gordon)
Spirit of the Blue Bird (Director: Xstine Cook, Jesse Gouchey)
Stray Dawg (Director: Sean Dunne)


BIG SKY AWARD COMPETITION

Boomtown (Director: Torben Bernhard & Travis Low)
The Lookout (Director: Brian Bolster)
Painting John (Director: Audrey Hall)
Pot Country (Director: Kate McLean, Mario Furloni)
Smoke Songs (Director: Briar March)


VISITING ARTISTS AND SPECIAL FEATURES AT BSDFF 2012

BARBARA KOPPLE: Letting It Shine

A Force of Nature
Harlan County, USA
Shut Up And Sing
Wild Man Blues
(Filmmaker in Attendance)

TEENAGE WASTELAND: The Films of Agi Orsi

Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who (Director: Paul Crowder, Murray Lerner, Parris Patton)
Dogtown and Z Boys (Director: Stacy Peralta)
No Room For Rock Stars (Director: Parris Patton)
Riding Giants (Director: Stacy Peralta)
(Filmmaker in Attendance)


TAKING IT PERSONALLY: Four Films by Caveh Zahedi

I Am Sex Addict
I Don't Hate Las Vegas Anymore
In The Bathtub Of The World
Untitled Work-In-Progress
(Filmmaker in Attendance)


THE-SLIGHTLY-NON-FICTION-ISH-SOMEWHAT DOC-LIKE-HOW-TO-FILMS OF BILL PLYMPTON

A collection of strange yet some how instructive films from the celebrated illustrator/animator, including 25 Ways To Quit Smoking, How To Kiss, and Santa: The Fascist Years. (Filmmaker in Attendance)


NIGHTCLUBBING with Pat Ivers & Emily Armstrong

Two rarely seen compendiums (Greatest Hits 1975-80 & The Origins of Hardcore) of late 70s performances from a massive archive featuring Blondie, Iggy Pop, The Talking Heads and others, captured by Ivers & Armstrong when they were the house videographers at downtown punk meccas CBGB and The Mud Club. (Filmmakers in Attendance.)

ITS ALL OVER NOW: The Classic Rock-Docs of D.A. Pennebaker

Don't Look Back
Monterey Pop
Ziggy Stardust


PUNK-A-MUCK: 3 by Dave Markey

1991: The Year Punk Broke
The Slog Movie
(This Is Known As) The Blues Scale


WORK-IN-PROGRESS SCREENINGS

Code of the West (Director: Rebecca Richman-Cohen)
The List (Director: Beth Murphy)
Untitled Work In Progress (Director: Caveh Zahedi)
The Winding Stream (Director: Beth Harrington)
(Filmmakers in Attendance)


WINTER IN THE BLOOD PREVIEW EVENT

A sneak peek at Alex & Andrew Smith's much anticipated new feature based on Montana writer James Welch's beloved novel. With clips and trailers from the film, a screening of Visionary Insight, a behind-the-scenes film by Big Sky Alum Tracy Rector, and live musical performances from the soundtrack. (Filmmakers in Attendance)


CITY SYMPHONIES

Stellarondo and NexdoorPrisonHotel perform LIVE musical accompaniment to silent Avant-garde classics, and a new film by Artist/Animator Andy Smetanka.

Manhatta (Director: Paul Strand)
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Director: Walter Ruttmann)
To The West (Director: Andy Smetanka)


BIG SKY MIX-TAPE: a massive mash of new and vintage films that celebrate the power of music through the ages. From Bluegrass to Soul, from Jazz to Punk, the melodiously diverse program (presented by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) also features a myriad of live musical performances throughout the festival (presented by The Missoula Community Foundation).

1991: The Year Punk Broke (Director, David Markey)
Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who (Directors: Paul Crowder, Murray Lerner, Parris Patton)
American Juggalo (Director: Sean Dunne)
Andrew Bird: Fever Year (Director: Xan Aranda)
The Archive (Director: Sean Dunne)
Between Rooms and Voices (Director: Kyle Eaton)
Better Than Something: Jay Reatard (Directors: Alex Hammond & Ian Markiewicz)
Don't Look Back (Director: D.A. Pennebaker)
Give Me The Banjo (Director: Marc Fields)
In Love With These Times: New Garage Explosion (Directors: Aaron Brown & Joseph Patel)
Kevin (Director: Jay Duplass)
King For Two Days (Director: Noah Hutton)
Man & Machine (Director: Jesse Roesler)
Monterey Pop (Director: D.A. Pennebaker)
No Room For Rock Stars (Director: Parris Patton)
Pianomania (Director: Robert Cibis & Lilian Franck)
Piano Pat (Director: Matthew J. Clark)
Refugee All Stars in Montana (Director: Colin Ruggiero)
Roll Out Cowboy (Director: Elizabeth Lawrence)
Sing Your Song (Director: Susanne Rostock)
Shut Up And Sing (Director: Barbara Kopple)
The Slog Movie (Director: David Markey)
Smoke Songs (Director: Briar March)
Sound It Out (Director: Jeanie Finlay)
Sounds and Silence (Director: Peter Guyer & Norbert Wiedmer)
Stray Dawg (Director: Sean Dunne)
The Swell Season (Director: Nick August-Perna)
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (Director: Charlotte Zwerin)
(This Is Known As) The Blues Scale (Director: David Markey)
Water on the Road: Eddie Vedder Live (Director: Brendan Canty & Christoph Green)
Way of the Crowd (Director: J.D. Moore)
Shut Up And Sing (Director: Barbara Kopple)
Under African Skies (Director: Joe Berlinger)
Wild Man Blues (Director: Barbara Kopple)
The Winding Stream (Director: Beth Harrington)
Ziggy Stardust (Director: D.A. Pennebaker)


NATURAL FACTS - Films About Nature, Wildlife & the Environment

Among Giants (Director: Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson & Sam Price-Waldman)
Back to Land (Director: Tijana Petrovi)
History Is Unwritten (Director: Aaron Jones)
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (Director: Marshall Curry & Sam Cullman)
Lads & Jockeys (Benjamin Marquet)
Last Call At The Oasis (Director: Jessica Yu)
Mating For Life (Director: Cindy Stillwell)
L'or des Autres (The Gold of Others) (Director: Simon Plouffe)
A Salton Soul (Directors: Mike Agnew, Greg Balkin, Tim Kressin)
Schrebergaart (Director: Yann Tonnar)
Surviving Progress (Director: Mathieu Roy)
Tanglewood (Director: Sarah Newens)
To Make a Farm (Director: Steve Suderman)
Up in Smoke (Director: Adam Wakeling)
Well-Fed (Director: Anna Moot-Levin)
Y.E.R.T. Your Environmental Road Trip (Directors: Ben Evans)
Young Bird Season (Director: Nellie Kluz)


ART IS  - New Films About Art & Artists

Adventures in Plymptoons (Director: Alexia Anastasio)
AGLOW (Director: Howard Libov)
The Art of Fighting (Director: Gavain Browne)
Artist In The Margin (Director: Emily Haddad)
Baring It All (Director: Patricia Zagarella)
Black Rock Horse (Director: Todd Darling)
Come On Down and Pick Me Up (Director: Jon Bougher, Nicholas Corrao)
Everything Is Incredible (Director: Tyler Bastian, Trevor Hill, Tim Skousen)
Four Cubic Feet of Space (Director: Tony Gault)
Kiss The Paper (Director: Fiona Otway)
Poetry of Resilience (Director: Katja Esson)
Robert Williams: Mr. Bitchin' (Director: Mary C. Reese)
Scraped Up (Director: Chrissy Dodson)


YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY: Films About Aging

Aquadettes (Director: Drea Cooper)
The Best Thing I Ever Done (Director: Margaret Emily McKenzie)
The Gentle Sport (Directors: Jenni Nelson & John Rory Fraser)
Maurice (Director: Patrick Kack-Brice)
Tramping In Bohemia (Director: Margot Buff)
You're Looking At Me Like I Live Here And I Don't (Director: Scott Kirschenbaum)

BIG SKY/BIG WORLD - New Films from Around the Globe

Crazy Horse (Director: Frederick Wiseman)
Crazy Wisdom: The Life & Times of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Director: Johanna Demetrakas)
Finding Fidel (Director: Bay Weyman)
Happy (Director: Roko Belic) 
Hold On Tight (Director: Anna Rodgers)
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Director: David Gelb)
Kyren and the Mysterious World of Sight (Director: Emma Calvelvey)
Tales of the Waria (Director: Kathy Huang)
Unlikely Treasures (Director: Tally Abecassis)


AMERICAN SPECTRUM

Angel For Hire (Director: Mary Flynn & Nina Goodby)
The Bus (Director: Damon Ristau)
Cafeteria Man (Director: Richard Chisolm)
Cartography (Director: Sara Mott)
Disaster (Director: Laura Green)
Ecstasy of Order (Director: Adam Cornelius)
Holy Rollers (Director: Bryan Storkal)
An Imaginary Thing (Director: Reva Goldberg)
Language of the Unheard (Director: Jacqueline Reyno)
Little Mom (Director: Maria Fortiz-Morse)
Living Tiny (Director: Paul Meyers, Paul Donatelli)
Love and Allegiance (Director: Adam Smith & Tijana Petrovic)
Love Hacking (Director: Jenni Nelson)
Man on a Mission (Director: Mike Woolf)
Manufactured Fortunes (Director: Kevin Gordon)
A New Sight (Director: David Keller & Paulius Kontijevas)
Ordinary Skier (Director: Constantine Papanicolaou)
Patriot Guard Riders (Director: Ellen Frick)
Promenade (Director: Briar March)
Shangri-La (Director: Adam Smith)
Still (Director: Lou Karsen)
Visionary Insight: Behind The Scenes of The Film Winter In The Blood (Directors: Tracy Rector & Lou Karsen)
Vito (Director: Jeffrey Schwartz)
You Have the Right to an Attorney (Director: Matthew Bockelmann)


Major Sponsors of Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, HBO Documentary Films, The Documentary Channel, International Documentary Association, Canon, Montana Pubic Television, The Missoula Independent, Montana Public Radio, Montana Film Office, Missoula Community Foundation, Good Food Store, KBGA, Anderson Zurmuehlen, The Trail 103.3, Big Sky Brewing Company, George's Wines, Montana Arts Council, Humanities Montana, First Interstate Bank, ITVS, Missoula Art Museum, Blossoms Bed & Breakfast, Doubletree Inn, Holiday Inn Downtown, Motel 6 University, Wingate, The Mountain Valley Inn, Grant Creek Best Western and Campus Inn.


Film Sponsors

HBO, LEAW Family Foundation, Advanced Imaging, Big Dipper, Biomimicry Institute, Bob Ward & Sons, Clark Fork Coaltion Community Food and Agriculture Coalition, Fact and Fiction, Garden City Harvest, The Montana Environmental Information Center, Jeanette Rankin Peace Center, Le Petit Outre, Open Aid Alliance, Morgenroth Music, Sushi Hana.


For more information:

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 113 West Front Street, Suite 203 Missoula, Montana 59802 (406) 541-3456 < http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org>

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This announcement is from the Big Sky Film Series, a project of the Big Sky Film Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. http://www.bigskyfilm.org

Big Sky Offers International Pitch with Top Industry Reps

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival will host an International Pitch Session with top industry representatives including Diane Weyermann (Participant Media) Yance Ford (POV The American Documentary) and Lois Vossen (ITVS, Independent Lens).

The third annual Big Sky International Documentary Pitch Session will take place on February 23, 2012 as part of Big Sky Doc Shop (Feb 21-24), a five day non-fiction industry forum during the ninth annual film festival.

More about the Pitch:

Entry Fee: $25

Submission Deadline: January 6, 2012

Filmmakers have the opportunity to pitch their work-in-progress (WIP) documentaries to some of the top commissioning editors and funders for documentary film in North America. All documentary forms and all subjects are eligible to submit. Commissioning editors will critique and comment on each pitch. A maximum of 15 projects will be accepted to pitch in this session. Potential participants should submit a brief (250 words maximum) project summary and an additional one-paragraph project status report. A short (5 minutes maximum) sample reel of the work-in-progress may be submitted (via vimeo, youtube.com, blip.tv, etc.) in addition to the written 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 $75 to participate, and will be notified of their acceptance by January 11, 2012.

Confirmed panelists include: Diane Weyermann (Executive Vice President, Documentary Films, Participant Media), Yance Ford (Series Producer, POV/The American Documentary), Lois Vossen (Independent Lens, Senior Series Producer & Vice President, ITVS) and Reva Goldberg (Communications and Fellowships Manager at Cinereach) Caroline Graham (Marketing Manager, The Documentary Channel).

Enter via Withoutabox.com


More about Doc Shop

February 20-24, 2012 at The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

The Doc Shop is a new, industry-focused feature of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. It offers documentary filmmakers opportunities for networking, discussion, and professional development. The DocShop schedule includes workshops, panels, a round table discussion, product demos, and the annual Big Sky Documentary Pitch session. These events deal with topics from funding to distribution, and everything in between. The Doc Shop brings filmmakers, industry decision-makers, and experts together in a dialogue about what matters most in the world of documentary film.

Confirmed participants at Doc Shop include: Diane Weyermann (Food, Inc.,An Inconvenient Truth) Yance Ford (POV, The American Documentary on PBS) Caroline Graham (The Documentary Channel) Lois Vossen (Independent Lens/ITVS) Richard Saiz (ITVS) Reva Goldberg (Cinereach Foundation) Marshall Curry (Racing Dreams, If A Tree Falls) Rebecca Richman-Cohen (War Don Don, Code of The West) Beth Harrington (Welcome To The Club: The Women of Rockabilly) Mike Woolf (A Man On A Mission) Ben Fowlie (Camden International Film Festival), Doug Whyte (The Hollywood Theater) Jeanie Finlay (Goth Cruise, Sound It Out) and Gita Saedi-Kiely (The New Americans).

Doc Shop passes - available for $50; good for all Doc Shop specific events, workshops, pitch sessions, and discussions. All-Access Industry Passes - available for $275; good for all Doc Shop events, festival screenings, festival parties, & special events.

For more Info contact Doc Shop Coordinator Noel Pederson at docshop (at) bigskyfilmfest.org