Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Feb 21 2025 45 ep. 15 mins

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Podcast artwork

Now in its 22nd year, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is the premier venue for non-fiction film in the American West. Every year, the festival brings over a hundred beautifully-crafted, thought-provoking documentary films to Missoula, Montana. This podcast, a collaboration between the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and the Missoula Broadcasting Company, gives you the chance to hear directly from filmmakers, gaining insight into what drew them to their subjects and the behind-the-scenes stories of their films.

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Saints and Warriors

Feb 21 2025 10 mins

Throughout the course of the Haida basketball season, leaders of iconic rez ball team the Skidegate Saints compete for two titles - defending their All Native Basketball Championship, while also battling for title to their land and waters with the government that stole it from them with the Indian Act. Patrick Shannon, director of the film Saints and Warriors, joins Colter Nuanez i

Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted

Feb 21 2025 12 mins

Hidden away in the suburbs of Los Angeles, legendary cult musician Swamp Dogg, along with housemates Moogstar and Guitar Shorty, have transformed their home into an artistic playground. Together, they navigate the tumultuous music industry, forging a unique and inspiring bond across time and space. In this episode, director Isaac Gale visits the Trail 103.3 studios to discuss his f

Two Medicine

Feb 21 2025 10 mins

Chazz Racine, a determined rider for Carlson Relay, fiercely represents the Blackfeet Nation in Indian Relay. The film Two Medicine chronicles Chazz's desire to win and his personal battles off the track—his brother’s fight with cancer, his friend’s struggle with alcoholism, and his own past trauma. In this episode, director Taylor Hawkins chats with Colter Nuanez of 102.9 ES

The Jungle

Feb 20 2025 20 mins

Unraveling centuries of greed and exploitation in America’s meat industry, THE JUNGLE is a modern-day take on Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel that calls into question the profiteering of ecosystems and reveals how indigenous knowledge may hold the key to creating equitable food systems for both people and the planet. In this episode, director Matt Weschler chats with Mike Smith of

Appalheads

Feb 20 2025 12 mins

Decades after leaving Appalachia, a daughter returns to eastern Kentucky to excavate her father’s remarkable filmmaking legacy and reflects on the effect her home still has on her. In this episode, producer Anna White visits the 102.9 ESPN studios to discuss Appalheads' world premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

Coywolf

Feb 19 2025 15 mins

Lucy Adams' film Coywolf meditates on the urban landscape of New York City and the coyotes that inhabit it, blurring the lines between city and nature and exploring how we relate to wildlife in urban environments. In this episode, Adams chats with Mike Smith of the Trail 103.3 about her film, which made its world premiere at this year's Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

Tiwahe

Feb 19 2025 15 mins

TIWAHE is a vibrant, slice-of-life portrait spanning four generations of the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes in Hays, Montana, on the Fort Belknap Reservation. In this episode, Colter Nuanez of 102.9 ESPN discusses the film with directors Josh Benson and James Suter.

Fault Lines

Feb 18 2025 16 mins

In San Francisco, the decades-long battle for affordable housing is reaching a breaking point, with dire warnings for the rest of the country. Directors Nate Houghteling and Yoav Attias of the documentary Fault Lines discuss their film, its lessons and much more with Mike Smith of the Trail 103.3.

The Birds

Feb 18 2025 19 mins

The Birds is a moving portrait of one man’s desperation to decipher the relationship between mass flights of seabirds and a single super-speed predator. In this episode, co-director Martin Dohrn visits the Trail 103.3 studios to discuss the making of the film.

UNEARTH

Feb 18 2025 12 mins

UNEARTH follows an inspiring set of Native Alaskan activists and commercial salmon fishermen as they navigate the treacherous waters of power players, politics, and tactics driving forward North America’s largest-ever proposed copper mine in their beloved homeland of Bristol Bay, Alaska, revealing the potentially unsustainable cost of our sustainable future. In this episode, dire