Educating and empowering the next generation of documentary filmmakers, the BSDFF's youth fellowship gives students a crash course in documentary history and hands-on filmmaking. Two of the youth filmmakers visited the Trail studios to talk with Mike Smith about their experience. Amity Blue directed Flipping the Switch, about what happens when a band breaks up. Ben Buchta's Behind the Concrete follows Montana skateboarders on their efforts to build a network of skate parks across the state ..read more

Bring Them Home is the story of a small group of Blackfoot people and their mission to establish the first wild buffalo herd on their ancestral territory since the species’ near-extinction a century ago. Filmmakers Ivy McDonald and Daniel Glick joined Colter Nuanez on 102.9 ESPN Missoula to talk about creating an emotional, important film about restoring the land and healing a community ..read more

Welcome Space Brothers is a feature documentary about The Unarius Academy of Science, an extraterrestrial-channeling spiritual school and self-healing community established in the 1970s in El Cajon, California that became a wildly prolific filmmaking collective under the direction of outlandish spiritual leader and filmmaker Ruth E. Norman, AKA “Archangel Uriel.” In this episode of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival podcast, Ruth Norman, subject of Welcome Space Brothers, stopped by the Trail studios for a unique look at one of the most far-out films at this year's BSDFF ..read more

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival was the very first film festival to show Jeanie Finlay's work when Teenland premiered in Missoula in 2008. Fifteen years later, Finlay is an accomplished, decorated director with an eclectic filmography that runs from community theater to goths on a boat to a behind-the-scenes look at Game of Thrones. Jeanie Finlay, the subject of the 2024 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival retrospective, visited the Missoula Broadcasting Company studios to talk about her work with Mike Smith of the Trail 103.3 ..read more

In the 1970s, the Houston Herricanes were a part of the first women’s full tackle football league in the United States, starting a movement that's still in motion today. The Herricanes tells their unknown story of commitment, courage, strength and love for the game. Filmmaker Olivia Kuan joined Andrew Houghton of 102.9 ESPN Missoula to talk about her inspiring documentary ..read more

The Wonder and the Worry follows the careers of former National Geographic Editor in Chief, Chris Johns, and his daughter Louise, a young freelance photographer, telling a story about family, photography and the power of visual storytelling to create change. Director David Baker and subject Chris Johns visited the Trail studios to chat with Mike Smith about The Wonder and the Worry, which is the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival's closing night film ..read more

On the Red Lake (Ojibwe) Reservation in Minnesota, the high school football team hasn't one a game in two decades. Through the Storm follows the efforts of a determined coach and group of young athletes, who fight to keep their football program alive. Filmmakers Charles Frank and Fritz Bitsoie joined Colter Nuanez for a look at their film before its world premiere ..read more

Every summer, working-class families enjoy waterfront living in a scrappy trailer park off the coast of Virginia. When the relentless march of capitalism threatens their shabby Shangri-La, the denizens of Inlet View face the inevitable, and reveal the secrets to a rich life. Amy Nicholson, the director of Happy Campers, visited the Trail studios to discuss her heartwarming feature film with Mike Smith ..read more

Known only by her research number, Grizzly 399 has captivated photographers since 2007, becoming the most famous — and photographed — mother bear in the world. The Big Sky Doc Fest's opening night film follows 399 as she struggles to raise an unusually large litter in the face of human encroachment, a rapidly changing climate, and disputes over her Endangered Species protections. Director and producer Elizabeth Leiter visited the Trail studios to discuss her powerful film ..read more

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival executive director Rachel Gregg stopped by the Missoula Broadcasting company studios to preview the opening night film 399: Queen of the Tetons and offer a few of her other personal recommendations for films she's looking forward to this week ..read more