YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

BIG SKY DOC YOUTH FELLOWSHIP

2 ambitious students took on the five-month long college level course for the 2021 program, both exploring their lives navigating school during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students received special guest lectures and advice from established doc filmmakers and premiered their finished films at the 18th annual BSDFF.

Native Filmmaker initiative film club

The Native Filmmaker Initiative Film Club embarked on its fourth season amidst a year of remote and hybrid learning, inviting 26 schools and nearly 30 classrooms from across the state to engage in an online documentary filmmaking course centered around three curated films, made by and about Indigenous subjects and histories. The program reached almost 1,200 students through interactive and recorded sessions and Schools participated from all across the state from areas such as Hays Lodgepole on the Fort Belknap Reservation, Wolf Point on the Fort Peck Reservation, and Box Elder on the Rocky Boy Reservation.

filmmakers in the schools

12 Filmmakers in the Schools screenings took place throughout the week of February 22nd-26th across Montana. The first-ever fully virtual program allowed teachers and their students free access to the rated and reviewed festival-selected films. The 2021 program highlighted a unique subject area every day, exploring English Language Arts, Science, Indigenous Stories, World Studies / Global Languages and Inspiring Individuals.

30 filmmakers and local specialists visited over 20 schools and connected with almost 2,000 students with new worlds, perspectives and complex ideas through documentary film.