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New Missoula Equus International Film Festival focuses on the role of horses
The premier launch of the EQUUS International Film Festival® & Conference http://equusinternationalfilmfestival.com/ will bring some of the most important filmmakers and award-winning equine films to Missoula, Montana in September. The film festival and conference, founded by former Wildlife Film Festival Director Janet Rose, is the first all-equine film festival. The inaugural event this year, co-sponsored by the Native American Studies Department at the University of Montana will include a special focus: Emerging Voices in Native American Filmmaking.
Film entries with a Native American theme and a focus on horses in Native American life are already part of the three-day line up of events. A special seminar: The Horse in Native American Life, Culture and History will bring presentations led by tribal representatives from around the region. EIFF Founder, Rose is working with an Advisory Board that includes Wade Davies, Chair of the Native American Studies Department at the University of Montana and Cheryl Vanderburg, a Tribal Relations Specialist for the US Forest Service, Northern & Intermountain Regions, who has worked to bring native films to the Missoula community and is currently serving as Executive Producer of the film “Badger Creek”. The film was a feature selection for the Made In Montana premiers at the 2015 Big Sky Film Festival. Rose invited Davies and Vanderburg to join the Advisory Board to lead this portion of the event and to help shape the focus of EIFF this year.
The host venue for this year’s EQUUS International Film Festival® is the University of Montana. Screenings and conference events will be at the University Theatre and The Payne Family Native American Center. A special opening night Welcome Reception is being planned at the Dana Gallery in downtown Missoula, featuring some of the region’s best equine art and equine photography. This first-of-its-kind film festival will screen the top equine films from around the world including documentaries and features on a wide range of stories and issues, related to the equine world and the human bond with horses. Special awards for “Best Of” will be announced during the festival and conference. The event is to celebrate filmmaking and all things horse related with a goal of raising awareness of the equine world.
Organizers say the number of equine films being made worldwide is extensive and growing and public interest in this magnificent creature is high. There are also many significant issues surrounding the horse today on a global scale — the wild horse issue, slaughter, as a controversial issue, the performance horse, therapeutic riding, the horse as a healing animal, such as the horse human bond for war veterans and for youth with autism and other mental and physical challenges. But the festival also explores the equine as simply a majestic and iconic symbol.
“The horse is an icon of the American west, it is how this nation was built,” says Rose, adding, “It is a symbol of America. It is integral to how we grew America and the horse is especially important to Montana, the western lifestyle, and Native American cultures.” But Rose adds that the horse played a key role in the development of many nations, societies and cultures. Rose adds that the festival is a natural fit for Montana. EIFF is also an education and outreach project of a not for profit equine organization, Horse Haven Montana. EIFF’s mission is education and understanding to enhance the equine/human bond and to improve the welfare of the horse through film, television, and other media.
The EQUUS International Film Festival will run from September 18-20 and feature public screenings, exciting panel discussions, filmmaker and public social and networking events, and keynotes including some of the most important new voices in Native American film. The festival is also seeking sponsors, and partners. The call for entries is open until June 1.
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.equusinternationalfilmfestival.com
Mobile: 406.880.0683
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A former director of Missoula’s International Wildlife Film Festival is putting together a new event focused on the importance of horses.
Janet Rose, who led the IWFF for 13 years until 2013, is now at the helm of the new Equus International Film Festival http://equusinternationalfilmfestival.com/ , which will have its inaugural launch this September in Missoula.
Rose said while she was with the IWFF, the festival saw many films about horses be submitted, but that unless they focused specifically with wild horses, there really wasn’t a good place for them in the event.
By Dillon Kato
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