After decades of bringing independent cinema to the Gallatin Valley, the Bozeman Film Festival is making history with its first traditional four-day festival, featuring 73 films and approximately 100 filmmakers traveling to Bozeman from across the country. (Photo: NBC Montana)
BOZEMAN, Mont. —After decades of bringing independent cinema to the Gallatin Valley, the Bozeman Film Festival is making history with its first traditional four-day festival, featuring 73 films and approximately 100 filmmakers traveling to Bozeman from across the country.
Running Oct. 8-11, the inaugural festival features documentaries, narrative features, short films, animation, Indigenous stories and Montana-made productions. Screenings and events are taking place at the Ellen and Rialto theaters, along with the Tune Up beneath the Armory.
For festival director Lisa McGrory, the event represents something the organization has wanted to accomplish for years.
“A film festival is that last piece that we were always missing,” McGrory said. “And so the timing just was right.”
Although this is Bozeman’s first traditional four-day film festival, the organization’s history stretches back nearly six decades.
McGrory said the Bozeman Film Society traces its beginnings to Montana State University in the 1960s, when film, television and English professors began screening classic movies for students.
As interest grew, community members began attending the screenings, eventually prompting the organization to expand into downtown Bozeman during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Films were shown at both the Ellen and Rialto theaters before the organization eventually established a regular presence at the Rialto.
For 25 years, the Rialto served as a gathering place for local film enthusiasts, offering independent and foreign-language movies that audiences were unlikely to find at traditional multiplexes. McGrory said screenings were held as often as four nights a week.
However, maintaining that tradition came with challenges.
After the Rialto and Ellen theaters were sold, the organization needed to find another location to continue its programming.
McGrory said the group moved to the Emerson Theater, bringing along an old 35-millimeter projector from the Ellen. For roughly a decade, the organization continued showing movies while taking on responsibilities previously handled by theater operators.
That included selling tickets, managing concessions and checking in audiences.
The next challenge came when the film industry began transitioning away from 35-millimeter projection and toward digital technology.
McGrory said the organization faced a decision about whether it could afford to continue screening films.
The group ultimately raised money to purchase a digital projector, allowing it to return downtown and establish a home at the Ellen Theater, where it has now been screening movies for approximately 10 years.
McGrory said some of the same people who attended screenings at the Rialto in the late 1970s still attend movies at the Ellen today.
“It’s really a community,” McGrory said. “It’s like a really long history of community involvement with the Bozeman Film Society.”
She said the difficulties faced by the organization reflect broader challenges for independent and historic theaters.
According to McGrory, digital projectors can cost between $50,000 and $75,000, with additional expenses for sound systems and renovations.
Without fundraising or generous community supporters, she said many independent theaters struggle to remain open.
McGrory credited Bozeman residents with helping preserve the Ellen Theater and keeping independent cinema accessible to the community.
“So you just have to have a lot of community that knows the importance of keeping these cultural touchstones alive and working,” McGrory said. “You have to value the arts.”
While the organization was originally incorporated as the Bozeman Film Festival in 1978, McGrory said it never operated as a traditional film festival comparable to Sundance, Cannes or Tribeca. Instead, it focused on regular screenings throughout the year.
As film festivals became more popular, McGrory said the name began creating confusion among audiences and film distributors.
Approximately 12 years ago, the organization began operating under the Bozeman Film Society name, although the idea of eventually hosting a traditional festival remained.
McGrory said Bozeman’s growth helped make that possibility a reality.
With more residents, additional hotels and direct flights from cities including New York and Los Angeles, organizers believed the city was better positioned to attract filmmakers and audiences from outside Montana.
She also pointed to Bozeman’s existing arts community, including theater, dance, the symphony and Opera Montana, as evidence that the city was ready for another major cultural event.
The remaining question was whether organizers had enough people and re
“It was the right combination of board members and volunteers that said, can we do this? Do we have enough people? Do we have enough energy to do this?” McGrory said. “And the answer was yes, and here we are.”
The festival features 73 films presented across 23 film blocks, including feature-length productions and collections of short films.
McGrory said organizers deliberately avoided selecting a single theme for the first year, choosing instead to introduce audiences to a wide variety of stories and filmmaking styles.
“For our very first festival, we didn’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into one theme,” McGrory said.
The festival accepted domestic U.S. submissions for its inaugural year rather than opening submissions internationally.
The resulting lineup includes documentaries, narrative features, animation, Indigenous films and numerous productions made in Montana.
“So it’s a wide spectrum of films that you’re going to experience at this film festival,” McGrory said.
The festival also includes a high school film program, providing younger filmmakers with an opportunity to showcase their work.
McGrory said a family of five is traveling from Orlando, Florida, to support their high school daughter, whose film was accepted into the program.
That family is among the many visitors expected in Bozeman throughout the weekend.
“We have a hundred filmmakers coming to town. A hundred,” McGrory said. “People flying in from New York, LA, Tennessee.”
For some of those filmmakers, McGrory said the trip will be their first visit to Montana.
Beyond showcasing their films, the festival provides opportunities to meet other filmmakers, producers and directors, potentially opening doors to future projects.
McGrory said organizers are not expecting major business deals to be signed during the festival’s first year. Instead, the goal is to provide exposure and help filmmakers establish relationships.
“But if a film is noticed by somebody and it gives them a little bit more visibility, we would love that,” McGrory said.
She explained that for some independent filmmakers, the festival may be the first opportunity to sit in a theater and watch their finished work alongside an audience.
Hearing viewers react to their stories can help filmmakers understand what resonates and what might need improvement.
McGrory said those interactions are one of the most rewarding aspects of bringing independent cinema to the public.
The Bozeman Film Society already hosts regular screenings throughout the year, including events featuring filmmakers who speak with audiences about their work.
She said those events have consistently been among the organization’s most popular because audiences enjoy learning how films are developed and brought to the screen.
“And those have always been the most popular because audiences, they love coming and seeing a movie, but what they love even more is meeting the person behind it,” McGrory said.
The four-day festival expands on that experience by bringing filmmakers and audiences together throughout a single weekend.
McGrory described the event as a celebration of the filmmakers, with the public invited to participate.
In addition to film screenings, the festival features three panel discussions, filmmaker question-and-answer sessions and special events.
One guest speaker will discuss the history of the Western and how television productions set in Montana contribute to the mythology of the American West.
Opening-night festivities include a party at the Baxter, while another celebration is scheduled for Saturday night at the Rialto Theater.
McGrory said the festival also provides an opportunity to support downtown businesses by bringing more visitors into the area.
The festival officially kicks off Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with a screening of “Baby Love,” a film shot in Montana.
For McGrory, seeing the event come together reflects the work of staff members, volunteers and downtown partners who helped make it possible.
“The community has supported the Bozeman Film Society for so many years and has always wanted a film festival,” McGrory said.
She added that the people organizing the event are Bozeman residents who want to contribute to their community and its cultural offerings.
The festival continues through Sunday, with its final two films scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
An awards ceremony will take place Sunday morning, recognizing films selected by jurors following a screening process that involved more than 200 submissions.
McGrory said the ceremony is open to the public, with complimentary coffee and pastries available for attendees.
As the inaugural festival gets underway, organizers are already looking toward the future.
McGrory said the goal is to make the four-day festival an annual tradition, building on the organization’s 48-year history.
“We’d like to see this go on year after year,” McGrory said.
She hopes audiences leave having discovered new films, met filmmakers and participated in conversations about the stories they experienced.
For filmmakers, McGrory said those interactions can serve as a reminder that the time, money and effort invested in their productions are appreciated.
Ultimately, she hopes the festival will continue introducing new ideas and perspectives to Bozeman audiences while celebrating the people who bring those stories to life.
Tickets are available at bozemanfilmfestival.org or in person at the Rialto Theater box office, which handles ticketing for the Rialto, Ellen and Tune Up venues. Online purchases provide a QR code that attendees can present at the door.
The complete festival lineup, screening times and event schedule are available at bozemanfilmfestival.org.
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