HELENA — History buffs and Montana lovers get ready because a new student film premiering at The Myrna Loy this Thursday will dive into the state and capital’s past.
The student film, “The People’s House,” will be premiering at The Myrna Loy on Thursday, September 8 at 8:00 p.m. for free. The film is about the Montana State Capitol building and how Montana became a state.
“This topic, I think looking at this building, this architecture, that sort of has so much to do with what Montana is. The Capitol, the building itself, is already a story. What it means to be a Montanan, who's an insider, who's an outsider. And I think that changes from generation to generation. And it touches on notions of governance and democracy, all of which I think have to be renewed for this generation,” says Film Professor and Director of the NEH Summer Program at Helena College, Dr. Ari Lee Laskin.
The film is part of a summer film program funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The program invites high school juniors, seniors, and recent high school graduates to spend a couple of weeks putting together a film. The program is spread over 3 different summers. Last year’s film, “No Ordinary Time,” focused on the Spanish flu’s impact on Montana.
Mara Flynn, a film major at Montana State University, returned this year as a teacher’s assistant, working primarily with writers and producers on this year’s project. This program helped solidify to Flynn that filmmaking was something she wanted to pursue in college.
“...an opportunity to kind of learn more about Helena. That's where I had kind of, it's where I lived my whole life. So, it was a great opportunity to learn more about that, and also kind of get a start into filmmaking with other groups of people. I had done some by myself, but I really wanted to kind of work with a group of people who were interested in the same things that I was,” says Flynn.
You can watch last year’s film on Helena College’s website.
