PBS documentary debuts this week
Screenings will be followed by community discussion and questions answered by the filmmaker.
The Daily Inter Lake
Local previews of a Public Broadcasting Service documentary on the Flathead Valley begin Wednesday.
"The Fire Next Time" documents two years of change and controversy in the valley as seen by producer Patrice O'Neill of The Working Group.
The film will be shown on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Liberty Theatre in Kalispell at 120 First Ave. E.; on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Community Center in Columbia Falls at 235 Nucleus Ave.; and on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Grouse Mountain Lodge on U.S. 93 and Fairway Drive.
Screenings will be followed by community discussion and questions answered by the filmmaker.
Admission is free; seating is limited.
The documentary first took shape in the aftermath of publicity about an alleged militia group, Project 7, which allegedly conspired to kill local public officials.
"Community members initiated an anti-hate campaign to respond to the threat of violence in the valley. Campaign organizers contacted The Working Group," according to a press release from the organization.
The production company had previously produced the 1995 film, "Not In Our Town," telling the story of how Billings responded to a rash of hate crimes.
"What began as a half-hour PBS special has turned into a national movement, with an unprecedented outreach campaign featuring screenings and town hall meetings in hundreds of communities nationwide," The Working Group said of the Billings piece.
The resulting campaign against hate and intolerance continued with a second television special, "Not in Our Town II."
"'The Fire Next Time' opens a new chapter in the 'Not in Our Town' project by examining how communities deal with conflict," the press release stated. "What began as a straightforward story about people in the valley coming together to denounce the threat of violence became a complex story that has taken two and a half years to produce."
According to the press release, the documentary is a portrait of a community grappling with issues of change, fear and intimidation. There are interviews with people who hold diverse and conflicting points of view about land-use planning, forest-road closures, logging and wildfires.
"Ultimately, 'The Fire Next Time' presents a picture of people seeking and finding ways to be good neighbors and community members in the face of deep polarization," The Working Group said.
Local leaders who saw a preliminary version of the documentary during the summer said the film paints a fair and engaging picture of the area.
"I think it's going to be a film that the community can use as a looking glass to see where we've been," Kalispell Mayor Pam Kennedy said in July. "It doesn't depict this as a bad place."
The documentary is expected to be broadcast sometime later this season on PBS.