'Fire Next Time' to air on national TV
The Daily Inter Lake
The documentary "The Fire Next Time," a chronicle of two years of conflict in the
Flathead Valley, will be seen by audiences nationwide July 12 and 17.
The documentary "The Fire Next Time," a chronicle of two years of conflict in the Flathead Valley, will be seen by audiences nationwide July 12 and 17.
The film was first screened to a packed house at Kalispell's Liberty Theatre in October 2004, with later showings in Whitefish and Columbia Falls. All screenings were followed by an audience discussion.
Produced for television's Public Broadcasting Service by Patrice O'Neill, "The Fire Next Time" focuses mostly on tension between environmental activists and multiple-use advocates.
It will be airing on PBS on "P.O.V.," public television's showcase for independent nonfiction films.
O'Neill said her initial interest in the Flathead Valley was piqued by the Project 7 revelations, when the arrest of Project 7 leader David Burgert in February 2002 led to the exposure of an alleged plot to kill local government leaders.
Over the two-year course of the filming, the filmmakers were drawn to KGEZ radio owner and "The Edge" talk-show host John Stokes, who said at one point in the film that environmentalists were "destroying America."
Also featured prominently were multiple-use advocates Scott Daumiller and J.B. Stokes, environmental leaders Keith Hammer and Cesar Hernandez, current County Commissioner Gary Hall, Kalispell Mayor Pam Kennedy, Bigfork's Mike Raiman and, most prominently, former Kalispell resident Brenda Kitterman.
Kitterman said she and her daughters were threatened repeatedly because of her efforts to bring valley residents together, bridge ideological divides and generate community harmony with her "Hands Against Hate" campaign.
O'Neill, of The Working Group, has been producing series on PBS for 15 years, including 1995's "Not in Our Town," the story of how Billings residents responded to a rash of hate crimes.
"The Fire Next Time" airs on MontanaPBS on July 12 at 8 p.m. and on July 17 at 4 and 10 p.m.