Hungry Horse film to be screened on Saturday

Last year internationally acclaimed photographer Pieter ten Hoopen, along with MediaStorm, produced a documentary film about life in Hungry Horse.

The film will be screened Saturday in Coram.

The film received a nomination for the 36th annual News and Documentary Emmy in the New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle, Culture category that was presented Monday in New York.

At the beginning of July a friend told ten Hoopen via text messaging that the film, “Hungry Horse: Legends of the Everyday,” had been nominated. Ten Hoopen, who lives in Stockholm, Sweden, was on summer vacation and didn’t think much of it. He eventually asked the friend what kind of nomination. The friend replied, “an Emmy.”

Ten Hoopen recalled thinking, “that’s a bad joke.” So, once again, he didn’t respond.

Later, the production company called from New York and confirmed what his friend had shared.

“I was super happy of course,” he said. He explained that the Emmy awards have “huge respect” in Sweden and around the world.

He celebrated by opening a bottle of champagne, but the full reality of it didn’t hit him. There are accomplishments that are “sometimes are a bit too cool,” he said, and an Emmy nomination is one of those things.

Ten Hoopen originally comes from the world of still photography, so film is new to him. He wasn’t expecting this much notice for such a “small” film. He started full time in photography 14 years ago when he left the forestry industry.

The 43-minute film documents the struggles of poverty, drug use, loneliness and loss, told by Hungry Horse residents Brad Lee, Charlie and Katie.

A book with the same title and characters came out in March. He said the book relates the state of mind and tone of the town, whereas the film is a pure documentary. The book is available for purchase online and includes a DVD of the film.

After it was released, he recalls thinking, “let’s go on to the next project.” But now, with this nomination, the book and film got attention again.

The film trailer includes a scene in which a train with headlights on comes toward the viewer and gets terrifyingly close. As the train approaches, Katie, one of the subjects, talks about when she moved to Hungry Horse as a teenager and first used meth. Ten Hoopen said the scene was a “mistake of a very eager assistant.” The assistant was not as close to the train as it seemed because they used zoom lenses. However, “he was standing too long on the track,” ten Hoopen said.

A screening of the film will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday at Stonefly Lounge in Coram. In addition to showing parts of the film, he will explain the methods and philosophy by which he works, and also will answer questions. The lecture and screening are free and open to anyone with an interest in documentary film and photojournalism.

The full film is available for streaming online at http://mediastorm.com/publication/hungry-horse. It costs $3.99 for unlimited access.

He said the film was shot during the economic recession in 2008, a time when America was trying to reinvent itself. At the same time, he was also reinventing the country for himself while working on the project.

Ten Hoopen said he was inspired by American author John Steinbeck, who expounds the virtues of Montana in his book, “Travels with Charley.”

“I’m in love with Montana,” Steinbeck wrote. “For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition and even some affection, but with Montana it is love.”

That’s why ten Hoopen chose Montana. He originally wanted to do a book about the whole state, but realized that would take a lifetime. So he chose one town — Hungry Horse. He said he is familiar with the character of the town because he grew up in a small farming town in the Netherlands.

He learned while doing photojournalism that “you dig where you stand,” so he started digging in Hungry Horse and continued for over 10 years to complete his project.