The premiere Val Marie screening of the documentary film Grasslands takes place at the Palais Royale Theatre (Val Marie community hall), on Centre Street in Val Marie, on Friday, July 8 at 8:00 p.m. with Gemini-award- winning filmmaker Ian Toews in attendance for a Q&A after the show. Tickets at the door are $6 adults and $5 students. This event is brought to you by 291 Film Company in partnership with Prairie Wind & Silver Sage and the Val Marie Hall.
Grasslands examines the unique natural habitat of the mixed-grass prairie through four seasons from the perspectives of the ranchers, conservationists, and aboriginal people who understand it best and live by preserving it. It is guided by a powerful metaphor / symbol: The re-discovered wallows of the re-introduced bison.
Some of those interviewed are faces you already know and some may be new to you. This stunning new documentary, shot with an Arri Alexa, the state-of-the-art 4k camera, brings the sights and sounds of the wild prairie to the screen. Greater Sage-Grouse on the lek, bison moving in every season through miles of native grass, the full-length documentary was filmed primarily in Saskatchewan’s Grasslands National Park, but includes footage from other grasslands locations in Alberta, Montana, and North Dakota.
“I wanted to convey that prairie was an expansive, flowing mass of grasslands. And then show people what it is today and what is being done to preserve it,” said the filmmaker and producer Ian Toews.
The film has been broadcast on CITY and Oasis TV in Canada. Don’t miss this one-time opportunity to see it on the big screen in Val Marie