31 Jul Round Up: Reel

Common ground: It’s a phrase that elicits a sense of togetherness, people sharing in an idea or belief despite their diverse experiences and backgrounds. And that’s just what a documentary film crew found in Meagher County in central Montana.

Small Town, Big Sky, a short film produced by Brickhouse Creative in cooperation with the Meagher County Stewardship Council with support from a Montana Film Office grant, captures the rich history and vibrant future of White Sulphur Springs. As the documentary explores the evolution of local industries, including the introduction of the Black Butte Copper Mine, viewers gain insight into the economic and cultural shifts that have shaped this quintessential American town. >

Through interviews with residents — set within the nostalgia of rural Montana and backdropped by original music by co-producer and director David Thompson — Small Town, Big Sky shows how a small town might adapt to change while maintaining its close-knit community.

“This documentary came at a time when our town was already at a turning point,” says Cassie Coburn, executive director for the Meagher County Stewardship Council. “We’ve been seeing more visitors, more interest, and more pressure on what it means to live here. The film highlights real voices — local people, local businesses — and it doesn’t gloss over the complexity of this moment. It shows how housing, infrastructure, business, and land use all need to align for growth to be sustainable. It also ties in our past, recognizing that White Sulphur has seen cycles of boom and bust before.”

Thompson says the crew began the project with an open-ended mission: to produce a documentary about Meagher County through the lens of the potential changes to the community from an incoming copper mine. Letting residents lead the narrative, they found a story centered around the formation of the Meagher County Stewardship Council, an initiative aimed at responsibly planning and managing the impacts of the Black Butte Copper project.

“We also began to see a bigger-picture theme, something that could be a model for addressing change in other contexts,” Thompson says. “We felt that putting the spotlight on an approach that was all about sitting down at the table together and having respectful conversations — and knowing that one may not have all the facts, knowing there might need to be some give and take — was a story worth telling, especially in light of today’s polarized positions and unwillingness to listen.”

“Small Town, Big Sky isn’t meant to be an exposé. It’s not meant to be heart-wrenching or hard-hitting,” Thompson adds. “It’s meant to introduce the viewer to a group of people who are trying to do what’s right for the community they love in the face of coming change. And it’s meant to suggest that we all might look to rural communities like White Sulphur Springs to find examples of how respectful collaboration and working to find common ground are how challenges can and should be faced — together, not divided.”

Small Town, Big Sky is available to view on YouTube at youtu.be/yokDbpugFuk and is also under review for premiering on PBS next year.