Grant offered for Montana moviemaking

A Montana nonprofit is awarding $8,000 to $10,000 to help filmmakers tell stories of life in Montana.

Ken Egan, the executive director of Humanities Montana, said they have been giving out the grant for 30 years.

Some of the bigger humanities movies to gain assistance from the grant are “Indian Relay,” which covers relay races in reservations and “Class C,” which is about women’s basketball in Class C towns in Montana. Egan said the list continues.

“It’s a beautiful study of life in Montana,” Egan said of “Class C.” “What it’s like to be part of a basketball team and how those teams matter so much to Montana communities. It’s an absolutely spectacular film.”

The way the grant works is those making a movie can apply for three stages: preproduction, production and post-production. Oftentimes Humanities will award two grants to one project to help them make and distribute the music.

“Indian Relay” received two grants — one for production and one for post-production.

“That’s kind of typical with these grants,” Egan said.

Egan said anyone interested in applying for the grant can contact him or Kim Anderson at Humanities Montana at 406-243-6022.

He said they like to visit with applicants to understand their projects and make sure it does fit with their requirements and criteria. If the project is a fit, Humanities Montana will guide the person through the application process.

The deadline for the applications is August 20. The grant can only be awarded to organizations, not individuals.