Inside the Heart of Wolf Advocacy: The Yellowstone Story
“Inside the Heart of Wolf Advocacy- The Yellowstone Story” tells the stories of people working to preserve the legacy of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. A Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin Film.
Interview with Writer/Director/Co-Producer Rachel Tilseth and Co-Producer Maaike Middleton
Congratulations! Why are you making your film?
This film will help the audience connect with wolf advocates working to preserve the gray wolf both on and off of Yellowstone National Park.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The film presents the viewer with a complete picture of what it means to advocate for an imperiled species protected within Yellowstone National Park, contrasted against an uncertain future due to the wolf hunting activities taking place just beyond the park’s borders.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Wolf advocates work to educate about and advocate for Yellowstone’s gray wolf. In 1997, gray wolves were restored to Yellowstone National Park, and less than 20 years later they face an uncertain future because of wolf hunts in states surrounding the park. Wolf tourism is a multi million dollar industry for Yellowstone National Park. Political rhetoric works against scientific fact. Politicians use propaganda to make the gray wolf look bad in order to please special interests, such as oil & gas industry, lumbering industry, Big Ag industry and Rocky Elk Foundation. This is not just happening in Yellowstone; it’s a universal theme as well.
The same theme is playing out in the Great Lakes Region, the state of Washington and in countries all around the world. Such as in the the countries of France, Norway, Sweden and Italy. The gray wolf is being scapegoated and made a target by greedy special interests. It’s a battle between environmentalists and big money.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Our documentary “Inside the Heart of Advocacy - The Yellowstone Story” is in development as a film project and we are in the fundraising stage looking for investors, donors, and co-producers willing to invest in this project. Our script is about the advocates and the gray wolves set in the beautiful vistas of Yellowstone National Park. We want the viewers to identify with the advocate’s struggle to educate about and advocate for the gray wolves' struggle for survival as highly-social pack animals.
Advocates work inside the park, and their livelihood depends on wolf tourism. But how does all this play out once the gray wolf steps across park boundaries as their lives are threatened by trophy hunters? The states surrounding Yellowstone National Park all allow wolf hunts.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
So far, comments on the pitch trailer have been favorable. Viewers are stating that this is a story that needs to be told. Millions of people across America and around the world love the gray wolf and follow the stories of Yellowstone Park wolves.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback has been favorable as I’ve said, and it’s too early to tell.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We are looking to get the word out about our project in order to gain more support for the film project.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I would say all of the above. The more connections are made for our film project, the better.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
First and foremost, we want the viewer to connect with the struggles gray wolves face because of fear and hate, and to connect through the stories of the advocates who have learned so much about these iconic predator, who work tirelessly to preserve the legacy of Yellowstone’s gray wolf.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do we preserve National Park wolves against states at its border that allow wolf hunts? Is Yellowstone Park's wolves at its lowest population level because of these hunts?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
A possible future project is in the works. You can check it out here: https://wolvesofdouglascountywisconsin.com/2018/05/27/inside-the-heart-of-wolf-advocacy-the-italian-story/.
Interview: July 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Inside the Heart of Wolf Advocacy: The Yellowstone Story
“Inside the Heart of Wolf Advocacy- The Yellowstone Story” tells the stories of people working to preserve the legacy of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. A Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin Film.
Director: Rachel Tilseth
Producers: Maaike Middleton and Rachel Tilseth
Writer: Rachel Tilseth
About the writer, director and producer:
RACHEL TILSETH holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Art Education and is a retired art teacher. Tilseth’s is a Writer and has spent over two decades working in Wisconsin Wolf Recovery.
MAAIKE MIDDLETON holds an M.A in Documentary by Practice from the University of London. She graduated with merit in B.A Media & Theatre Arts from Montana State University.
Key cast:
Nathan Varley, Ph.D Currently Varley is the owner of The Wild Side, LLC, a wildlife touring business specializing in outfitting groups of all ages to view wolves and other wildlife in Yellowstone National Park, including interpretation related to the park’s natural and cultural history and sciences. He and his wife, Linda Thurston, lead tours that champion a land ethic that places the highest value on wildlife and habitat within the Yellowstone ecosystem, focusing on forever preserving and enjoying the places that have provided Nathan’s inspiration.
Ilona Popper a writer and wolf advocate living in Jardine, Montana just at the north entrance of YNP. Ilona has worked intensively on preserving wolves in the YNP area and in Montana. She helped establish and served as chair for the Bear Creek Council Wolf Committee and was invited to sit on Finding Common Ground, a council called by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to bring together wildlife advocates and environmentalists with sportspeople and livestock producers. The participants were often at odds, especially about wolves, but she saw that “each person shared a love of wildlife and nature.”
Marc Cooke founded Wolves of the Rockies headquartered out of Stevensville, Montana. Wolves of the Rockies is the most active local and national wolf defender and protector in Montana. Wolves of the Rockies has developed long-term relationships with other hunting and pro-wolf state and national conservation organizations, along with decision makers such as Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Commissioners and state and federal elected officials. Under Wolves of the Rockies leadership, we have achieved many pro-wolf accomplishments including the creation of two subunits 313 & 316 that border Yellowstone National Park.
Rick Lamplugh is one of the film’s featured wolf advocates. Rick Lamplugh lives in Gardiner, Montana, at Yellowstone’s north gate. He is the author of two Amazon best sellers, In the Temple of Wolves and Deep into Yellowstone. His writing has appeared in Yellowstone Reports, and the literary journals Composite Arts Magazine, Gold Man Review, Phoebe, Soundings Review, and Feathered Flounder. He won the Jim Stone Grand Prize for Non-Fiction.
Kira Cassidy was raised in Illinois where she developed a deep respect for wildlife and the outdoors through a childhood of (purposely) getting lost in the forest, raising three baby raccoons, and gardening for subsistence with her family. Kira holds her M.S. degree from the University of Minnesota, with projects focusing on territoriality and aggression between packs of gray wolves. Now working as a Research Associate for the Yellowstone Wolf Project, Kira’s scientific interests include territorial dynamics, the evolution of sociality, and the value of the individual in group-living species. Kira has assisted film crews in Yellowstone National Park and on Ellesmere Island, living with an arctic wolf family during the summer of 2014 in the effort to help communicate science to the public through different forms of media. Kira lives in Gardiner, Montana and can be found painting, reading, flying a kite, or exploring with her two distant wolf-descendants (hound dogs Badger and Wyatt).
Looking for: producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heartofwolfadvocacyfilmproject/
Twitter: @WolvesDouglasCo
Instagram: @wolvesofdouglascountywisconsin
Official Website: www.wolvesofdouglascountywisconsin.com
Made in association with: A Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin Film
ETA: Winter of 2019