It's Showtime: Filmmakers ready to release documentary on MCT's tours around the world.
January/09/2008 11:49 PM
It's
showtime: Filmmakers ready to release documentary
on MCT's tours around the world
By
JAMIE KELLY of the
Missoulian
Right now, “The Little Red Truck” is getting its final tune-up. Belt yourselves in, because the documentary about Missoula Children's Theatre's epic yearly tours around the globe will debut in Missoula at next month's Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Filmmaker Rob Whitehair and wife Pam Voth, who have spent the last two years on the 98-minute film, are making some small, last-minute changes and expect the movie to be theater-ready any day.
“I think when people from Missoula see it,” said Voth, “they're going to be proud to be from Missoula.”
Voth and Whitehair spent the last two years recording and editing video of MCT's tours in five different American towns, documenting the heartache, hope, humor and hard work that the million-mile road shows bring to children around the world. They traveled to Andy Griffith's hometown, to an Inuit village in Alaska, to the heart of Tinsel Town, to a working-class city in Pennsylvania, and to Arizona's hot, dusty desert.
They ended up with 300 hours of high-definition video, the editing of which has occupied their lives since.
Watching with keen interest at the final edits this week was Jim Caron, founder of MCT, who has spent hours with Whitehair and Voth through the editing process.
“Every time I come here, he's added some new, wonderful thing,” said Caron at Whitehair and Voth's Rattlesnake home, a portion of which is a video editing studio for the couple's Tree and Sky Media Arts.
“The Little Red Truck” - so named because of MCT's fleet of 42 red pickups that tour the world - takes the viewer on a five-city journey to towns big and small, with children as diverse as the country itself.
It documents MCT's weeklong residencies in those towns, from the time the red trucks pull up to the final performances. Largely focused on the personalities of the children, it also features interviews with Caron, the army of tour actor-directors who make the shows happen, and even actor J.K. Simmons, who got his start with MCT in Missoula in the 1970s.
The most important quality of the documentary, said Caron, is its authenticity. Even though MCT has a financial stake in the film, it is in no way “an MCT commercial,” he said.
Caron was there to watch and suggest, but in the end it was always Whitehair and Voth's call on what survived and didn't survive the cuts.
“Rob and I have disagreed at times, but Rob gets his way, and he's almost always right,” he said. “This is a movie about what we do. And it's not perfect. Our world is a microcosm of the world. You'll see kids who are wonderful, and kids who are OK, and kids who aren't. It's critical that the film tell the truth. And I think we have an incredible outcome.”
Caron is ecstatic about the finished project. “The Little Red Truck” is, after all, a documentary about Caron's vision of art, one that he had the courage to act upon nearly 40 years ago in Missoula.
“I'm very seldom in a position to see kids say things like, ‘MCT saved me from the gangs,' ” said Caron. “We hear about that, or we'll get a letter, but to see a kid's face ... .”
It's fitting that “The Little Red Truck” will get its world premiere in Missoula. But Tree and Sky Media Arts is also shopping it to other major film festivals around the country, pursing a theatrical release and also hoping it will attract the attention of American and international broadcasters.
“We're generating awareness and creating buzz right now,” said Voth. “The theatrical run will do the same thing. The thing about this documentary is that it makes you think and feel, but it will also make you laugh.”
“Belly-laugh funny,” added Whitehair.
The DVD version of the film, complete with deleted scenes and other special features, should be available to Missoulians in the summer.
And it will be a permanent reminder to this community of what an amazing thing a little theater company can accomplish with an avuncular, community-spirit-minded artist like Caron in charge.
“I asked Jim what he wanted his legacy to be,” said Whitehair. “And he said, ‘I'll wait until the movie to find out.' ”
Earlier this week, Caron looked over scene after scene, grinning like a little kid.
“I was appalled,” he said, “that we couldn't have a 150-hour movie. Because it is all so wonderful.”
Right now, “The Little Red Truck” is getting its final tune-up. Belt yourselves in, because the documentary about Missoula Children's Theatre's epic yearly tours around the globe will debut in Missoula at next month's Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Filmmaker Rob Whitehair and wife Pam Voth, who have spent the last two years on the 98-minute film, are making some small, last-minute changes and expect the movie to be theater-ready any day.
“I think when people from Missoula see it,” said Voth, “they're going to be proud to be from Missoula.”
Voth and Whitehair spent the last two years recording and editing video of MCT's tours in five different American towns, documenting the heartache, hope, humor and hard work that the million-mile road shows bring to children around the world. They traveled to Andy Griffith's hometown, to an Inuit village in Alaska, to the heart of Tinsel Town, to a working-class city in Pennsylvania, and to Arizona's hot, dusty desert.
They ended up with 300 hours of high-definition video, the editing of which has occupied their lives since.
Watching with keen interest at the final edits this week was Jim Caron, founder of MCT, who has spent hours with Whitehair and Voth through the editing process.
“Every time I come here, he's added some new, wonderful thing,” said Caron at Whitehair and Voth's Rattlesnake home, a portion of which is a video editing studio for the couple's Tree and Sky Media Arts.
“The Little Red Truck” - so named because of MCT's fleet of 42 red pickups that tour the world - takes the viewer on a five-city journey to towns big and small, with children as diverse as the country itself.
It documents MCT's weeklong residencies in those towns, from the time the red trucks pull up to the final performances. Largely focused on the personalities of the children, it also features interviews with Caron, the army of tour actor-directors who make the shows happen, and even actor J.K. Simmons, who got his start with MCT in Missoula in the 1970s.
The most important quality of the documentary, said Caron, is its authenticity. Even though MCT has a financial stake in the film, it is in no way “an MCT commercial,” he said.
Caron was there to watch and suggest, but in the end it was always Whitehair and Voth's call on what survived and didn't survive the cuts.
“Rob and I have disagreed at times, but Rob gets his way, and he's almost always right,” he said. “This is a movie about what we do. And it's not perfect. Our world is a microcosm of the world. You'll see kids who are wonderful, and kids who are OK, and kids who aren't. It's critical that the film tell the truth. And I think we have an incredible outcome.”
Caron is ecstatic about the finished project. “The Little Red Truck” is, after all, a documentary about Caron's vision of art, one that he had the courage to act upon nearly 40 years ago in Missoula.
“I'm very seldom in a position to see kids say things like, ‘MCT saved me from the gangs,' ” said Caron. “We hear about that, or we'll get a letter, but to see a kid's face ... .”
It's fitting that “The Little Red Truck” will get its world premiere in Missoula. But Tree and Sky Media Arts is also shopping it to other major film festivals around the country, pursing a theatrical release and also hoping it will attract the attention of American and international broadcasters.
“We're generating awareness and creating buzz right now,” said Voth. “The theatrical run will do the same thing. The thing about this documentary is that it makes you think and feel, but it will also make you laugh.”
“Belly-laugh funny,” added Whitehair.
The DVD version of the film, complete with deleted scenes and other special features, should be available to Missoulians in the summer.
And it will be a permanent reminder to this community of what an amazing thing a little theater company can accomplish with an avuncular, community-spirit-minded artist like Caron in charge.
“I asked Jim what he wanted his legacy to be,” said Whitehair. “And he said, ‘I'll wait until the movie to find out.' ”
Earlier this week, Caron looked over scene after scene, grinning like a little kid.
“I was appalled,” he said, “that we couldn't have a 150-hour movie. Because it is all so wonderful.”