Fishing film festival flies into Missoula

by Justin Franz | February 3, 2010 | Montana Kaimin

Will Benson never intended to be a filmmaker, but the fly-fishing guide will be one of the headliners whose work will appear in the Fly-Fishing Film Tour at the Wilma Theater Friday evening.
“It’s definitely not what you’d see on television,” said Thad Robison, founder of the tour, now in its fourth year.

The tour features seven documentaries, the lengths of which range from just a few minutes to a half hour. The films take place in a variety of locales, including Argentina, Mexico, Florida and British Columbia.

While it seems like fishing films have an audience limited to Sunday morning public access television, Robison said that the phenomenon is growing.

“There are a lot of programs on TV that bore people, but these are about the adventure,” Robison said. “It was a huge void that was filled.”

Last week, the festival played to an audience of 700 people in Denver’s Oriental Theater. The tour is now making its way from Ventura, Calif., to Austin, Texas, on a roundabout route through the northern Rockies, Midwest, Northeast and Southwest.

Robison was one of three people traveling with the tour as they went across Montana this week, stopping in Billings and Bozeman before they hit Missoula.

Montana was an obvious destination for them, Robison said.

“Montana is the mecca for fly-fishing in the U.S., and there is a huge fly-fishing community there,” Robison said.

While Robison was making his way across Montana early this week, Benson was gearing up for another day of fly-fishing at one of his favorite places: the Florida Everglades. He was born and raised in Key West, Fla., so he knows the area well.

For the last three years, Benson has teamed up with fellow fisherman Dave Teper under the name World Angling Media to create films about the sport they love.

Benson originally used film he captured to help clients review their casts and see what they could do to improve. After realizing how much footage he had accumulated, Benson and Teper decided to edit it together with music and send it to a few frequent clients as a Christmas gift.

The result: People loved it.

Soon after, they sent the piece to an annual fly-fishing film contest hosted by Drake Magazine with no other goal than getting their name out there.
“I ended up winning,” he said. “Miraculously.”

They decided to film more fly-fishing after that early win, but said what they produced was still rough because neither had any formal training

“At the beginning, we didn’t know which way to point the camera,” Benson said.

But over the years, Benson said, they have gotten much better, learning from experience.

And it shows. World Angling Media has taken the top prize in Drake Magazine’s contest three years in a row.

Benson said they try to bring the viewer along with them in each film because they want it to be not just about the sport, but also the places and people involved in it.

“I watched those fishing shows on TV, and they sucked,” Benson said. “They’re horrible.”

Benson said everything they do is geared toward gathering interest and attention for their sport.

“We want to do our part to breathe life into (fly-fishing) and show that a younger crowd is picking up the fly rod, that this isn’t your grandfather sitting on the side of a river,” Benson said.

Benson’s most recent movie, “High in the Lowlands,” does just that. It shows various times Benson spent in the Everglades, where he grew up learning to fly-fish.

“It’s what we live for,” Benson said. “I wouldn’t live any other place; it’s what I love.”

Benson said that while much of the film is about fishing, the most important aspect is the thrill of getting out on the water. He also said the parts of the film that are most popular with audiences are when the fishermen screw up, the unscripted moments that keep people laughing.

“The best material is when we don’t succeed,” Benson said. “We all fail, and we aren’t afraid to show it in our films.”

When it comes right down to it, though, what keeps audiences engaged is the sport and the setting.

“It’s difficult, challenging, frustrating and incredibly beautiful,” Benson said.

Even though it’s a small market, Benson and Teper enjoy what they do and are grateful to have a place to present their work.

“We’re not interested in making money off these films,” Benson said. “We’re interested in showing what it’s all about… and we have a place to showcase our art and get it to the people.”

Doors open for the Fly-Fishing Film Tour Friday night at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 at the door. For more information, check out http://www.flyfishingfilmtour.com.

 justin.franz@umontana.edu

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