Shooting Sandpoint
From the Winter 2025 Issue
at 24 frames per second
FILMMAKER JIMMY MATLOSZ, ON A SET ABOVE, AND INSET, HAS BEEN A DRIVING FORCE ON THE SANDPOINT FILM SCENE. PHOTO BY ANN MARIE LINDBLOOM,
There’s something about filmmaking that brings out the bootstrapping instinct.
It’s difficult enough to make a movie with the resources of a Hollywood studio. Completing the last edit of an independent production’s final cut? That’s in a league of its own. But anywhere the creative spark exists, there’s a will to achieve the incredible—and there’s no shortage of that in Sandpoint.
FILMMAKER JIMMY MATLOSZ, ON A SET ABOVE, AND INSET, HAS BEEN A DRIVING FORCE ON THE SANDPOINT FILM SCENE. PHOTO BY THOMAS BANGO.
Sandpoint and film have gone hand-in-hand for a century. In three short years, the Panida Theater celebrates 100 years since its 1927 opening, the same year Alan Crosland’s “The Jazz Singer” introduced talkies, Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” set a new sci-fi standard and Abel Gance’s “Napoleon” pioneered early widescreen and camera techniques. Filmmaking careerists from Academy award-winning cinematographer Erik Daarstad to actor/director Viggo Mortensen have called the Sandpoint area home. And the cinephile spirit is alive and well among many of its residents.
It’s a spirit that lives in the heart of Jimmy Matlosz, who has experienced both the sleepless, buzzing energy of the California film industry and the businesslike discipline of independent film production.
After gaining experience working in visual effects—including “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid”—Matlosz went fully freelance as a camera technician, gaining experience in IMAX technology. He eventually advanced into cinematography and directing on commercials before moving to Sandpoint with his family in 2009.
Along the way, the dream of directing features burned in his heart. He created The Idaho Film Company to produce his screenplays, pursuing the enterprise by seeking investors, pitching his work, and utilizing state incentive laws.
“Film is an entrepreneurial activity—it’s no different from opening a bagel shop,” he said.
Matlosz is most actively developing a werewolf feature called “Burden of the Wolf,” a young adult/teen drama and coming-of-age story about teens investigating the death of a friend. The film not only takes full advantage of the Inland Northwest’s beautiful scenery—it also explores the sometimes-contentious and misunderstood relationship between regional human and wolf populations.
FILMMAKER ARIC SPENCE DIRECTING ON SET. COURTESY PHOTO.
Aric Spence is another local filmmaker who takes inspiration from the local environment, not to mention his Farmin-Stidwell 7th-grade photography class. He’s utilized the Sandpoint environment for several shorts like a “Blade Runner” fan piece, a mock 30-second Saab commercial, the David Lynch-inspired short “The Labyrinth,” the Bozeman Film Festival-showcased surreal piece “Submerged,” and “Grain Elevator Experience”—a haunting portrayal of an iconic Sandpoint landmark. All his short films are available on his YouTube channel “Aric Spence.”
Spence launched Sandpoint Filmmakers Network in 2014 as a collaborative hub for local filmmakers. While he uses the group less often for communication these days, it resulted in a tight group of local creators excited to collaborate.
“I am excited about working with other artists,” Spence said. “I love creating emotionally stirring compositions of moving images and I am especially drawn to all the details that go into crafting compelling visual frames.”
One such artist is Sadie Sicilia. Spence and his fellow filmmakers completed the final cut of her music video featuring six locations and “one heavy piano,” at the end of September, with the video set to premiere soon. For Spence, it’s an opportunity to showcase local talent regardless of expressive medium.
Local talent comes in all shapes and sizes, as Timothy Bangle discovered on his “The Fade” sci-fi series. An opportunity to explore ideas about social control, the movies feature a cast of young actors from local schools alongside well-known faces from local theater.
“It’s quite something to cast youth, like Alora Weisz, who started our project when she was 12 years old,” he said. “I’ve gotten to see them all grow up and mature as people and as actors.”
Completing the two “Fade” movies was no small effort. The first challenge: scheduling. Shooting a film demands sacrifices from its entire cast. The second? Weather. From snow to rain to fog to humidity, the “Fade” crew battled it all. But it was worth the frustrations. The second film, “The Fade: Rebellion” premiered at the Panida in April. And now work begins to turn the movies into a five-episode series. For Bangle, it’s a wonderful opportunity to develop the creative voice of its relatively young cast.
DIRECTOR TIMOTHY BANGLE WORKED WITH LOCAL TALENT ON “FADE.” COURTESY PHOTO.
Calli Moore is another young artist who caught the filmmaking bug early. Excited by the idea of capturing the grace and natural beauty of the western farming and ranching lifestyle, she turned her hobby into a career in 2020 by founding Anvil Film Company, eventually shooting marketing and advertisement material for brands like Coors Banquet, Wrangler, BEX Sunglasses, and Outback Trading Company. But her passion project is “The Anvil Project,” a documentary about ranchers’ and farmers’ experiences across the U.S. Her plan is to film the movie in 2025 across farms in every state, then premiere it in 2026.
“I hope to use this project as an avenue to amplify all of those who are advocating for agricultural community,” Moore said. “Farmers and ranchers face so many challenges financially, environmentally, and politically, so it’s my hope that I can help bring more attention to those issues.”
But like so many local productions, it takes a community. Moore is running a GoFundMe at www.gofundme.com/the-anvil-project to complete filming.
That’s just the beginning of Sandpoint’s recent filmmaking pedigree—who could forget the feature “Missouri Breaks: The Ballad of Missouri Bill” filmed at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch that premiered at the Panida in June, for instance?
As for the future, Matlosz shared that his crew has been collecting interviews for a documentary on the Panida itself, with a hopeful production date in 2027.
And with so many exciting projects in the works, it’s safe to say local residents and film lovers will be seeing each other at the movies for years to come.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Leave a Reply