2011 -
The Sanctuary
60 minutes, Fall 2011 - View sample reel
THE SANCTUARY is the story of one man's struggle to repair a destructive and violent past by re-wilding large tracts of land in southern Ohio.  Larry Henry and his long-time business partner Nancy Stranahan, bakery owners from Cincinnati, mourn for the loss of the primeval forests of Appalachia, and the loss of countless species of plants and animals. But rather than staying trapped in a rut of hopelessness and despair, Larry and Nancy dive headlong into a decades-long project to restore what has been lost. In a land virtually devoid of wild country, they have embarked in a highly risky, provocative project: To buy up private, developed land, rip out the houses, buildings, and even roads, and create a new American Wilderness where none currently exists.

Two Rivers
70 minutes, Winter 2011
For better or worse, the interior West is changing with breakneck speed. The confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers in western Montana is a place at the edge of wilderness and civilization: a place filled with beauty, rich with history, and a major nexus of human society in the interior West. As a historic dam is removed from the confluence, a major regional hub for the timber industry is dismantled and replaced with a housing development. The area personifies the New West -- a land where change is the rule, and the future is anything but certain. Funding provided by the PROP Foundation.

2010 -
Facing the Storm: Story of the American Bison
80 minutes, Fall 2010 - Watch Trailer #1 - Watch Trailer #2
FACING THE STORM is the epic account of our tempestuous relationship with the iconic symbol of wild America. It explores the visionary quest to protect and restore bison and details the inextricable relationship of the Plains Indians with the animal. The film also recounts the harrowing near-destruction of the species in the late nineteenth century -- from an estimated 30 million bison to a mere 23 individuals by 1885. It graphically exposes the annual slaughter of bison outside of Yellowstone National Park, where the largest gentically-pure herd remains in semi-captivity. Finally, the film explores the epic vision -- and monumental obstacles -- to restore bison to immense tracts of the Great Plains. This involves a dramatic transformation of how we understand the Great Plains - from a utilitarian worldview to a fully-functional ecosystem that combines a lost culture with modern ecological science and contemporary economies, and includes the full range of original species that have been largely vanquished from the region. FACING THE STORM shows us that the American bison is not just an icon of a lost world, but may very well show us the path to the future. A Co-Production with The Independent Television Service (ITVS) & Montana Public Television.

2009 -
Unseen Crimes
4 minutes - Watch on youtube
Released during the 10th Anniversary of the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, Unseen Crimes features original footage by Joe Defelice and Dru Carr, that has been rarely seen until now. Edited by Dru Carr. Original score by Ned Mudd.

2008 -
Brave New West
87 minutes - Watch Trailer
Jim Stiles moved to socially-conservative Moab, Utah in the mid-1970s from Kentucky. In 1989 he began publishing the politically-progressive Canyon Country Zephyr entirely by himself. Widely recognized as one of the best indie papers in the American West, The Zephyr combines humor, history, honesty and artistry in its coverage of environmental issues. With a motto of "Hopelessly clinging to the past since 1989," the Canyon Country Zephyr is all about "Old West" meets "New West." Brave New West is a profile of Stiles, his paper, and the land and people that are his passion.

2006 -
Caught in the Headlights
53 minutes
According to some estimates, one million animals are hit by automobiles every day in the United States. Through the voices of six individuals who are intimately familiar with vehicle-wildlife conflicts, Caught in the Headlights is a quirky, informative exploration of automobile culture.

Night Elements
3 minutes - Watch Movie
Night Elements is a meditation on a fundamental human experience; fear of nightfall, darkness and violent weather. It embraces the valid, but unscientific, attitudes of people toward the environment and celebrates folk wisdom and the pure emotional response.

Star Spangled Blues
8 minutes
Star Spangled Blues, written and narrated by documentarian Gita Saedi, is an 8-minute essay film about family, peace, war, freedom, and American values. The film was made during five days in March 2006 as part of the International Documentary Challenge, a timed filmmaking competition.

The Raven
1 minute - Watch Movie
Ravens are widely-regarded as highly intelligent, cunning animals. The Raven is High Plains Films' answer to March of the Penguins; a contemplative short concerning the distant knowledge and mystery of the animal kingdom.

2005 -
American Values, American Wilderness
57 minutes - Watch Trailer
In American Values: American Wilderness, the late Christopher Reeve introduces us to a wide variety of citizens sharing their deep love of wilderness from early childhood experiences to expressions of hope for the future.

America's National Forests
11 minutes
Written and narrated by Rick Bass, America's National Forests is a provocative essay film about the importance of the National Forest system. The documentary features the dramatic scenery and wildlife of the federal forests and covers current land management issues.

Powder River Country
34 minutes - Watch Trailer
From the peaks of Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains stretching northeast over eleven million acres, the Powder River Basin is a landscape of rolling hills, big skies, and subtle beauty, rich in the history of our American roots.  Native Americans lived here for centuries. Custer made his last stand here. For nearly 200 years, generations of homesteaders have ranched and farmed these high plains. The rush for a new source of natural gas is transforming the remote region and the future of agriculture is uncertain.

2004 -
Libby, Montana
116 minutes - Watch Trailer
A small rural town in Montana is besieged with one of the largest health crises in U.S. history. The town scrambles to treat hundreds that are sick and dying from asbestos contamination, and the residents are left to wonder: How did this happen in modern America?

2002 -
This is Nowhere
87 minutes - Watch Trailer
Across North America, RVs (or recreational vehicles) have set up camp at the local Wal-Mart. Interested in nature, meeting new people, learning about our history, these RV travelers want the predictability and sameness that Wal-Mart provides them. This Is Nowhere details the lives, motivations and philosophies of these Wal-Mart Campers.

2001 -
El Caballo
54 minutes - Watch Trailer
El Caballo documents one of the most complex wildlife management issues today. It asks fundamental questions about the human relationship with wildlife species. What constitutes a native species versus an exotic? And, where do modern wild horses fit in our view of the natural world?

The Naturalist
32 minutes - Watch Trailer
Kent Bonar, who has been called the 'John Muir of the Ozarks,' is one of America's great naturalists. Living without modern amenities in the tradition of Thoreau, Leopold and Muir, Bonar has spent his life observing and recording the natural history of the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. The Naturalist documents the work and philosophies of this extraordinary modern-day woodsman.

2000 -
Killing Coyote
83 minutes - Watch Trailer
"Everything you could want in a documentary. The movie focuses on the modern coyote 'problem.' Ranchers want to protect their livestock from these wily scavengers, hunters engage in bounty hunts for the most dead bodies and cash prizes, animal rights activists seek to reserve dignity and respect for a wild creature, and the political agencies, both on civic and federal levels, listen to all these voices." - Missoulian

End of the Road
17 minutes - Watch Trailer
Roadless areas are the last refuges for many of America's most rare wildlife species. Most of these areas in the lower 48 states are located within the National Forest system. With over a half-million miles of roads already constructed on the National Forests, logging, mining, off road vehicle use and oil and gas development threaten the handful of roadless areas that remain.

1999 -
Wildland
35 minutes - Watch Trailer
America's natural landscapes are disappearing faster than ever.

Wind River
34 minutes - Watch Trailer
"A taut and impassioned chronicle of a high stakes water-rights fiasco in Wyoming." - Timothy McGettigan, Professor of Sociology, University of Southern Colorado

This Land is Your Land
15 minutes - Watch Trailer
Documents a century of National Forest management. Former forest service employees, biologists, conservationists and two dedicated U.S. Congressional Representatives question the long-standing United States Forest Service policy of selling timber from federal lands to the highest bidder.


1998 -
Varmints
91 minutes - Watch Trailer
"A powerful, engaging, and surprisingly humorous expose of the strained relations between people and wildlife in the American West... Hawes-Davis artfully unravels the controversy this unassuming little rodent, leaving viewers to ponder questions about the ethics of hunting for sport and our relentless efforts to manipulate the natural world." - Camas Journal

1996 -
The Paper Colony
27 minutes - Watch Trailer
"Hawes-Davis shows mechanical tree harvesters leveling stands of trees, dramatic aerial footage comparing the view from the air of mature forests and open clearcuts. The forest shots are interspersed with interviews of Maine loggers, foresters, sportsmen and northern Maine residents, most of whom oppose clearcutting, countered by comments from state and timber industry officials who defended the practice." Kennebec Journal

1995 -
Green Rolling Hills
29 minutes - Watch Trailer
"From the disempowered, depressed communities of Appalachia to the global deforestation crisis, this is a video account of collusion between government officials and one multinational corporation. - Affinity

Mining Seven-Up Pete
31 minutes - Watch Trailer
The story of the struggle to save the famed Blackfoot River in western Montana from what would be one of the largest cyanide heap-leach gold mines in North America. It documents the enduring but sad legacy of mining throughout the state of Montana: its cyanide-laced groundwater, acid mine drainage, and lost hope of a boom and bust economy. It speaks from the hearts and minds of real Montanans who are fighting to save their vanishing heritage.

Southbound
48 minutes - Watch Trailer
"As the wood products industry races to feed global demand for paper and lumber, citizens are fighting to protect remnants of the once great southern forest. Southbound takes you to the heart of this struggle." - Affinity

1992 -
The Element of Doom
32 minutes - Watch Trailer
Documenting a mining company's plan to develop one of the last wild areas in the Midwest--the Big Springs Country of southeast Missouri--The Element of Doom exposes company abuses at an abandoned mining operation in the Ozarks as well as its current operations in the Viburnum Trend. It is a story of bureaucratic power and politics and their impact on the Ozark landscape and people.