EXCLUSIVE: Wyatt Maw makes his feature debut with Ashland, which screens in competition at DOC NYC. Check out the film’s trailer above.
Shot on Super 16mm film over the course of eight years, the panoramic portrait explores the hopes and dreams through the traditions, triumphs, and tragedies of a diverse group of people living today on the sacred lands of Southeast Montana, near the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn.
An AFI graduate, Maw is a mentee of Terrence Malick. He says Ashland has been a “journey 10 years in the making.”
“It started by accident when I decided to take a job on a ranch for a summer in Ashland. I immediately fell in love with the place. It felt like time moved differently there,” Maw said. “You could feel the presence of the generations all around you. The intense bonds with horses and almost spiritual connection to the land were profoundly moving to me. One could say that the Old West was still alive there, just in a slightly altered form.”
Maw said the idea to shoot a movie in the community came to him shortly after he arrived.
“And now, almost a decade later, we’re so excited to bring the film to NYC audiences as part of DOC NYC,” he added. “Jaie and his team have been incredible to work with, and it means the world to us that they see in Ashland the same things we all felt when we were making it. This film is an ode to the people and the place and the deep magic that resides within it. We hope that audiences will feel this as much as we do.”
Luke Brawley’s nonfiction agency INDOX is an EP on the project alongside Kyle Martin (Look Into My Eyes).
Brawley added: “Coming on board as an Executive Producer for the first time has been incredibly exciting, as I truly believe Wyatt has created something remarkable. The film feels both deeply real and almost magical, a genuinely sensory experience where you can practically feel the earth beneath your feet and smell the air around you. We’re thrilled to be premiering at DOC NYC, where the festival team, and Jaie in particular, have been incredibly supportive and connected with the film and its vision from the very beginning.”
Check out the trailer above and the film’s poster below.
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