New York documentary filmmaker Dana Austin has been spending time in Lyon County to do research for a new project on prarie burns in Kansas. For the complete story see the Emporia Gazette on July 29th.
A producer filming the Flint Hills for a documentary returned to Lyon County to take additional footage after shooting last spring.
Dana Austin of New York City was here in April to film a documentary on prairie fire photography. Austin realized, once here, that there were many more stories to be told as tale after tale unfolded about the landscape, history and the cowboy way of life.
Saturday though Tuesday, Austin returned to Highland Ranch, where she filmed in April, to film cattle roundups. Some of the footage will be used for a promotional trailer and some will be used in the actual documentary. Saturday started at 3 a.m. and Austin saw about 870 cattle being rounded up at the cattle pens near the Kansas Turnpike. Monday, she witnessed about 1,000 cattle rounded up in different herds near Cassoday.
“It was a great experience,” Austin said. “It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before. Everyone has been very gracious. It’s a lot of hard work from 3 a.m. to noon. A lot of hard work. I can’t imagine doing this every day.”
A local high school student, Matthew Fowler, helped shoot the film. He works in television production at Emporia High School.
“He was great,” Austin said.
Austin said the film will be submitted to several festivals. However, that is some way into the future. She won’t be through filming for another year.
“It’s just going to take some distance until it’s in a good place,” Austin said. “There’ll be a Web site. It’s just a lot of hard work getting everything done.”
For more information on the film, e-mail Austin at dvdaustin1@yahoo.com.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.