Dare to Dream: The Female Filmmakers of MSU

Sound Speeding. Camera Rolling. Action. With each new semester at Montana State
University, film students embarking on senior capstones have an opportunity to pitch and direct
their passion projects. This spring, Skye Lindsay, Tiara Doney, and Ashley Moore are bringing
their visions to life and empowering audiences with remarkably dynamic films.
"The whole reason I came into film is to change the way that stories are told and bring
more stories that speak to a broader audience," says Skye Lindsay, director of the experimental
film You'll Want to Burn This. As a black woman, Lindsay's path to directing has not been
straightforward, but she has valuable perspectives she is driven to share with the world. "That's
what has propelled me into having the confidence—or the audacity—to pitch for a project like
this, especially in Montana."
Lindsay’s film illuminates society’s systematic disregard for missing and murdered
women of color, seeking to emphasize the humanity of these women. "I went into a deep dive of
the statistics on missing and murdered woman of color, and queer people, and how limited the
attention is to that, and how much more exaggerated is when it's a missing white woman. That's
what started the idea for this movie.” You’ll Want to Burn This highlights the issue through
characters Nawara and Adina, sisters who represent two sides of a war Lindsey feels within
herself: one side knowing she needs to be pragmatic to protect herself, and the other holding the
desire to be seen not merely for her color or sexual orientation, but also as a person with hopes,
dreams, and goals. It's a balance of self-expression she believes everyone endures throughout
their life.
Lindsay notes how her experiences growing up in a predominantly white community
have influenced her perspective. "I was able to realize from a young age how powerful the
subliminal messaging was with heroes and villains, and people of color being subjected to
negative roles,” Lindsay elaborates. "That made me want to shake things up a bit and create new
messages where people who are minorities get time to shine on the screen."
Likewise, Tiara Doney, director of the short documentary Small Rez Fashion, shares
Lindsay’s goal of amplifying underrepresented voices. By showcasing Rebekah Jarvey—an
indigenous fashion designer from the Rocky Boy Reservation—her film strives to correct the
misrepresentation of indigenous people in media. "My main focus as a documentary filmmaker
is to deconstruct stereotypes and reconstruct them with actual facts," Doney says. As a child,
Doney "never saw someone worth looking up to on TV. If it was a native person, it was always a
drunk, or for females, it was always the victim.” An indigenous woman herself, Doney knows
the importance of strong, relatable roles models, which motivated her to bring Rebekah Jarvey's
story to the screen.
Race and gender aren’t the only obstacles Doney has faced. "I tell everyone, and it's
100% true, I didn't expect to get this far. I always had this feeling within my heart that because of
my learning disability I wasn't able to go through higher education." Doney is open about
discussing the complications she's faced as not only an indigenous and disabled student, but with
the additional challenges of being a nontraditional student—someone starting college after the
age of 24—and being a first-generation student from a low-income family. She admits that,
frankly, "a lot of people don't expect me to be able to do what I'm doing." Despite these
challenges and low expectations, Small Rez Fashion is the fifth project Doney has directed while
at MSU.
As Doney and Lindsay tackle issues of authentic representation with their films, Ashley
Moore is another director making waves with a nuanced film turning a feminist lens toward an
important message. Through the metaphorical story of a sick mother seeking a divorce from her
patriarchal husband, Moore's Gaia conveys a passionate message about the importance of action
in the face of climate change. Caught between the titular Gaia and her husband is their son,
Jason, who represents the plight of younger generations as they are pulled in two conflicting
directions.
"There's countless news reports and documentaries about climate change, and not
everyone is going to go to a documentary,” Moore explains. Climate change advocacy is a cause
close to her heart, and Moore hopes that broadcasting her message as fiction will boost
viewership, enabling the film to reach broader audiences through its creative structure and
feminist overtones.
As these ambitious women finalize their capstone projects, they are gaining valuable
experience carrying them one step closer to their future careers. "I never thought that I would be
able to work in film. Like, me and the industry just doesn't match. But I let myself dare to
dream," Lindsay says. "Directing is the role that I really hope to pursue in my career. I love that I
get to have a bigger say in how people perceive certain things, I love being able to interact with
the talent and bring emotion from them. I love being the boss," she adds with a laugh.
"When it comes to breaking into the industry, there are so many more hoops you have to
jump through just to gain respect," Moore says. She is glad that MSU provides opportunities to a
diverse group of prospective directors, and she believes the stories that have come out of the
program are a testament to the importance of amplifying these voices. "It gives you hope for the
film industry, I think we can really change it. It just needs to let us in first."