Drift Aims to Be Best Fly Fishing Movie Ever
By Pat Hill
Bozeman-based fly fishing guide has teamed up with a top-notch director of ski movies and a seasoned outdoors magazine publisher to produce what they hope will be the best movie about fly fishing ever made.
Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adven-tures founder and director Jim Klug, Warren Miller Ski Films lead cinema-tographer Chris Patterson, and Tom Bie, publisher and editor of The Drake magazine, all share a love of fly fishing. That love of the sport brought them together as partners in a small movie company, Confluence Films, LLC. The trio began producing Drift in September of 2007, with Klug serving as executive producer, Patterson as director and cinematographer, and Bie as writer and narrator.
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| Travis Smith, a fishing guide from Island Park, Idaho releases a hefty rainbow trout on the Ahrbal River in Kashmir, India. Travis was part of the film crew that recently travelled to Kashmir to film a segment for the upcoming fly fishing movie, Drift. |
Drift, aimed at hard-core fly fisherman as well as novices, is the first full-length fly fishing movie to be shot entirely on film [to maintain a high-definition presentation] rather than video. Typical of a Warren Miller production, several different locations are featured in the film, including American fly fishing hotspots like Montana's Bighorn River, Utah's Green River, the Deschutes River in Oregon, and the Frying Pan River in Colorado. Drift also features fly fishing in the Bahamas, Southern Belize and the Kashmir region of India, the disputed and often dangerous territory claimed by both Pakistan and India. With his many years of guide experience, and having fished all over the world, Bozeman's Jim Klug was well-equipped to take the film team to fly fishing's outer limits.
“We set out to create a film that will transfix the audience with breathtaking visuals, passionate character studies, and unique locations,” says Patterson, who also lives in Bozeman. He has been director and head cinematographer of Warren Miller Ski Films for 17 years. “I feel confident we've done that.” The Confluence Films team also feels confi-dent they've integrated what they say are the five essential parts of a successful fly fishing film into Drift’s 65 minutes: world-class cinematogra-phy, an exceptional soundtrack, a wide variety of fresh and saltwater fly fishing, great characters and person-alities, and “what we like to call fish porn,” —lots of fly fishing action on the screen.
“Over the past few years, we've seen a huge surge in the number of fly fishing movie and video products,” says Bie, who calls Colorado Springs home. “All have been unique, and all have been great in the sense that they help promote the fly fishing industry.” Before starting The Drake, Bie wrote for several ski magazines, and served as senior editor of Skiing. He also produced the first non-instructional fly fishing film, Feeding Time, in 2003.
“But with Drift, we really tried to raise the bar,” says Bie, “in terms of production quality, cinematography, a great variety of locations, and compelling portraits.”
Drift premieres at the 2008 Fly Fishing Retailer Show in Denver on Sept. 15, and opens to the general public at Bozeman's Emerson Cultural Center on Sept. 20 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale at The River's Edge Fly Shop, Fins & Feathers Fly Shop, Rockford Coffee, and The Bozeman Angler (all proceeds from the Bozeman premiere benefit the Greater Yellowstone Coalition).
Confluence Films will submit the film to several notable film festivals, including Telluride and Banff, and plans are in the works for Drift to be shown at conservation and environmental fundraisers nationwide.
“Our hope is that this movie will receive the kind of exposure and viewership that will do great things for the industry, for conservation, and for our ability to keep fishing around the world and calling it work,” says Bie.
