"Mannex, whose interest in the silent film era had already inspired KPAC's annual Silent Film Festival, couldn't wait to see it. So he was delighted to learn that two delicate reels of film -along with the original shooting script and hundreds of still photos from the production -were tucked away in the Idaho Film Collection in the library at Boise State University archives."
"It turned out that Mannex wasn't the first person to become interested in the film. There in the archives, Mannex encountered an eccentric poet and English professor named Tom Trusky, whose short 1989 documentary, Retold in the Hills, chronicled his journey to the Gosfilmofond State Film Archive in what was then the Soviet Union to retrieve the original nitrate spools of Told in the Hills, followed by his efforts to preserve them."
"Mannex caught Trusky's "electric energy and excitement" and picked up where he left off. Through KPAC, he applied for a $7,500 grant from the Idaho Humanities Council (IHC) in January 2024. The council awarded funding for the restoration, and Mannex commissioned a new score from award-winning Diné composer Connor Chee. He found a company to handle a 4K restoration of the fragile film and hired an editor to help piece together the narrative."
Colin Mannex discovered the largely forgotten 1919 feature Told in the Hills, the first feature film shot in Idaho, while attending a humanities panel. The silent Western, based on Marah Ellis Ryan's 1891 novel, was filmed on location with over 100 Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) actors. Two fragile reels, the original shooting script, and hundreds of production stills were found in the Idaho Film Collection at Boise State University archives. Mannex followed earlier preservation efforts by Tom Trusky and secured a $7,500 Idaho Humanities Council grant to fund a 4K restoration, a new score, and editorial reconstruction.
Read at High Country News
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