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Logline

For nearly a decade, public radio listeners across Montana could participate in “Your Opinion, Please”, a weekly program that provided a platform to express opinions and discuss current events live on-air. By juxtaposing audio clips from hundreds of episodes with contemporary footage of Montana, Your Opinion, Please will offer a compelling portrait of the program’s impact, and the enduring importance of open communication.

Synopsis

Every week for nearly a decade, Yellowstone Public Radio would host “Your Opinion, Please”, a 30-45 minute open call for listeners across Montana and northern Wyoming to pick up the phone and express their views live on-air, without being screened and without any set topic. The first caller sets the theme of the night, which could be anything from the war in Iraq, disputes over public land access, local school board meetings or outrage at the idea of an indoor smoking ban (the show ran from 1998-2008.) In a spirit of discourse and debate, callers follow-up with their own opinions, while co-hosts Marvin Granger and Ken Siebert play referee.

Over 10 minutes, the film Your Opinion, Please allows voices from across hundreds of episodes to flow in conversation with one another, set against the imagery of 2023 Montana—a state deep in identity crisis when it comes to community, cost-of-living, and the right to free expression. A once nearly purple state, Montana prides itself on being the remote opposite of DC. With the voices of the past held up as a mirror, Your Opinion, Please acts as a vessel for which Montana can examine itself. Your Opinion, Please is not only about expression and voicing one’s convictions, but also about listening.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Marshall Granger – Director/Producer/Editor
Marshall Granger is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, born and raised in Billings, Montana. He produced and edited the feature film We Burn Like This, filmed in Billings and Butte. He is the editor of the upcoming science-fiction drama Aporia. Marshall has produced a number of short documentaries on an array of subjects. Asaph, about an eccentric Missoula piano player and To Live Deliberately, about a young Bozeman ice climber, both premiered at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

He holds an MFA in Film Editing from the American Film Institute and is a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild, Local 700.

Alana Waksman – Producer
Alana Waksman is an Ashkenazi writer, director, producer, and first generation descendant of Holocaust survivors from Poland. She is an alum of the USC School of Cinematic Arts MFA in Film & Television Production.

We Burn Like This, Alana’s debut feature, stars Madeleine Coghlan (The Rookie) and Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs) and is executive produced by Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer Neda Armian (Rachel Getting Married). The film premiered at the 2021 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, internationally at Deauville American Film Festival, and is now available on VOD in North America and the United Kingdom.

Lorin Granger – Director of Photography
Lorin Granger is a photographer and video maker specializing in portraits, event coverage, interviews and visual story-telling. He holds an MFA in Libary Science from Simmons University in Boston, and works as a photographer for Harvard Law School.

He has also photographed for Academy of Arts and Sciences, New England Aquarium, University of Virginia, Simmons University, Emmanuel College, HistoryMakers, the Massachusetts Non-profit Network, Boston Cares, Chorus pro Musica, Democracy Brewing, Boston Scores and SyncThink. He grew up in Billings, Montana.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.