Jennifer A. Reinish filmed a documentary in 2007 and 2008 in California about the behind the scenes activities at a wildland fire. Behind the Lines: Fighting a Wildland Fire focuses on what happens at an incident base–the support, logistics, finance, command, and planning functions that make it possible for the firefighters to suppress the fire.
On her web site (where a trailer can be viewed), Ms. Reinish says she made the film with “absolutely no budget”. She completeted it, but in order to scrounge up the $550 she needed by March 7 in order to send it to film festivals, she conducted a successful on-line fund raising campaign for her “Film Festival Fund”.
Ms. Reinish told Wildfire Today:
The film has been submitted to three film festivals to start with – the LA Film Festival, Mountainfilm in Telluride, and SilverDocs. I am waiting to hear on those, and will be submitting to a few more.
I am planning to do a local premiere in Santa Barbara sometime in the next few months. Proceeds of the event will be donated to a charity that Santa Barbara firefighters will choose for me.
She also said that she will re-open the on-line contribution site so that she can more easily accept funds from those who want to purchase copies for a $25 donation.
We have not seen the film yet, but we just ordered a copy. After it “premiers” here at the Wildfire Today “World Headquarters” we’ll let you know how many stars it earns.
UPDATE: Wildfire Today reviewed the film HERE.