For Immediate Release

High Plains Films to self-distribute new  documentary feature, Killing Coyote

VHS copies are available for review by the press.  Digital and 35mm 
still images are also available.

Contact:  Doug Hawes-Davis (406) 543-6726 or <dhd@highplainsfilms.org>

Additional information and a short trailer can be viewed on-line at:
http://www.highplainsfilms.org/fp_killcoyote.html
___________________________________________________________________

Directed by 2001 Montana Arts Council Fellowship winner, Doug 
Hawes-Davis, Killing Coyote, the new documentary feature from High 
Plains Films, explores the relationship between people and coyotes in 
the American West.  Killing Coyote, which won the John Michaels Award 
at the 23rd Big Muddy Film Festival in 2001, was shot in five western 
states including Montana and Wyoming.  "Killing Coyote is really not 
a 'wildlife' film,"  says Hawes-Davis.   "Our movies focus on the 
relationship between nature and society; and this troubled 
relationship is epitomized by the incredible efforts that society 
puts into killing coyotes."  The movie was filmed by Hawes-Davis and 
accomplished cinematographers Dru Carr of Missoula and Franz 
Camenzind of Jackson, Wyoming.

As the North American landscape is continually altered by human 
presence, the coyote, an incredible survivor, has thrived, expanding 
its range and numbers from the arid lands of the West to occupy 
virtually the entire continent.  Ironically, the dramatic increase in 
population and range has taken place during a hundred year period of 
intense human exploitation of the animals through trapping, poisoning 
and hunting. No one knows for certain how many coyotes are killed 
each year in America, but conservative estimates place the number at 
half a million.  Killing Coyote documents the philosophical basis for 
this "war on wildlife."

The documentary shows the many sides of the issue. With no narrator 
to guide the viewer, the film often has a hidden camera feel. 
Continuing a tradition of cinema verite documentary filmmaking, where 
the producer is notably absent from the finished film, Killing Coyote 
features live action footage from the National Coyote Calling 
Championship where hundreds of animals are killed for cash and 
prizes, at a federal government research/experimentation facility for 
coyote "control," and on ranches across the West.   Wildlife 
biologists, ranchers and contest hunters all weigh in as the 
documentary cuts back and forth between wildlife cinematography, 
field interviews, the hunting contests and an Arizona Game & Fish 
Commission hearing on the issue, which serves both as backdrop and to 
drive the plot - will Arizona ban body count contest hunts?

Since 1992, Missoula, Montana-based non-profit production company, 
High Plains Films, has produced and distributed fourteen 
documentaries that explore our relationship with the natural world. 
High Plains Films have won more than 30 awards and been screened at 
film festivals and theaters world-wide.  Other titles include The 
Naturalist 2001,  Varmints 1998, Motor 1999, Southbound 1995,  and 
This is Nowhere  2002.

High Plains Films will self-distribute Killing Coyote, but rely on a 
number of additional distributors on a non-exclusive basis.  Killing 
Coyote is also available through Maple Lake Releasing of Winnipeg, 
Manitoba, which handles broadcast sales and includes the documentary 
in a touring group of High Plains Films for theatrical screenings. 
Sales are also being made through Facets Multimedia, USA Test, 
Instructional Video, The Video Project and others.

More information about High Plains Films is available on-line at 
www.highplainsfilms.org.

High Plains Films
P.O. Box 8796
Missoula, Montana 59807
(406) 543-6726
yak@highplainsfilms.org
www.highplainsfilms.org

Maple Lake Releasing
607-595 River Avenue
Winnipeg, MB, R3L 0E6
tel. 204.474.1896  fax. 204.475.2288
www.maplelake.mb.ca