During peak Covid, I started working on a fictionalized version of my life story for film or television. In October 2021, after Project Principalis got what I thought would be definitive trail cam imagery and I had my sure sighting, I put that project on hold and began working on developing an ivorybill documentary. Over two years later, we’ve completed a short that will premiere February 18th at the Big Sky Documentary Festival. Our block of shorts begins at 8:15 pm, MST.

I’ve worked with an amazing New Orleans/Louisiana-based creative team: producer Jolene Pinder, director Andy Sarjahani, and editor Jane Geisler. The gorgeous score is by Louis Michot (of the Grammy-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers). The film features Tommy Michot and me.

I anticipate that American Grail will be showing at festivals for approximately the next year and a half. Big Sky offers packages for streaming access to a minimum of five films. (Shorts are shown in blocks, so I suspect that one block of shorts is the equivalent of one film.) It won’t be more generally available until after the festival run is over.

More details and a trailer will be coming later.

I started this blog almost 11 years ago, and it has served multiple purposes. It has functioned as story-telling, a kind of public diary. It is also as a forum where I’ve worked through my thoughts, theories, and speculations about all things ivorybill. I’ve also seen it as a form of service, an offering to other searchers and researchers. Most of all, I’ve aspired to inspire and encourage my readers.

Going forward, I’ll be doing fieldwork when I can and will continue to blog about all things ivorybill. There will be some film-related posts – updates on festival acceptances and appearances, interesting ivorybill-related conversations with viewers, and other news from that world. I hope to be able to re-organize and optimize the blog so that it will serve interested readers better.