Public gathers for first local screenings of Wind River documentary

Brady Oltmans, boltmans@pinedaleroundup.com
Posted 9/23/21

People of Pinedale were invited to two separate showings of a documentary centering on their own backyard.

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Public gathers for first local screenings of Wind River documentary

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PINEDALE – People of Pinedale were invited to two separate showings of a documentary centering on their own backyard.

“Morfar’s View of the Winds” was created by Burning Torch Productions, the team of Mark Pedri and Carrie McCarthy out of Rock Springs, and follows photographer Dr. Conrad Smith’s final expedition into the Wind River wilderness to locate the exact rock from which the first published drawing of the Rocky Mountains was created in 1842. Pedri served as the film’s director, editor and cinematographer while McCarthy was the film’s producer.

Pedri and McCarthy hosted an afternoon screening at Rendezvous Pointe and an evening showing at the Pinedale Library’s Lovatt Room on Sept. 16. Previously, the pair screened the 27-minute film at the Breckenridge Film Festival, at Western Wyoming Community College and the 307 International Film Festival – where it won Best Wyoming Documentary.

The pair previously came before the Sublette County Board of Commissioners for sponsorship of the film, which would secure the film’s funding and afford an advertising outlet for the county where the majority of the film takes place.

The film will be broadcasted on PBS for three years starting next month. It will premiere on Wyoming PBS at 9 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 11. The following day it will air on WORLD Channel – available in most major American cities – at 7:30 p.m.

“Mofar’s View of the Winds” follows an 80-year-old photographer, also known as Mofar, who has spent a decade trying to locate the exact rock Charles Preuss sat on to create the sketch that became the first published image of the Rocky Mountains. Preuss’s sketch, along with John C. Fremont’s report from the expedition, paved the way for the Great Western Expansion of 1850 that eventually included the California Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and Mormon migration to Salt Lake City.

Dr. Smith is joined by his daughter and granddaughter on the journey. Together they navigate their way from Laramie to the Wind River Range in hopes of verifying Preuss’s exact location with the intention of recreating the iconic sketch about 177 years later.

A trailer is available for viewing at http://vimeo .com/553470975/b5f6ee7fe1 and more information can be found on the film’s website, www.burningtorchproductions.com/mofar.