"A fly rod extends a fly fisher's being as surely as do imagination, empathy or prayer."
—David James Duncan
Billed as a "movie for anyone who has picked up a fly rod, and found a story," the film "Trout Grass" started as a vision in China. The film, which will be screened as part of the Mountainfilm on Tour, began its genesis when executive producer Andy Royer took Montana rod maker Glenn Brackett on his annual trip to the capital of the Tonkin bamboo world. They believed that the transformation of the plant, known scientifically as Arundinaria amabilis, into fly rods had narrative, depth and a story writ large.
Royer works in China every year selecting Tonkin cane for the bamboo rod-making trade. This bamboo has a smooth, straight surface combined with exceptional strength-to-weight. It grows particularly well in this region of Asia, a small area in the northwest corner of China's Guangdong province, lying about 25 degrees north of the equator. The Tonkin cane flourishes on its steep slopes between 800 to 2,000 feet above sea level.
Royer and Ed George, the director, then asked author David James Duncan if he would write and narrate a film to be called "Trout Grass." The name and subject are what stuck for the author, who had until then had assiduously avoided penning any scripts, including from his own work.
This documentary also features Hoagy B. Carmichael (son of the musician) on his first visit to China. Also a split-cane fly rod craftsman and co-author of "A Masters Guide to Building a Bamboo Fly Rod," a visit to the forest of bamboo had always been a dream of Carmichael's.
And author and angler Thomas McGuane makes an appearance in the film fishing with a bamboo rod on one of Montana's resplendent waterways.
"Trout Grass," will be shown Friday at the Community Campus theater in Hailey. It is 49 minutes long.
Each Mountainfilm on Tour show is $15, except the children's matinee, which is free to kids and parents who accompany them.
Schedule:
7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, at Community Campus, Hailey
- "Defect," 10 minutes. Unicycling.
- "New World Disorder," 7 minutes. Mtn. Biking.
- "Tears of Wood," 26 minutes. Environment.
- "Paving Shangri-La," 15 minutes. Human Interest/Environment/Culture.
- "Sacred Angkor Wat," 9 minutes. Cultural.
- "Global Focus -- Honduras," 5 minutes. Environment.
- "Madagascar," 13 minutes. Adventure.
- "Trout Grass," 49 minutes. Environment.
2:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20. nexStage Theatre, Ketchum
- "Antarctica," 10 minutes. Kids.
- "Good Riddance! Termites," 5 minutes. Kids.
- "Khumba's Cars," 10 minutes. Human Interest.
- "Doolittle Does Something," 20 minutes. Environment.
- "Zoltan," 5 minutes. Humor.
- "South Central Farmers," 9 minutes. Human Interest.
- "Moon Girl," 9 minutes. Kids.
- "High Fly Summits," 13 minutes. Adventure.
- "Kids Who Rip," 16 minutes. Adventure.
7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20. nexStage Theatre, Ketchum
- "First Ascent: The Obscurist," 12 minutes. Climbing.
- "High Fly Summits," 13 minutes. Paragliding.
- "Beyond Iraq," 9 minutes. Human Interest.
- "The Good Fight," 10 minutes. Environment.
- "Zoltan," 5 minutes. Humor.
- "Boondog," 10 minutes. Cultural.
- "Queen Of Trees," 53 minutes. Environment.
Glenn Bracket, a master fly-rod maker, eyes some bamboo in his shop in Montana, from the movie, ?Trout Grass.?
