WHATFest on film

Over the weekend, a documentary was shot about WHATFest in Riverside.

A number of filmmakers and photographers were involved in producing an 8-10 minute documentary which highlights the culture of the festival and the music that was showcased.

Mike Vanata, of Square State Film, and Brian Harrington, of BHP Imaging, explained what the documentary will be focused on.

"Basically this is a documentary highlighting WHATFest and showing how important it is culturally to Wyoming and people who live here in general," said Vanata. "We are collaborating with five different filmmakers during the two days just to bring the best coverage that we can."

Vanata thinks documentaries such as these are important in terms of bringing to light a culture in Wyoming that many may be unaware of; which, ultimately brings more people into the state.

"It shows people having community events like this, sharing music, gets people engaged so that they want to stay in the area," said Vanata.

Both Vanata and Harrington started working together while in college and have been collaborating ever since.

"Brian and I have been working together for seven or eight years," Vanata said. "We've really been interested in covering and sharing Wyoming music."

Their interest has led them to follow bands across the state on tour. Recently they completed a documentary on the WYOmericana Caravan tour and have had that shown in festivals such as the Cheyenne International Film Festival and the Laramie Short Film Festival.

According to Vanata, they are also producing a live video series for Wyoming Public Radio called "Second Takes". "They're just really thought-out, artistic videos that really show interesting places around Wyoming giving it that essence of time, place and culture along with the music," said Vanata. Parts of WHATFest will be included in the video series.

For more information on the current work that they are doing or to see some of their previous documentaries go to http://www.squarestatefilm.com.