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Join us for a screening and conversation with filmmaker Geoff O'Gara.Before Wyoming: The West in 1776 expands the story of the American Revolution beyond the eastern colonies to the vast interior of the continent. It explores the Northern Rockies and Great Plains as a living, dynamic world shaped by thriving Indigenous nations, shifting alliances, and the early arrival of horses, firearms, disease, and trade.
Through historians, archaeologists, Native knowledge holders, and young people from the region, the film connects landscapes, artifacts, oral histories, and contemporary perspectives to reveal a hidden chapter of American history. Set against the nation’s 250th anniversary, it offers a fresh and meaningful look at what was happening in the West when the United States was just beginning.
Director and Producer Geoff O’Gara is the owner of Caldera Productions, a media production company based in Lander, WY. He previously worked for Wyoming PBS as on-camera host and public affairs producer, script writer, and documentary producer. His productions include Home From School: The Children of Carlisle, Dick Cheney: A Heartbeat Away, Will Rogers & American Politics, The Drift: An American Cattle Drive, and Alan K. Simpson: Nothing Else Matters. He hosted, wrote and produced series for Wyoming PBS, including Main Street, Wyoming, Capitol Outlook and Wyoming Chronicle. Among his awards are several Heartland Emmys, NETA’s top award for public affairs programming, and numerous festival prizes. Geoff is the author of several books, one of which, What You See in Clear Water, is about the Wind River Indian Reservation, and won the Spur award for best non-fiction from the Western Writers of America. In 2023, he received the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award. He has had residencies with various arts foundations, including Breadloaf in Vermont and Ucross Ranch in Wyoming, and a year-long Knight-Wallace fellowship at the University of Michigan.
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125 Virginian Ln, Jackson, WY, United States, Wyoming 83001
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