A18
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
FILM
CEO
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the EOU campus as part of the
activities.
Fitzgerald said it was a
great honor to be named a dis-
tinguished alumnus.
“It just serves as further
motivation to engage with
EOU and be part of further-
ing EOU’s footprint,” he said.
“This place shaped me. I love
this valley and I love this in-
stitution.”
His high school in the
small rural town of Monu-
ment didn’t offer a theater
program, but he loved English
and one of his teachers made
an effort to put on plays for
the school. When it came time
for college, Fitzgerald wasn’t
ready to head to a big city.
“I didn’t want to live in
the city,” he said, adding that
he enjoyed the opportunity to
be up in the mountains on his
bicycle in just a few minutes.
Deciding to go to Eastern,
he said, was “one of the best
choices I ever made.”
Fitzgerald recalled two
mentors, theater professor
Mark Kuntz and English
professor Mark Shadle, who
helped mold him during his
tenure as a college student.
“I have both of them to
thank for getting such a good
education at EOU,” Fitzgerald
said, noting that the one-on-
one support from professors
was invaluable. “As a young
man, you need that kind of en-
couragement.”
That support and his small
classes at Eastern, he said,
opened his eyes to the arts
and led him to pursue his pas-
sions, originally theater and
later film.
Fitzgerald is drawn to doc-
umentaries for their “ability to
engage topical issues, to bring
issues to the light of day and
probably mostly to shine a
light on everyday heroes that
people might not otherwise
know about,” he explained.
His documentary career
has taken him around the
world to the Democratic Re-
public of Congo, Rwanda,
Cambodia and other places,
often in conflict zones.
Just before his visit to La
Grande, he was on a search
and rescue mission off the
Libyan coast, where he wit-
nessed the rescue of more
than 2,000 refugees.
“Being in that situation
you see a scale of suffering
that makes you sit up in your
CEO for two and a half
years of a Sanford-man-
aged facility in the small
town of Chester, Mon-
tana, near the Canadian
border. The organization
was smaller than Blue
Mountain Hospital, he
said, but was of similar
scope, with a critical ac-
cess hospital, a clinic and
nursing home and assist-
ed living populations.
Daly said he is excited
for the opportunity to work
in Grant County.
“We’ve got a great team
of medical providers, a re-
ally great team,” he said.
“I think there’s a lot of op-
portunity and potential for
great things here moving
forward. There’s some new
programs and services that
I would hope to investigate
to move forward with in
2017. ...
“Obviously any time we
have opportunity, there’s
a lot of work that needs
to come into it. Programs
don’t build themselves
overnight, and services
don’t get added, but I think
we’ve got the ability to
continue to do some good
things here.”
Contributed photo
A wooden boat off the coast of Libya with over 700 refugees evacuated during the course of a day where
Skye Fitzgerald was filming recently.
cosmic seat and say, ‘Suffer-
ing is real,’” Fitzgerald said,
noting that his two-man crew
on occasion stopped filming
in order to help with rescue
efforts. That decision, he said,
was a no-brainer, even if it
meant the resulting footage
might not be as strong.
For the EOU theater grad-
uate, the traumatic scenes
invigorate his desire to share
those stories.
“I’ve got to bring this back
and do whatever I can to touch
people,” he said. “We need to
be inspired. Documentaries
allow us to show the horrors
of the world, but mitigate that
with the beauty of humanity
through individuals willing to
act.”
Though Fitzgerald has en-
joyed success with “50 Feet
From Syria” — it was short-
listed with nine other short
documentaries for an Oscar
Grant County
Your Rural Fa mily Health Clinic
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nomination, won an award at
the DOXA Documentary Film
Festival and most recently
was named recipient of the
Audience Award at the Sebas-
topol Documentary Film Fes-
tival — his journey has been a
long one.
Following his graduation
from EOU, he enrolled in a
master’s of fine arts program
at the University of Oregon
for directing for the stage. A
class on TV directing changed
his trajectory.
Just before graduation, he
was lined up to go full-time
with a Eugene cable company,
but the company was bought
out and a hiring freeze left
him without prospects.
Through a teaching assis-
tant friend, he was hired on
the set of “Ricochet River”
as a production assistant. Re-
leased in 2001, it was actress
Kate Hudson’s first feature
film.
“I knew I needed to learn
and just soak it all up,” Fitz-
gerald recalled. “I did every-
thing I could to be near the
camera department.”
His strategy paid off, as
he was quickly assigned to
the department. Then, after a
conversation with the director
as he drove her from one loca-
tion to another, Fitzgerald was
named Second Unit Direc-
tor, a good credit for a recent
MFA graduate.
“I thought that would lead
to a nice stepping stone to the
feature film world,” he said.
“But it didn’t.”
That’s when he decided try
another route: documentaries.
As the founder and owner
of Spin Film, Fitzgerald said
he usually follows his instinct
when looking for ideas.
“Usually one story leads to
another,” he said.
And while interest in the
subject is important, Fitzger-
ald emphasized that complex
issues must be explained
through people in such a way
that it elicits empathy among
the audience.
“Touch the heart first,” he
said, “and then it goes up to
the brain.”
One of his favorite films
he’s produced is “Finding
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Face,” which tells the story
of an acid attack victim in
Cambodia. Many of his works
highlight human rights issues,
a topic Fitzgerald feels may
not always be popular.
“What’s different fun-
damentally (about “50 Feet
From Syria”) is it’s on a topic
that more people care about,
and it has more traction in the
media,” he said.
Fitzgerald has no de-
sire to strike it rich making
films, noting that the best
films aren’t always the ones
that makes the most mon-
ey. Rather, he seeks to work
within his own sphere of
influence.
“I do believe that if you
do that and do it well, and
your craft is good enough,
your story strong enough,
you will find an audience,” he
said.
The alumnus, who mi-
nored in creative writing, said
he enjoyed reminiscing with
EOU President Tom Insko
when he was back on cam-
pus for homecoming. Former
classmates, the two walked
together out onto the football
field during halftime of the
football game.
“That was a great mo-
ment,” said Fitzgerald, who
ran cross-country as a student.
“It was nice to see that some-
one’s in position at the helm
of the university who deeply
believes in its mission as a re-
gional institution.”
Learn more about Fitzger-
ald’s work at spinfilm.org.
comprehensive video sur-
veillance and a well-lit ex-
terior.
“It’s like a vault,” Kidd
said.
The dispensary will an-
swer to the Oregon Health
Association, and all sales
will be tracked by the state
government.
They are also hoping to
strike a blow to the black
market and give those in
need a safe place to pur-
chase their medicine. Kidd
also anticipates picking up
customers from Bend as
more of their dispensaries
convert to recreational fa-
cilities.
“It’s going to create
jobs and keep people from
having to travel outside
the area, and keep the
revenue here instead of
Bend,” she said.
The Grant County
Court voted Sept. 28 to
pass an ordinance allow-
ing registered medical
marijuana patients to pur-
chase marijuana at dispen-
saries in Grant County.
The amended ordinance
only allows medical mar-
ijuana, not recreational,
dispensaries.
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