Big Sky Film Festival Preview: ‘Otters of Yellowstone’

In the painted white landscape of Yellowstone National Park, a brown furry head pops up from behind the river bank like a gopher, striking against the snow.

It’s a river otter, and it looks directly at the camera like it knows it’s the cutest animal to ever exist.

Suddenly, there are three of them, jumping in and out of the river, swimming in what must be freezing water in harmony with a symphonic sound score. Like the shark in “Jaws,” a shift in the music announces the presence of a coyote. The otters are its intended prey, as they slide around like penguins and snuggle together in a huddle with their precious high-pitched squeaks.

But as this beautiful six-minute film seems to say — the otters are not totally defenseless. They thrive in the harsh winters, after all. “Otters of Yellowstone,”directed by Joshua Bruni, is just one in a collection of short films made by Montana State University graduate students in the MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking program.

From a technical lens, the film is gorgeous, the scenes clear enough to practically count the pine needles on the trees and the hairs on the otters’ heads. It’s fluid, like the river, so much so it’s hard to discern if the majority of the footage is in slow-motion or not (the jury’s still out). And the music, composed by Drake Pannell and Judah Seger, goes hard.

The film is simple, sharp and shows off the beauty of river otters in their natural habitat, playing like the water puppies they are in the harsh conditions they face.

“Otters of Yellowstone” screens at the ZACC on Feb. 20 at 4:30 p.m. and the Roxy Theater on Feb. 22 at 1 p.m.. It will be available to stream Feb. 19 to Feb. 29.

(McKenna Johnson)