Return of the Grizzly

A Film Screening at American Prairie's National Discovery Center

Panel guests include filmmaker Maaike Middleton, wildlife activist Doug Peacock

American Prairie is pleased to announce a screening of the new documentary Return of the Grizzly on May 16 at 2 pm. The event will be held in the Clyde Aspevig Event Center inside American Prairie’s National Discovery Center, located at 302 W. Main in Lewistown. Admission is free. Donations to American Prairie, however, can be made online at https://americanprairie.org or at the door with your phone using a QR code. Light refreshments will be available following the event and there will also be a “Meet & Greet” with the filmmakers and discussion panel guests, which at press time includes the film’s director and producer Maaike Middleton, Executive Producers Dan Sullivan and wildlife activist Doug Peacock, and American Prairie’s Wildlife Restoration Manager Daniel Kinka.

In discussing her film, Middleton states “In the last few years we have seen the West change. Expanding populations bring new roads and subdivisions to wilderness areas. Grizzly bears are leaving the once known safety of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem looking for new sources of food. We are left with the question: What will our world look like if we do not learn to coexist? This is the question that we tried to answer in Return of the Grizzly by speaking to ranchers, scientists, concerned citizens, and activists across Montana and Wyoming.”

The 37-minute documentary from Never Give Up Films, is narrated by Jeff Bridges and features Yvon Chouinard, Michael Hausman, Doug Peacock, and others who discuss the role of grizzlies in today’s world. A Montana Big Sky Film Grant recipient, Return of the Grizzly was also funded by Patagonia, the Sierra Club, Soundcolor Studios, Save the Yellowstone Grizzly, and the Natalie Orfalea Foundation.

About the Presenters

Doug Peacock, Executive Producer, is well-known for his role as a grizzly bear expert and activist. Peacock served during the Vietnam War as a Green Beret combat medic who, after returning from the war psychologically scarred, found that solitary time in the wilderness proved therapeutic. He has written about his war experience and post-war recovery in The Grizzly Years (1990) and Walking it Off (2005). The latter work also explores his tumultuous friendship with the late author Edward Abbey, who used Peacock as the basis for the character George Hayduke in The Monkey Wrench Gang.
Mr. Peacock was the subject of a feature film about grizzlies and Vietnam, Peacock’s War, which premiered on PBS’s Nature, and won the grand prizes at the Telluride
Mountainfilm and the Snowbird film festivals. He has appeared in several documentaries, including Grizzly Country to The Beast of Our Time, for which he was also an Executive Producer. Peacock lives in Montana with his wife Andrea and is actively involved in conservation work, serving as chairman of the board of trustees for Round River Conservation Studies. He is also founder of Save The Yellowstone Grizzly.

Dan Sullivan, Executive Producer, has lived in Livingston, Montana, for 25 years and has been a voice for the grizzly bear since the day he first met one nearly 45 years ago in the backcountry near Glacier National Park. He has been facilitating and producing wildlife films in Montana since 1981 and worked with Doug Peacock on Peacock’s War. He was also an assistant production designer in the feature film The Stone Boy (1984), which starred Robert Duval and Glenn Close. Dan is Co-Executive Producer and Co-Writer of The Beast of Our Time: Climate Change and Grizzly Bears, winner of 1st Place Documentary Short and Audience Choice Award Short at the 2021 Bigfork Film Festival.

Maaike Middleton, Producer/Director of Return of the Grizzly, is a wildlife filmmaker.
Born in The Netherlands, Middleton grew up in Montana and is passionate
about telling stories that make a difference and addressing issues that impact us all.
She produced and directed The Beast of Our Time: Climate Change and Grizzly
Bears. That film, which has been screened on every continent except for Antarctica,
has won Best Environmental film, Short film, and audience awards at several festivals.
Ms.Middleton has also worked on projects for National Geographics, Netflix, BBC, Silverback films, PBS and Smithsonian. When not traveling for work, Maaike is watching films and helping with the selection process for the Wildlife Film Festival in Rotterdam.

Dr. Daniel Kinka is Senior Wildlife Restoration Manager for American Prairie. Danny is a wildlife ecologist specializing in the rewilding and resilience of socio-ecological systems. His primary responsibilities at American Prairie include restoring and monitoring wildlife on the organization’s Reserve and managing the wildlife-friendly ranching program “Wild Sky.” He also acts as liaison to scientists conducting research at American Prairie, other NGOs, agencies, and external entities. Kinka holds a PhD in Ecology from Utah State University.