A chance encounter in a library sparked a monumental effort to restore and re-release Told in the Hills, Idaho’s inaugural feature film, a century after its silent screen debut. The journey, however, proved as dramatic as the cinematic narrative itself, navigating the complexities of historical preservation, Indigenous representation, and unexpected governmental budget cuts.

The film, originally shot in 1919, is based on Marah Ellis Ryan’s 1891 Western romance novel. It tells the story of Genesee Jack, an Idaho settler seeking a new life, and his estranged brother’s quest to find him. Filmed on location in Lawyer’s Canyon, south of Lewiston, Idaho, Told in the Hills made cinematic history by being the first feature film produced in the state. A significant aspect of its production was the inclusion of over 100 Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) actors, lending an authentic Indigenous presence to the production.

Colin Mannex, executive director of the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center (KPAC) in Moscow, Idaho, first learned of this forgotten piece of cinematic history in 2023 during a humanities panel at Washington State University. Mannex, already an enthusiast of the silent film era and the curator of KPAC’s annual Silent Film Festival, was captivated by the prospect of seeing this early Idaho production. His quest to find the film led him to the Idaho Film Collection housed in the archives of Boise State University, where he discovered two delicate reels of film, the original shooting script, and hundreds of still photographs from the production.

In the university archives, Mannex encountered Tom Trusky, an eccentric poet and English professor. Trusky had previously dedicated himself to the film’s preservation, producing a short documentary in 1989, Retold in the Hills, which chronicled his arduous journey to the Gosfilmofond State Film Archive in the Soviet Union to retrieve the original nitrate spools of Told in the Hills and his subsequent efforts to preserve them. Mannex, inspired by Trusky’s "electric energy and excitement," took up the mantle, determined to bring the film to a wider audience.

Through KPAC, Mannex applied for a $7,500 grant from the Idaho Humanities Council (IHC) in January 2024. The council approved the funding for the restoration project, enabling Mannex to commission a new musical score from the award-winning Diné composer Connor Chee. A specialized company was engaged to undertake a 4K restoration of the fragile film, and an editor was hired to reconstruct the narrative. Crucially, Mannex initiated contact with the Nez Perce Tribe to gather their knowledge about the film’s creation and to consult with them on its restoration, ensuring cultural sensitivity and accuracy. With additional funds raised, a premiere was scheduled for September 2025.

However, the project faced an unforeseen and significant setback in April 2024. An email from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) delivered the devastating news: the project’s grant was terminated. Camille Daw, a program officer at the IHC, explained to High Country News that the decision stemmed from actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an entity reportedly founded by billionaire Elon Musk and granted broad authority by the Trump administration to drastically reduce federal agency budgets and personnel. This abrupt funding cut meant that 70% of the IHC’s annual funding, which is typically disbursed across Idaho, was eliminated. The impact was immediate and far-reaching, forcing the council to scale back or postpone grants it had already committed, including the crucial funding for Told in the Hills, with the film’s premiere only months away. "It just totally derailed everything," Mannex lamented.

The challenges faced by the Told in the Hills restoration team echoed historical struggles for the Nimiipuu people. In 1919, the same year the film was made, the Nez Perce were grappling with federal policies that threatened their existence. By this time, federal boarding schools were forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families, and government policies were actively dispossessing tribes of their ancestral lands and undermining their cultural practices. Generations of Nimiipuu had grown up under government prohibitions on their traditions. Nakia Williamson-Cloud, director of the Nez Perce Cultural Resource Program and a consulting partner on the film restoration, noted the profound historical context: "Many of those individuals (in the film) were in armed conflict with the U.S. federal government in the 1877 (Nez Perce) War." He emphasized, "When you look into the faces of those individuals on film and in the photographs, you know that they faced challenges to their very existence." In this light, Told in the Hills transcends mere entertainment; it stands as a vital artifact preserving the Nimiipuu people’s resistance against attempts at cultural erasure.

Williamson-Cloud provided a broader perspective on the DOGE funding crisis, drawing on the deep historical memory of his people. "Nez Perce people have been on this landscape in excess of 16,500 years," he stated. "We’ve seen a lot of changes. Our memory is not only ancestral over generations, our memory is on par with geological events that we observed on the landscape." He underscored the transient nature of the U.S. federal government’s presence, remarking, "This federal government has only been here just a speck amount of time. Tiny amount of time. And that’s what we’re here to remind the broader society… is just the resilience of our people."

Undeterred by the funding cuts, the Told in the Hills restoration team resolved not to abandon their project. Composer Connor Chee explained that the scope of his work had to be significantly reduced. The envisioned full chamber orchestra was scaled back to a quintet. "I didn’t get to see the finished film," Chee admitted, "And I had to get this music to the performers in time for them to rehearse it and learn it." The conductor and musicians were left with just two weeks for practice, and editing was put on hold until funding could be re-established. Chee ingeniously created flexible musical cues that could be adapted to the evolving, incomplete final cut of the film, resulting in a score that could potentially differ with each performance, likening its adaptability to a "living thing."

During the restoration process, the team compared the new 4K scan with the older tape produced by Trusky. In one scene, Trusky’s version showed two actors with faces obscured by deep shadows. The restored 4K version, however, revealed their faces in sharp clarity. This enhanced detail, combined with the extensive collection of still photographs, allowed Williamson-Cloud and his team to identify and credit dozens of previously unrecognized Indigenous actors. Mannex and editor Tom Frank faced the challenge of reconstructing the film, which survives in only about a third of its original length. They consulted the original shooting script and incorporated the trove of still images to bridge the narrative gaps. "We have essentially 20 minutes of footage for a 60-minute film," Frank explained. "We ultimately realized that using just one or two photos to represent the scene with text from the script was the way to make it most clear."

Throughout this period of uncertainty, Mannex worked tirelessly to secure the necessary funding. Contracts for editing and score composition, initially dependent on the now-lost NEH grant, were in jeopardy. In the critical final months, the Mellon Foundation stepped in with crucial support, supplemented by donations from local patrons to KPAC. Ultimately, a court reversal of DOGE’s decision led to the restoration of the original federal funding, narrowly averting disaster. After a summer marked by confusion and uncertainty, the film was ready for its premiere with less than a week to spare.

On a chilly Friday night in September, conductor Danh Pham and the musicians took their places on stage at the Kenworthy theater as the audience began to fill. The flickering of unspooling film had been replaced by silent digital projection, but the film’s title, rendered in elegant cursive, still illuminated the screen. For the first time in over a century, Told in the Hills was presented to an audience. Before the screening, Mannex addressed viewers, acknowledging the film’s historical context and its potential to present uncomfortable elements: "You’ll see some old tropes and casting decisions that are uncomfortable for contemporary audiences," he stated. "Despite its flaws, Told in the Hills remains an important cultural resource."

The audience indeed reacted to the film’s dated portrayals and language, with groans audible in response to racist tropes directed at Native characters and minstrel-like presentations of Black characters. Williamson-Cloud emphasized the importance of contextualizing these elements: "Context is everything," he said. "It’s an important discussion for the time we live in now. We have to take these things head-on and shed light on the ignorance that drives this sort of language."

While the film features white actors in makeup to portray Indigenous characters alongside Cherokee actor Monte Blue, who played the supporting lead Kalitan, and Nez Perce performer Joe Kentuck as Kalitan’s father, it also challenges some contemporary stereotypes of the era by depicting peaceful relations between Native Americans and early settlers. Notably, the film’s climactic battle scene, a section that had been lost, is depicted as resulting from a misunderstanding caused by an American cavalry unit, rather than inherent conflict between settlers and Indigenous peoples.

Furthermore, the hundreds of Nimiipuu extras, though cast to represent a different tribe (the film’s narrative centers on the Kootenai people), seized the rare opportunity to showcase their own traditions. Uncostumed and unscripted, these Native actors appeared in their own attire, performing their traditional dances and ceremonies, offering a genuine glimpse into their culture.

More than a century later, Told in the Hills is being reimagined, and its evolution continues. Mannex expressed a wish that the film’s original ending, which prominently featured Nimiipuu actors and remains lost, could be recovered. "It would be really cool to see that," he remarked. He acknowledged that the restoration process, while aiming for fidelity to the script, allows for greater artistic license moving forward. Mannex hopes to build upon the collaborative relationship with the Nez Perce Tribe, envisioning a future product that integrates the culturally significant production images with audio commentary. The film is slated for release on DVD and will likely be screened again, with possibilities for reinterpretation and presentation in other forms, such as museum exhibits.

Williamson-Cloud echoed the sentiment that Told in the Hills can serve as "a living document for us to add to." He underscored the restored film’s ultimate message: the enduring survival of the Nimiipuu people against attempted erasure. "Our existence today is sometimes seen as an inconvenient fact," he observed. "But this (version of the film) is a starting point to revisit this time and place while looking to the future."