The journey to rediscover and restore "Told in the Hills," the first feature film shot in Idaho, began unexpectedly in a library, igniting a passion project that would face unforeseen challenges and ultimately highlight the enduring spirit of the Nimiipuu people. Colin Mannex, executive director of the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center (KPAC) in Moscow, Idaho, first learned of the largely forgotten 1919 silent film during a humanities panel at Washington State University in 2023. Inspired by his long-standing interest in the silent film era, which already informed KPAC’s annual Silent Film Festival, Mannex was captivated by the prospect of experiencing this piece of cinematic history.

"Told in the Hills" is based on Marah Ellis Ryan’s 1891 novel, a Western romance that chronicles the westward journey of Genesee Jack, an Idaho settler seeking a new life, and his estranged brother who ventures west to find him. Shot on location in Lawyer’s Canyon, south of Lewiston, the film holds significant cultural weight, featuring over 100 Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) actors. The discovery of two fragile reels of film, along with the original shooting script and hundreds of production still photographs, tucked away in the Idaho Film Collection at Boise State University archives, offered Mannex a tangible link to this lost piece of Idaho’s heritage.

His exploration of the archives led him to encounter Tom Trusky, an eccentric poet and English professor whose 1989 documentary, "Retold in the Hills," detailed his own quest to retrieve and preserve original nitrate spools of "Told in the Hills" from the Gosfilmofond State Film Archive in the Soviet Union. Trusky’s "electric energy and excitement" proved infectious, and Mannex found himself picking up the torch, driven by a similar dedication to preserving this unique artifact.

Through KPAC, Mannex secured a $7,500 grant from the Idaho Humanities Council (IHC) in January 2024, which funded the initial stages of restoration. He commissioned an original score from award-winning Diné composer Connor Chee, engaged a company for a 4K restoration of the delicate film, and hired an editor to reconstruct the narrative. Crucially, Mannex initiated consultations with the Nez Perce Tribe to gather tribal knowledge about the film’s creation and to seek their input on the restoration process. As additional funds were raised, a premiere date was set for September 2025.

However, the project’s trajectory was dramatically altered in April 2024 by an unexpected email from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Camille Daw, program officer at the IHC, informed High Country News that the grant had been terminated. This decision stemmed from the actions of DOGE, an entity founded by billionaire Elon Musk and granted broad authority by the Trump administration to implement sweeping budget cuts across federal agencies. The cuts significantly impacted the IHC, with 70% of its funding disappearing shortly after DOGE’s intervention. This abrupt reduction forced the council to scale back or postpone previously committed grants, including the vital funding for KPAC’s restoration project, leaving the film’s premiere in jeopardy just months away. "It just totally derailed everything," Mannex stated, reflecting the profound disruption the cuts caused.

The narrative of "Told in the Hills" unfolds against a backdrop of immense societal change and federal pressure on Indigenous peoples. Over a century ago, as the film was being produced, the Nimiipuu people were grappling with the severe impacts of federal policies. By 1919, federal boarding schools were forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families, and government initiatives aimed at land dispossession threatened the very fabric of tribal life and cultural continuity. Generations of Nimiipuu had grown up under government prohibitions on their traditional practices and ceremonies. Nakia Williamson-Cloud, Nez Perce Cultural Resource Program director and a consulting partner on the film restoration, highlighted the historical context, noting that many individuals featured in the film had direct ancestors involved in the 1877 Nez Perce War. "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," he remarked, underscoring the film’s significance as a testament to the Nez Perce people’s struggle against attempted cultural erasure.

Williamson-Cloud contextualized the recent funding crisis within the deep historical memory of his people, stating, "Nez Perce people have been on this landscape in excess of 16,500 years. We’ve seen a lot of changes." He emphasized the resilience of the Nimiipuu, asserting that their memory is not merely ancestral but deeply intertwined with the geological history of the land itself. In contrast, he pointed out, the presence of the federal government is a recent phenomenon. "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," he affirmed.

Undeterred by the funding setbacks, the restoration team for "Told in the Hills" pressed forward with a determination to see the project through. Composer Connor Chee explained that the scale of his original vision had to be 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 musicians and conductor ultimately had only two weeks for rehearsal. Editing work was paused, awaiting the restoration of funding. Chee ingeniously crafted flexible musical cues that could adapt to the evolving, and at times incomplete, final cut of the film. "I don’t know how it’s going to sound. It could be different every time it’s performed," Chee mused, describing the music as a "living thing" capable of adaptation and change.

During the restoration process, the new 4K scan of the film was compared to Trusky’s 1980s tape. In one scene, previously obscured by deep shadows, the restored version revealed the faces of two actors in sharp detail. This enhanced clarity, combined with the extensive collection of still photographs, allowed Williamson-Cloud and his team at the Cultural Resources Office to identify and credit dozens of previously unrecognized Indigenous actors. Mannex and editor Tom Frank faced the challenge of completing the film, which was missing approximately two-thirds of its original footage. They meticulously consulted the original shooting script and integrated the surviving stills into the restored one-third of the film. "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."

Amidst these creative and technical challenges, Mannex actively sought alternative funding. Contracts for editing and score composition hung in the balance. In the critical final months, the Mellon Foundation provided crucial support, supplemented by donations from local patrons to KPAC. A subsequent court reversal of DOGE’s decision ultimately restored the NEH funding, arriving less than a week before the scheduled premiere, after a summer of uncertainty and confusion.

On a chilly Friday night in September, conductor Danh Pham and the musicians took their places on stage at the Kenworthy theater, awaiting the start of the screening. As the digitally projected film commenced, the cursive title appeared on screen, a stark contrast to the whirring of film projectors of a century past. For the first time in over 100 years, "Told in the Hills" was presented to an audience. Mannex acknowledged the film’s historical context and potential for discomfort, advising viewers of "old tropes and casting decisions that are uncomfortable for contemporary audiences," while emphasizing its enduring value as a "cultural resource."

The audience responded to the film’s dated portrayals and language, particularly concerning Native and Black characters, with audible reactions. Williamson-Cloud emphasized the importance of historical context, stating, "Context is everything." He added, "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 stereotypical makeup alongside Cherokee actor Monte Blue and Nez Perce performer Joe Kentuck, it also subverts some prevailing stereotypes of the era by depicting peaceful coexistence between Native Americans and early settlers. The film’s battle scene, a segment that had been lost to time, is portrayed as stemming from a misunderstanding initiated by an American cavalry unit. The hundreds of Nimiipuu extras, though representing a different tribe in the narrative, had the rare opportunity to showcase their own traditions, appearing in their own clothing and performing their own dances and ceremonies, rather than being costumed or directed to portray external cultural elements.

"Told in the Hills" continues to be reinterpreted and understood. Mannex expressed regret over the loss of the film’s original ending, which prominently featured Nimiipuu actors and remains undiscovered. He suggested that future iterations might exercise more artistic license, building on the collaborative relationship with the Nez Perce Tribe to create a product that integrates culturally significant production images with audio commentary. Plans for a DVD release and further screenings are underway, with possibilities for reinterpretation through museum exhibits or other forms of presentation. Williamson-Cloud hopes that "Told In the Hills" can evolve into "a living document for us to add to," underscoring that the film’s ultimate message is the survival and resilience of the Nimiipuu people against attempts at erasure. "Our existence today is sometimes seen as an inconvenient fact," he concluded, "But this (version of the film) is a starting point to revisit this time and place while looking to the future."