BILLINGS - The Babcock Theater, located in downtown Billings, is hosting a free screening of the 'Murder in the Big Horn' three-part docuseries on Saturday.
The Showtime series, which is set in Montana, highlights the problem of missing and murdered indigenous people in the area. It first premiered on Feb. 3 and has received national attention from the sundance film festival in Utah.
For Billings resident and series producer Ivy MacDonald, the project has been personal from the beginning.
"I knew the families personally beforehand," MacDonald said outside of the Babcock Theater on Sunday afternoon. "I think that relationship is part of what made the directors want to get us involved."
MacDonald grew up in Browning and is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe. She has witnessed the problem of MMIP since she was a young girl and said she sometimes got emotional while producing the series.
"It's not an easy topic to talk about and I know all of the stories that happened with their loved ones," MacDonald said. "It's for sure emotional, but it's also cool more people will hopefully know about it."
Producing the series has been a dream come true for Ivy in more ways than one. She and her older brother were both a part of the team helping to create the project. She said that telling these types of stories is exactly why the MacDonalds wanted to get into the film industry.
"I've been wanting to do film since I was a kid," Macdonald said. "To be able to give back to the community like this is so cool. Everything that me and my brother do with film is always trying to amplify the voices of people we need to speak up for."
MacDonald said that while the topics can be challenging to discuss, having her older brother there with her has been a huge help.
"I think we make a really good team," MacDonald said. "I wouldn't be anywhere without him. It's good to have family with you during this because it's a hard topic to deal with."
And while the screening is set for Saturday, MacDonald said she's already proud of the work they've done.
"This is the first time anything like this has happened with this series," MacDonald said. "Especially with it being on Showtime, so many people saw it. For the families, it helped them get their stories out there."
MacDonald also said that the series shows the families of those lost that they are not alone.
"We've been doing this since 2017, and so to be able to give back to the community and say, 'Hey, we're with you,'" MacDonald said. "We just hope we did a really good job with it."
The screening is free and open to the public, and while it will bring attention to MacDonald's six-year project, she knows it's a lot more meaningful than that.
"I'm looking forward to it, but I'm more looking forward to people asking questions and wanting to know more about it," MacDonald said. "Because it's not just here. People think it's just a Montana issue, but it's happening everywhere."
