SUN RIVER HOMESTEAD
is a co-production of Margaret Carey and MontanaPBS,
produced in association with ITVS,
with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Crew Biographies

MAGGIE CAREY
Producer/Director/Writer

Sun River Homestead is Maggie Carey's documentary directorial debut. Carey has helped produce, edit and shoot a variety of programs, commercials, and instructional videos for Montana PBS. Her credits include Remembering the Columbia Gardens (associate producer), a historical documentary about a 100-year-old amusement park in Butte, MT, and Green: Environmental Justice in Louisiana (associate editor, Winner Student Academy Award). Carey graduated from The University of Montana and is a former captain of the Grizzly Soccer Team. She currently attends the University of Texas at Austin where she is finishing her MFA in Film and Television Production. Her latest works include the narrative comedies Dance Club and Taxidermy Festival.

JOHN TWIGGS
Editor/Camera

John Twiggs is a producer at The University of Montana Broadcast Media Center and teaches television production classes in the Radio-Television Department of UM's School of Journalism. Twiggs produced Living in the Moment, a program that featured a Montana teenager battling brain cancer. He also won numerous awards for his production of How the West Is Fun, an educational history program for middle school students. Twiggs writes, shoots and edits for the award-winning Backroads of Montana series. He is currently producing a documentary about Glacial Lake Missoula.

CLARE E. ANDERSON
Narrator

Clare E. Anderson, the disembodied voice behind Sun River Homestead, recently discovered that she is a frustrated narrator locked inside the body of a lawyer. Anderson knew from an early age that she enjoyed speaking for others. As an elementary student in Illinois, she starred as the Wicked Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and perfected a cockney accent for her role as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, both productions of the local children's theater. Her interests led to a degree in Speech from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and later to a Master's degree in Communication Disorders from Case Western Reserve University. Later, as Adolescent Outreach Coordinator for the Suicide Prevention Center in Dayton, Ohio, she served as media liaison for local radio stations and television network affiliates. She is a graduate of the University of Montana School of Law. Currently, she practices law with her life and law partner Nick Anderson in Missoula, Montana.

RAY EKNESS
Graphics/Camera

Ray Ekness has worked as a producer and director at The University of Montana Broadcast Media Center since 1989. He recently joined the faculty of the Radio-Television Department in the School of Journalism. Ekness has produced a variety of programs including Backroads of Montana (Montana Broadcasters Association Program of the Year - 3 years), Remembering the Columbia Gardens, Building Bridges, Sportsweek with the Montana Grizzlies, Grizzly Sportsweek, Catfish John & Friends, Montana Transport Co.: An Evening of Modern Dance, Your Voice Your Laws, and Montana Political Debates. Ekness has also produced award-winning commercials and industrial and instructional videos for The University of Montana. Ekness has a BA and MA in Journalism from The University of Montana and has worked in commercial television in news and production at KECI-TV in Missoula, Montana, KTVQ-2 in Billings, Montana, and KTVB-TV in Boise, Idaho.

MATT MCCLUNG
Research Assistant/Assistant Editor

Matt McClung currently attends the University of Texas at Austin graduate film school and is producing a documentary on the 2001 Texas legislative session regarding women's health issues. Previously, he was the associate producer of George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire, a PBS documentary for the history series THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and 2000 Sundance Film Festival award winner.

BETH BRAMHALL FLORIDIS
Composer/Musician

Beth Bramhall Floridis was a featured composer at the 1999 Focus Festival of Contemporary Music in Cleveland, Ohio, where Dr. Robert Mayerovitch performed her piece "Empire Builder." She has written music for educational, documentary and commercial films and has been a panelist on the usage of music in film at both the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. Her improvisational work on piano and accordion is heard at festivals, concerts and radio shows with a network of other independent musicians. She teaches and performs in the Missoula area and serves on the board of directors of First Night Missoula, as well as the Missoula Folklore Society.