MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking

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Stay up-to-date with the Science and Natural History Filmmaking Program at Montana State University

The mission of the Montana State University MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking (SNHF) is to train students with formal education and experience in science, engineering, or technology to become professional filmmakers. The SNHF program seeks to educate generations of filmmakers who have the knowledge needed to create accurate, innovative, and memorable programs and media that advance the public understanding of science in all its many manifestations. Unlike a typical graduate program, virtually no two students in the SNHF will have the same educational background. This diversity of previous training makes for a thriving and organic interdisciplinary environment. The SNHF believes that through intense training, truly original perspectives, and an understanding of the infinite possibilities of experience, our students can master the past, capture the present, and create the future of science and natural history media.

10/16/2026

Congratulations to alum Karly Noetzel on her film, Habitation, being selected by the Science New Wave Film Festival!

Logline: Micro and macro ecosystems of the Eastern Shore barrier islands interact with NASA's rocket launch port.

Karly Noetzel is a Hawaiʻi-born documentary filmmaker who creates poetic films that challenge human perceptions of ecology, time, and technology. While pursuing her MFA at Montana State University’s Science and Natural History Filmmaking program, Karly interned for a year at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, directing and producing science-driven short films for the James Webb Space Telescope social media accounts in collaboration with world-renowned scientists and Goddard’s Office of Communications.

With a passion for storytelling that delves into ecological crises, indigenous knowledge systems, and history, Karly’s work seeks to explore the diverse and complex relationships between humans and non-humans amidst the planetary crisis. Her film Water Bodies was an official selection at Maui Film Festival and Hawaiʻi International Film Festival, and her film Habitation was an official selection at Science New Wave Film Festival.

10/15/2026

Congratulations to alum Zachary Garmoe on his film, Ghost Lands, being selected by the Science New Wave Film Festival!

Logline: Follow herons, finches, and snow geese though hazy marshes and moonlit forests to trace the footsteps of renowned abolitionist Harriet Tubman and explore what it means for us to physically dwell with the ghosts of America's past.

Zachary Garmoe is a documentary filmmaker and photographer with a professional background in coastal and marine sciences.

He holds an MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking from Montana State University in Bozeman Montana. During his time in graduate school, he worked for both the Ocean Exploration Trust aboard the EV Nautilus, was a Graduate Fellow with the Montana Space Grant Consortium, filmed permafrost researchers in interior Alaska, and worked as a photographer for the Museum of the Rockies.

Prior to graduate school, he worked as an estuarine scientist for the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, managing a continuous water quality program and monitoring forage fish populations. He previously worked for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, managing a remote educational center and witnessing the rapidly eroding tidal landscape. Zachary graduated with a degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2017.

His films are predominantly focused on both overlooked and charismatic ecosystems, found in backyards, national parks, interstate medians, and everywhere in between.

10/01/2026

Congratulations Drew on receiving the Crawford Wildlife Graduate Fellowship!

The film examines the divide between Leavers and Takers: between living as a part of the world and living as though the world exists for us. It explores how humanity has come to reshape its habitat around our own needs, and the contradiction of trying to protect a world we have built our lives around controlling.

09/28/2026

Congratulations Davey on receiving the Crawford Wildlife Graduate Fellowship!

Davey's film will explore Motus, a radio tracking technology being used to discover the pathways birds use on migration. This network of radio towers, which detect tagged birds as they pass by, link local Montana grasslands to a global network of critical habitat to be targeted for efficient conservation. Follow a season of migration with leading researchers -and the birds they watch- as guides.

09/24/2026

Congratulations Madison on receiving the Crawford Wildlife Graduate Fellowship!

Madison’s project will be an exploration of the ecosystem where the mouth of Taylor Creek flows into Lake Tahoe, and where the invasive Kokanee Salmon run upstream to their spawning grounds in the fall. Guided by beavers through a holistic view of the habitat, this film will uncover the rich, ecological trove within the marshes of Taylor Creek.

Lake Tahoe, and the wonders of its natural habitat therein, have been formational to Madison’s passion for science communication and stewardship. She has been visiting since she was a small child, as pictured in the photo of her in the entrance of the Taylor Creek stream profile chamber, and worked as an interp guide at the Taylor Creek visitor center in the summer of 2021.

09/21/2026

Congratulations Akash on receiving the Crawford Wildlife Graduate Fellowship!

The Setting Sun is Thirsty is a poetic exploration of the largest wetland in Northern India, Hari ke Pattan. Spread over 86 sq km, this wetland acts as a winter refuge for thousands of migratory birds across ninety species. However, the history of this avian oasis is entangled with a devastating tragedy of the 20th century – The Partition.

In 1947, the nearly two hundred yearlong British occupation of the Indian subcontinent ended with the partitioning of the region into two separate nations – India and Pakistan. This split was made along religious lines and led to the displacement of millions of people. With the division of people also came the division of water. Hari ke Pattan came into existence when a barrage was constructed to redivert the water that historically went to present day Pakistan. The film explores the duality of this haunted landscape which provides a home to the migratory birds while carrying the markers of this historical trauma.

09/17/2026

Congratulations Hazel on receiving the Crawford Wildlife Graduate Fellowship!

Hazel will create a 15-minute film observing Seattle's communal efforts to preserve and protect the local salmon run. Children, researchers, Tribes, and environmental advocacy groups create a patchwork of care for this keystone species' annual migration. Together, these groups help salmon to navigate the heavily trafficked and polluted waterways, even if they disagree on how.

09/14/2026

Congratulations Mitch on receiving the Crawford Wildlife Graduate Fellowship!

My project celebrates San Gerardo de Dota, a small valley in Costa Rica’s cloud forest, where a tiny community bordering Los Quetzales National Park, made a decision to protect their forests. Their valley has remained a functioning wildlife corridor for many species of animals, but none more famous to the cloud forests of Central America, than the resplendent quetzal. The film uses the resplendent quetzal as a guide to show how a species, by requiring intact forest and drawing human attention, has played a role in sustaining its own habitat within this stunning biological corridor.

09/02/2026

Cohort 26 is busy learning the Canon C70 in preparation to start working on their first projects of the semester!

08/30/2026

Welcome Reilly!

My name is Reilly Fallon, and for the past several years I’ve worked as an underwater photographer and Open Water Scuba Instructor. My fascination with the underwater world started much earlier, when I first went scuba diving at nine years old on a family trip to Mexico.

I’d been taking photographs since I was a teenager, but while studying abroad and working with the Australian Marine Conservation Society, I saw a way to combine two of my biggest passions: the ocean and photography. I became a scuba instructor and later a technical closed-circuit rebreather diver, allowing me to spend more time underwater and pursue more specialized photography and filmmaking.

That path has led me to spend years living and working in communities across the Pacific, from eastern Indonesia to the Maldives, on projects ranging from tourism media to documenting tiger sharks.

I’m coming to MSU to become a better filmmaker and storyteller and turn this work into a lifelong career. I’m drawn to stories about wildlife, conservation, wild places, and the communities connected to them. Outside of photography and diving, my other great passion is fly fishing. So I guess you could say I mostly just like fish, photos, and being around water. I’m excited to be in Montana and become part of the MSU community.

Address

Bozeman, MT
59717

Telephone

+14069943902

Website

http://sfp.montana.edu/sciencenaturefilm

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