Former local man’s film touches opposing nerves

‘Montana’ tells story of family and gay marriage.

Contributed Photo Nina Pastores and Jacob N. Stuart

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Contributed Photo Carissa Dallis as Montana

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By Terry Morris, Staff Writer 12:23 PM Sunday, September 18, 2011

What do you get when you combine an impressionable second-grader, her 22-year-old conservative Christian brother and their single mom, who’s in a same-sex relationship?

You get “Montana,” a short film written and produced by Dayton native Jacob N. Stuart, and you get controversy.

“The extreme right thought it was too moderate, while the extreme left thought it was anti-gay,” said Stuart, a graduate of Middletown Christian Schools and the Los Angeles Film School.

Nina Pastores, a former classmate, directed “Montana,” which was filmed in and around Cincinnati, Middletown and Richmond, Ind.

The film has to do with Adam (portrayed by Stuart), who supervises Montana because Mom is never around.

He grows increasingly disturbed by “the propaganda the extreme left is pushing in the school system,” including acceptance of gay marriage, Stuart said.

He learns to his horror that Mom (who was abandoned by her husband) is dating another woman and that they are contemplating marriage.

That leads to a realization that “he’s not helping Montana by doing exactly what he accused the school of — pushing his viewpoint on a child.” Adam and Mom reach an understanding “that kids should be left innocent as long a possible, allowing them to eventually form their own opinions.”

“Nina and I received hate emails during pre-production and shooting,” Stuart said, and the LA Film School “tried to convince us not to make it. But we’ve found that once people see the movie, they respect the fact that we kept it balanced.”

“Montana” won the Silver Remi award at the 2011 Worldfest, the Houston International Film Festival, and was selected for the Kingdomwood Film Festival in Atlanta and the Transforming Stories International Christian Film Festival in South Africa.

It was broadcast over two weeks on Whitewater Community Television in Indiana and has upcoming screenings at theaters in Canada, India, Australia, England and the Bahamas, Stuart said.

While the film “has opened a can or worms, that’s the purpose of art,” he said.

For more about the film, go to www.facebook.com/pages/Montana/106988536009048 or www.imdb.com/title/tt1646216.

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