FVCC’s Wachholz Center Announces 2025-2026 Season Lineup, Including New Film Series
The "Made in Montana" film series lineup includes “Heaven’s Gate,” the polarizing, lengthy big budget Michael Cimino film based on Wyoming’s Johnson County War
By Mike Kordenbrock
Flathead Valley Community College’s Wachholz College Center in Kalispell has announced its upcoming events lineup for the 2025 to 2026 season, which will include a new “Made in Montana” film series.
The announcement came at a joint event last Friday with the Glacier Symphony, which drew a large crowd to the center’s O’Shaughnessy Outdoor Amphitheater to hear a free set from Flathead funk band 20 Grand.
Even with the season lineup announcement, WCC Director Matt Laughlin encouraged people to keep checking in on the center’s website, because they will continue to book more performers and events.
Some of the shows for the coming season had already been announced earlier this spring and summer, like humorist David Sedaris’ Nov. 12 Flathead encore (he came to the Wachholz during its inaugural season in 2022), a performance by legendary blues guitarist Taj Mahal, a concert by country outfit Old Crow Medicine Show (of “Wagon Wheel” fame), as well as the return of the traveling improv comedy show “Whose Live Anyway?” which features cast members from the TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”
But the most recent version of the lineup has some notable additions, like a September show featuring the Bozeman-based Pink Floyd cover band Pinky and the Floyd. That performance will be part of their “Wish You Were Here” tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” album, which has repeatedly earned a spot on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 greatest albums of all time.
The tour also serves as a tribute to Pinky and the Floyd’s longtime piano and keyboard player Joe Kirchner, who died in a motorcycle crash last fall. The band is playing just one show this summer before their fall Kalispell performance.
Other upcoming musical acts this season include returning performers like Gaelic Storm and Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, and newcomers to the Wachholz like International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame mandolin player Sam Bush and the famed German flamenco guitarist Ottmar Liebert.
The center is also bringing in Las Guaracheras, an all-women salsa music ensemble group from Colombia. While the Jan. 15 show starts at 7 p.m., purchase of a ticket also gives attendees the option of attending a salsa and percussion workshop from 5:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The college’s Changemaker Speaker Series, which is free for students of all grade levels, is also continuing. Joining the Changemaker lineup on Nov. 18 is New York Times best seller and climber Mark Synott, whose achievements include 24 climbs of Yosemite’s El Capitan, and a summit of Mount Everest by the Northeast Ridge.
Also in the Changemaker lineup is a Feb. 3 event with Anand Varma, a photographer with a background in biology whose work has often focused on using complex approaches to videography and photography to highlight the typically unseen details of some of our planet’s different species.
Next April, the series will continue with Jodi Cobb, a renowned, award-winning photojournalist. Her work has taken her across the world, and she has undertaken complex subjects like the lives of women in Saudi Arabia, the world of Japanese geishas, and human trafficking and slavery in the 21st century.
As for the new WCC Film Series with its “Made in Montana” theme, Laughlin credited the idea to two friends and movie lovers who grew up in the Flathead and pitched the concept to him. One, Dwight Camillucci, is the center’s technical director. The other, Clayton McDougall, grew up in the Flathead and now lives in Billings. Laughlin said it appealed to him as a way to add another type of programming to the Wachholz beyond its typical mix of music, dance, concerts and other live performances.
“For me and my position here, it’s always about the different options and the variety we provide here,” Laughlin said. “It meets that need for the community.”
And he noted that it’s a low-cost event for the center, and so they’re able to offer tickets for $10 each, or $8 for seniors. When tickets go on sale June 23 at 10 a.m., people will have the chance to purchase a package of tickets for all the screenings for $50, or $40 for seniors.
One thing about the WCC Film Series that Laughlin highlighted, is that the screenings will feature a pre-film talk from Camillucci and McDougall to prime the audience for what they’re about to see, and even tip them off to some details to keep an eye out for.
Laughlin is also interested in the idea of other themed film series, suggesting as an example showing some films on the scarier side of the spectrum around Halloween.
The “Made in Montana” iteration of the series will run this summer, with movies shown Wednesdays at 7 p.m. from July 23 through Sept. 3.
The lineup includes “Heaven’s Gate,” the polarizing, lengthy big-budget Michael Cimino film based on Wyoming’s Johnson County War, which brought current and future Hollywood stars to Kalispell, and was filmed largely in the East Glacier Park and Two Medicine areas.
The full WCC Film Series “Made in Montana” lineup includes “Danger Lights” on July 23, “Certain Women” on July 30, “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” on Aug. 6, “Heaven’s Gate” on Aug. 13, “Sweetgrass” on Aug. 20, “Thousand Pieces of Gold” on Aug. 27, and “The Missouri Breaks” on Sept. 3.
For more information go to https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/.