Missoula-Based Filmmaker Releases New Whale Documentary

A couple weeks back, I was seeing In The Heights at Missoula's Roxy Theater, which had just recently reopened to the public for the first time since March 2020. And when I was there, I saw some trailers for some good-looking movies that would be playing over the next few weeks - and one that caught my eye that looked pretty interesting was a movie called Fathom, a new documentary about humpback whales and the ways they communicate.

What I didn't realize when I saw the trailer was that the film's director, Drew Xanthopoulos, is actually based right here in Missoula, and that the movie was being released for streaming worldwide on Apple TV+. To celebrate the success, the movie has been screening at The Roxy, and they even had Xanthopoulos there in person for a showing this past Friday, with an afterparty in The Roxy Garden.

The Missoulian has a great profile on Xanthopoulos and goes into more detail on why he decided to make this documentary in the first place, which is definitely worth checking out if you want to learn a little bit more about the filmmaking process.

It's always pretty cool to see a local artist find success on a national platform, and hopefully Xanthopoulos will be able to use this to do something even cooler in the future. Fathom is playing at The Roxy and streaming on Apple TV+ right now. Think you'll be checking it out? Will you be seeing it in the theater or watching it at home?