Debut of ‘Still in Print’ attracts nice audience, many questions

The room was full, both with people and questions.

Last week at the Mariposa County Library, two filmmakers from Visalia joined the owners of the Mariposa Gazette for a screening of a documentary as well as a question and answer session.

“Still in Print” is the eight-minute documentary which made its Mariposa premiere at the library. The movie was part of the Big Tell Film Festival in Fresno, an annual event in which filmmakers vie to get their ideas from concept to film.

In this case, Kristin Lesko and Tim Tsai submitted their concept of featuring the newspaper in Mariposa as a film. From some 400-plus applications, theirs was one of 10 selected. They received funding to make the film from festival organizers, including the James B. McClatchy Foundation.

For two days in August of last year, the duo came to Mariposa and began filming what would be the documentary, “Still in Print.”

It debuted last December at the Tower Theatre in Fresno and then was released on YouTube just before Christmas. The film was also part of the 10 movies shown on Valley PBS.

Lesko and Tsai spoke about the documentary briefly before is was shown to an audience of about 50 people gathered in the children’s room at the library. After the showing, they explained how it came they chose the Gazette.

Tsai said he was looking around the area for interesting stories, emphasizing the Big Tell organizers encouraged them to look in the more remote places around the Central Valley. He happened upon the newspaper while searching on the internet.

In that search, Tsai said he noticed in the masthead of the newspaper that owners of the Gazette had the same last name. At first, he thought it might be a family that has owned the newspaper for generations because “that’s how many newspapers” are passed down.

He then talked to Lesko, who, by chance, knew a man named Paul Myers, the co-owner of Mineral King Publishing based in Reedley whose footprint reaches Visalia.

Finding out it is a small world, Myers, and his business partner, Reggie Ellis, said not only did they know about the Mariposa Gazette, they printed the newspaper each week. Lesko said Ellis told them there was a good story about the newspaper.

As was said last week, Lesko, properly, reached out to the publisher of the newspaper, Nicole W. Little. The publisher oversees the entire operation of a newspaper.

Little received the email “and I almost put it in the trash,” she told the audience gathered at the library. Instead, she forwarded it to her husband, Greg Little, the co-owner and editor of the newspaper.

“I was in contact with Kristin in less than 20 minutes,” said Greg.

That led to a video meeting between Lesko and Greg, and is where Still in Print was born.

During the discussion last week, both Lesko and Tsai acknowledged getting Nicole on board was going to be the biggest challenge. She was reluctant to be filmed and was skeptical about the entire project.

But Tsai said once they came and met Nicole, they felt she would come around and be a part of the story.

“I didn’t want to do it,” Nicole told the audience at the library.

Tsai told the audience that in the finished project, it was Nicole who really came through and made the documentary so much better. Lesko agreed, saying Nicole’s humor and insight in the newspaper businesses was key in the final result.

Matt Johnson, county librarian, opened the meeting last week by telling the story about how it was the Littles who originally lured him to California to work for the newspaper as the sports and education editor. He had worked for them at a small newspaper in Rexburg, Idaho, where he graduated from college.

He was reluctant to come, he said, but acknowledged it had come “full circle” last week when he introduced them during the showing the documentary. Had he not agreed to come to Mariposa, he would have not met his wife, Jenna, who he now shares three children with, or advanced his career and became the county librarian.

After the film was screened, questions were taken from the audience about both the documentary and journalism in general.

The questions were wide ranging, including how long it took the filmmakers to put together the documentary and even how many hours of footage they had to break down to just eight minutes.

Tsai said it took a month just to edit all of the footage and begin the process of developing the storyline they would use for the film. The entire process took about three months.

Lesko said like all projects, they “really didn’t know” how it was going to unfold until they came to Mariposa and began the process. Part of that was getting Nicole to agree to wear a microphone and be filmed.

She did that and in the movie, her comedy came through with funny lines along with serious discussions about journalism and the trials of putting out a newspaper week after week.

Lesko said the interaction between the married owners was what she felt made the documentary so interesting. She also said they both learned a lot about journalism.

Nicole was asked if she is the comic relief at the newspaper and she responded by saying “you have to have humor,” otherwise, you could possibly be driven to madness.

Other questions centered around the state of journalism in the world today as well as the importance of local news, something that is drying up all around the country.

One person asked about what are known as “news deserts,” where local newspapers and radio stations have disappeared.

Greg told them there are studies which show that when news sources are gone from an area, government corruption goes up because “the fox is watching the hen house.”

Questions were also asked about how stories are selected each week and how difficult it is to write so many stories.

Johnson pointed out how the Gazette is all local, noting from the time he arrived, having “hyper-local” news was an emphasis and remains to this day. He also acknowledged the good working relationship he has developed between the library and the newspaper.

Other people in the audience said they appreciated the fact Mariposa County has a local newspaper where it features local news ranging from the government to feature stories to sports and education. They felt that is a key aspect of how a democracy functions and said many areas have lost their news sources.

There were also people who drove from the Coarsegold area who said they were appreciative of the newspaper adding a section dedicated to Eastern Madera County.

Nicole explained the newspaper made the decision to hire a reporter and add that section following the closure of the former newspaper in Oakhurst.

Greg said that decision was made to “keep journalism alive” in Eastern Madera County and though it is a financial burden, the importance of a free press outweighs anything when it comes to serving the public.

Nearly everyone in attendance said they enjoyed the documentary and some said they were going to share it will local groups and others.

Local groups who are interested can contact the newspaper for more information.

The documentary can be viewed at youtu.be/q8ApZgw1E1M