‘Flowing Air’ makes Missoula’s Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 

A nine-year passion project pays off for local filmmaker Seth Dahl; Big Sky Documentary Film Festival fulfills a ‘lifetime goal’   

By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Here’s a story about life, about dealing with crisis and making the most of a second chance.  

In “Flowing Air,” viewers meet Lane Lamoreaux, a paraglider and former smokejumper living in Scottsdale, Arizona. The new documentary film follows his journey to recovery after a paragliding accident almost takes his life and destroys parts of his lower right leg and pelvis, and shows his battle to continue living a meaningful life. For Lamoreaux, that meant taking advantage of man’s modern ability to take flight.  

The film’s trailer is available online, as well as a panel featuring Lamoreaux at TEDxBigSky in 2021.  

Filmmaker Seth Dahl was born and raised in Montana, and now lives in Gallatin Gateway. By chance, he met Lamoreaux in 2015 at a coffee shop in Boise, Idaho. Dahl noticed Lamoreaux’s smokejumper hat and his limp. One week after meeting, they agreed to film some of Lamoreaux’s story—Dahl envisioned a mini-doc about 10 minutes long and expected about a month of production.  

It turned into a nine-year project and a 40-minute film, enabled by trust and an emerging friendship.  

“Over time, it just developed,” said Dahl, who formerly worked as videographer for Outlaw Partners, the publisher of EBS. “… I started realizing there could be a lot more there for a story.”  

Lamoreaux continued to invite Dahl into his life to shoot key moments in his journey to a complicated recovery. Lamoreaux was forced to resign from his firefighting duties after falling just short in a required physical test, and after further injuries, doctors began suggesting a below-the-knee amputation.  

“That’s where it turned into a longer-form story,” Dahl said. Following Lamoreaux in cinéma vérité, Dahl said he was a “fly on the wall”—the film condenses years of footage into just a few snapshots of Lamoreaux’s strength and resilience through painful struggle.  

Through everything, Lamoreaux kept flying. He worked as a paragliding instructor and substitute teacher, and made fire training videos. He kept facing tragedy and finding meaning in flight.  

As life events developed, the time frame of the film kept extending. 

“You don’t go in with a script,” Dahl said. “… It created a challenge from the story angle, because you’re like, ‘where is this going?’” 

The potential for Lamoreaux to undergo life-improving leg amputation gave Dahl something to drive toward as a storyteller.  

“Our heroes, they have to go through change,” Dahl said. After amputation, he felt it was time to end the film, even with the potential for Lamoreaux’s life to continue changing. Amputation gave the story hope.  

“I have this part-time job called getting well, which is very time consuming,” Lamoreaux says in the film. “… This has certainly forced me to travel into an area I had never planned on visiting. The world of the ill, the world of the impaired, the world of the injured, the world of surviving. It’s a pretty daunting world.” 

Dahl glimpsed that world, and emphasized his privilege to do so.  

“I get to go home each night with a working leg,” Dahl said. “… As a filmmaker into such an intimate story, you have an emotional connection and a friendship, and a care, and a concern.” 

Dahl only saw that world as a healthy outsider, but he gained a deeper empathy for Lamoreaux’s plight.  

“He’s living it. I’m just holding the camera telling the story,” Dahl said.  

He believes the film is deeply about the resilience of the human spirit, and how we process life events and continue living.  

“And overcoming adversity in our lives. I think ‘Flowing Air’ is really about life. Life’s not easy. It’s very tough for a lot of people. I think that’s why everybody can relate to this story, because we all have a ‘Flowing Air’ incident in our life… The loss of a loved one, or the loss of a limb.”  

From passion project to ‘a lifetime goal’  

Now two months old, “Flowing Air” has been well-received at both film festivals that have shown it.  

The film premiered on Jan. 11 at the Lookout Wild Film Festival in Chatanooga, Tennessee. Lamoreaux attended and won the Dale Grey Beard Sanders Perseverance Award, nicknamed “The Stoney,” for most inspirational character.  

On Feb. 26, the film was featured in the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, under the Montana category, with Dahl being a Montana filmmaker. He calls the showing a “lifetime goal” and is continuing to submit to documentary-focused festivals and exploring options with PBS. He expects the film will be available on his website after its festival run. 

In Missoula, Dahl was praised by a photographer for her personal connection to the film, having experienced disability. Others called the film a beautiful piece of art.  

“I think that’s a wonderful compliment [for] telling a life story that is cinematic and beautiful, and artful, but true,” Dahl said.  

After nine years working on “Flowing Air” in his spare time, Dahl has a relatively clean slate as far as passion projects—his full-time media business, Big Cedar Media, remains busy. Recent work includes a seven-minute branded promotional film for Big Sky Bravery, a nonprofit supporting active-duty special operations forces by providing restorative outdoor experiences in Montana. He recently finished a film called “Redside” highlighting the nonprofit Redside Foundation, and Dahl hopes it will be shown in an upcoming film festival. 

As far as passion projects, he’s not done. He’s hesitant to share details but may have some exciting multi-year projects in the works.  

“I’m definitely looking for more,” Dahl said. “For good stories that are worth telling, and especially Montana stories.”