Striking a Chord Between History & Filmmaking

5.17.2023 | Jenna McAlister

Matthew Pehl, an assistant professor in the Department of History, has turned a historic labor event into an award-winning documentary. On May 12, Pehl's debut film, "Cowboy Strike", won the jury prize for Innovation in Journalism at the Stronger Than Fiction Film Festival in Columbia, Mo. 

Pehl's journey into filmmaking began in 2022 when he visited a friend at the University of Missouri. There, he was introduced to the master's in documentary journalism program at the Jonathan B. Murray Center. Inspired, Pehl enrolled and soon found himself pitching his degree-defining documentary project. 

"Desperation, to be honest," Pehl said about the challenges he faced in the beginning stages of his project. “What is it that they say, necessity is the mother of invention?”  

Initially, his pitch on the history of the St. Louis American, a hundred-year-old African American newspaper, was rejected. Concurrently, he was offered a tenure-track position at Texas Tech, compelling him to find a project closer to West Texas that he could shoot during the summer.  

Pehl chose to document the cowboy strike of 1883, a significant yet often overlooked event in Texas labor history when foreign investors began buying up ranches and land, crushing the cowboys' dreams of independence in hard-working cowboys.  

"I didn't want a straightforward historical documentary," Pehl said. "I wanted something more creative."  
He collaborated with songwriter Andy Wilkinson, who composed a song about the strike, and Alan Crossland – Wilkinson's friend and owner/sound engineer of Route 1, Acuff Studios. Within two months, Pehl had gone from the rejection of his initial pitch to 80% completion of an entirely new film. 

"Two elements that comprised the film are the actual historical incident and an artistic interpretation," Pehl said. "Andy Wilkinson is a creative person conscious of his descent from Charles Goodnight, a West Texas cattleman. It's about the relationship of history, memory and myth." 

After filming, Pehl attended the Stronger than Fiction Film Festival where he earned the jury prize for Innovation in Journalism. This award, one of four bestowed by a jury of documentary professionals, is named after Stacey Woelfels, the founding director of the University of Missouri's Documentary Journalism program. "I was surprised; I did not expect to win anything," Pehl said about receiving the award for his first film. 

Since then, Pehl experienced another wave of surprise, as he recently learned that Cowboy Strike and the other Stronger Than Fiction Film Festival winners would be showcased at the First Look Film Festival in New York, hosted by the Museum of the Moving Image. 

Pehl believes documentary filmmaking offers a unique way to explore history.  
"When we talk about cinema or film ... it has its unique language," he said. "It's a lot like music in that it has its unique way of communicating. Image, sound, and time are constantly working together — something you can't do when writing."  

Considering Pehl's film in this context reveals its broader significance, as it enables us to engage with both the language of music and the language of film simultaneously. 

Through the mythical land constructed from the imagery of the film and Andy's songwriting, Pehl hopes "Cowboy Strike" will change viewers' perceptions of cowboys and the American frontier.  

"The cowboy is an archetypal figure," Pehl said. "I want people to think about cowboys not just as gunslinging loners but as people who had tough jobs and had to depend on each other." 

Pehl also has specific hopes for student viewers.  
"I want students to see that academic writing isn't the only way to express historical events," he said. "Maybe some who never thought about it before will consider it." 

Looking ahead, Pehl is eager to start his next film project. He hopes to create a small filmmaking group and integrate documentary filmmaking into his history courses. Pehl's transition from historian/professor to filmmaker exemplifies how interdisciplinary approaches can breathe new life into historical narratives and even into academia.