Silent film writer, producer, and star Nell Shipman moved from Hollywood to Idaho in 1922 believing she could turn the wilderness of northern Idaho into the independent film studio of her dreams. Although her dream lasted less than three years, it remains an important part of Idaho’s cinematic history and offers insights into the film industry at that time. Nell’s boldness, creativity, and benevolence set her apart, and her story in Idaho is as foreboding as it is inspiring.
Join Boise State University archivist Gwyn Hervochon and the president of Women in Film Seattle Virginia Bogert, for a conversation about Shipman’s silent film career. The session will feature film clips emphasizing Shipman’s distinct independent filmmaking style, developed during the years before the Hollywood studio system began to dominate the industry.
Panelists – Saturday Morning, April 18, 2026, Elks Screening Room
Virginia Bogert is a recipient of the Seattle Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film. She has directed, written, edited, and produced award-winning media for nearly three decades, from
features, shorts, and commercials, to documentaries and television. Her company Laughing DogPictures, LLC. focuses on human rights, citizenry, and the Arts. Her credits include award-winning
documentaries for Public Television: Pike Place Market: Soul of a City; Healing a Soldier’s Heart and Fields of Plenty. During her tenure as Director of Film and Media at MoPop, she produced museum
presentations which broadcast internationally. Her comedy short, The Delivery, won multiple Best Short recognitions and an Accolade Award. Her dramatic short Tootie Pie premiered at Seattle
International Film Festival, screened at Langston Hughes Film Festival, and on PBS. Virginia has been a juror for Seattle International Film Festival, Port Townsend Film Festival, Three Dollar Cinema, Lake Stevens Film Festival, 48 Hr Film Challenge, Seattle Turkish Film Festival, Walla Walla Crush Festival and continues as a judge and panel host at Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival. She created American Masterworks, a National Endowment for the Arts documentary series and documentaries for Fifth Avenue Theatre, ACT Contemporary Theater, and an award- winning commercial for On the Boards. Her PSAs for the United Nations about global food shortages
were distributed world-wide. Virginia holds a BA in English from NYU, a Masters in Media Ecology/Cinema Studies from NYU, and Certification in Educational TV from SUNY. She co-founded and is the artistic director of PostAlley Film Festival https://womeninfilmseattle.org/post-alley-film-festival
https://filmfreeway.com/PostAlleyFilmFestival, a woman-centric international shorts film fest celebrating its 15 th year. Virginia teaches documentary filmmaking and is an advisor at University of Washington and Seattle Film Institute. She’s President of Women in Film Seattle on the board of Create48. See her work: https://vimeo.com/laughingdogpictures and little more info here: IMDB and CONTACT: virginia@laughingdogpictures.com
Gwyn Hervochon is an archivist and associate professor at Boise State University’s Albertsons Library. For more than a decade, her work has focused on preserving and sharing local and regional history. Driven by a passion for engaging the public with history and historic materials, she has organized and supported exhibitions that have engaged thousands of participants with local history and content from world-renowned museums. In 2025 Gwyn was the recipient of the Boise Mayor’s Award for Excellence in History.
Among the university’s hundreds of archival collections, Gwyn helps to preserve and provide access to the papers of silent film star Nell Shipman and multiple other collections related to Shipman’s life and work. In 2024, she conceived and co-curated an exhibition at Boise State commemorating the 100th anniversary of Nell Shipman’s time in Idaho. More recently, Gwyn was a panelist for screenings of Shipman’s films at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in Moscow, ID, and at the first annual Idaho Film Fair in Boise.