‘Reels’ on the Ranch

Filmmaker trades big city lights for rural life

When Justin Koehler moved to Denver, he never thought the media career he wanted would allow him to return to South Dakota, much less to the family ranch.

If you had asked me 20 years ago if I’d be sitting in my grandpa’s office doing work, creating stories on film, I never would have thought that I could have done it,” Justin says.

Today he and his wife, Sandie, work remotely from his grandparents’ old home along the Bad River. They moved to the ranch between Midland and Philip with their two children in 2022. From there Justin continues his film career telling what he describes as heart-and-soul stories on screen, some about South Dakota and the area where he grew up.

“The combination of the advancements of technology and how remote work became more acceptable after COVID made it possible for us to work out in the country and still do what we want to do,” he says.

Documentaries earn honors

Justin has garnered many accolades and film festival showings as a director, producer, videographer, and screenwriter. Known as the Academy Award for western genre, Justin received the Western Heritage Award for Best Documentary in 2018 for directing “Floating Horses.” The film is about the life of Casey Tibbs, fellow South Dakotan and champion bronc rider and all-around rodeo cowboy.

Justin graduated from Midland High School and went to Black Hills State University in Spearfish with the assistance of a basketball scholarship. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, planning to pursue sports broadcasting.

Justin moved to Denver after college and went in a slightly different direction. He first served as a photographer for a reality TV company, High Noon Entertainment, where his work appeared on television networks such as HGTV. Next, he worked for their sister company, Great Divide, that produced historical films for the U.S. military and National Park Service. His work has also aired on PBS, History, Discovery, and Weather channels.

Different realizations

Over the years Justin returned to the ranch to help with brandings in the spring and working calves in the fall. Heading home after one trip, Justin told Sandie how with some work and creativity, Grandma and Grandpa’s house had a lot of potential. The seed he planted sprouted into a full-fledged plan during the pandemic.

“When COVID hit and things happened, we started having different realizations about life,” Justin explains. “We thought, ‘What if we put our kids in a smaller school and moved back here into the house?’”

Following a nearly two-year discussion, they sold their house and moved north. In the summer of 2022 Justin invested a lot of time and elbow grease preparing the house for his family. Thankfully, Justin’s parents had allowed Golden West to bring a fiberoptic internet connection to the house even though it had been vacant for several years.

Fast internet allows move

“Having fiber here at the house has made all the difference in the world; it was a big reason why we were able to move back,” Justin says. “We have better internet here out on the ranch than we did in suburban Denver.”

His grandparents lived a mile down the road and were like a second set of parents to him and his sister, Melissa, he says. He recalls many childhood memories at their home, and now his kids have a similar arrangement with his parents, Mike and Cindy Koehler.

After fixing up the house, Justin produced films for South Dakota Public Broadcasting on a contract basis. He did all the work to tell one rural South Dakota story each month for almost a year.

Currently he tells stories about people for the South Dakota Department of Human Services. Sandie also works for the State of South Dakota, as a training specialist for the Department of Transportation. While Justin uses his grandpa’s old office, Sandie works upstairs in an uncle’s former bedroom.

Family enjoys Philip

With the Midland high school closed, the kids ride the bus 40 miles roundtrip to Philip for school four days a week. They participate in sports, and Justin has started coaching.

The family enjoys Philip’s amenities, like the steakhouse, coffee shop, and movie theatre. They have settled nicely into the rural lifestyle.

“We can’t thank the people of Philip enough for welcoming us into their town and school,” he says.

Justin Koehler’s Fimography:

To watch some of Koehler’s work, including The Buffalo King, visit vimeo.com/justinkoehler.

To watch his work for SDPB, visit sdpb.org/people/justinkoehler.

 

 

• The Buffalo King, a PBS documentary which aired in over 7 million homes over a two-month period. It is about the life of James Scotty Philip, who is credited as, “the man who saved the American bison.” Stream on Vimeo.
• Floating Horses: The Life of Casey Tibbs, a documentary about rodeo’s greatest cowboy and South Dakota native whose talent and personality turned him into a household name during the 1950s. Stream with a free trial on horse.tv.
• The Mochila, a screenplay that was an Academy Nicholl Fellowships top 10% selection with three reads by the committee.
• The Kunnecke Killings, a short screenplay written by Koehler about suspected serial killer William Kunnecke.
• NITA: Hotbed in Deadwood, a documentary produced by Koehler telling the fearless story of call girl Nita Celaya and her pivotal role in the 1980 Deadwood brothel raid.

Golden West internet gave Justin Koehler the opportunity to move back to his grandparents’ ranch and work remotely. Having fast internet allowed him to continue his film career creating stories about South Dakota.