Place yourself many years in the future in a dystopian world where vicious raiders have taken over. This is the setting for Jordan Armes’ short film, “Montana.” It is being released in three parts, with Volume I already available on Armes’ Youtube channel (titled Ray & Jordan). Volume II will be released this winter, and Volume III will come out in early 2023.

One of the actors featured in Armes’ film is Lake Land College student Larissa Wellbaum! This is her first year at LLC and she is currently studying cosmetology. Filming for Volume II has not yet started, but Wellbaum stated that her favorite part of filming Volume I was “being with friends.” The cast of “Montana” were friends before this and working on the film brought them even closer. Wellbaum reminisced that “it almost felt like [they] were just hanging out, but also filming.”

In Wellbaum’s opinion, the message behind “Montana” is that not everyone is terrible, even if that is how they first appear to you. She used the example of when Montana first met Ranger, and he reacted with violence. It was because Ranger was scared, not that he wanted to hurt Montana. Wellbaum did say that this was just her interpretation of the message, and it may be different for someone else.

Wellbaum did hint that some new characters may join the cast in Volume II, so keep an eye out for the latest installment of “Montana,” which is set to be released in the Winter of 2022.