2021 Lineup

Biodynamic Agriculture: Farming in Service of Life. In this film, by Ben Cowan and Taliesin Black-Brown, a few voices of Biodynamics share their view of the beautiful harmonies that exist within nature and how following Biodynamic practices can heal the land, influence our food systems and, in turn, nourish our health. Biodynamic farming is a holistic, ecological, and ethical approach to agriculture, gardening, food, and nutrition. Biodynamic farming is regenerative farming; going above and beyond organic farming to help heal the planet.

Here We Stand, a film by Chris Cresci, tells the story of a magical 700-acre stand of old-growth redwoods in Sonoma County that Save the Redwoods League purchased in 2018. Now, this organization is reimagining its role in a diverse, inclusive California.

A Mother’s Love, a spoken word piece by actor and activist Lena Georgas and brought to life with the help of director Greg Taitanes and the musical creations of Bill Barclay. In 2020, life came to a grinding halt. Hopefully, in the resultant silence we are able to hear that our planet’s whispers have become screams.

The Buffalo Reef in Lake Superior provides invaluable spawning habitat for Lake Trout and whitefish, but is threatened by stamp sands from historical mining activities. Saving Buffalo Reef, a film by Finn Ryan and Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, shows the collaborative effort to restore the reef and fishery for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and beyond.

In Its Me, Landon, eight-year-old Landon Moise shows us around his favorite forested spots in his home community, Clearwater River Dene Nation. He explains why the environment is important.

The Owyhee Project is an oral history collaboration between Northern Paiute elder Wilson Wewa and photographer/filmmaker Jason Houston. This short film records Wilson’s reflections on growing up visiting the Owyhee Canyonlands and their importance to him, his people, and as an essential wild place for all of us.

In Pedal Through, you are invited into the world of director-lead Analise Cleopatra as she discovers the healing and joy of mountain biking. Analise had never camped or ridden a bike off the pavement when she decided to plan a week-long mountain biking adventure with an all black female team: her best friend and fellow newcomer to the sport, Day Toliver, and professional mountain biker Brooklyn Bell. Together, they traverse the Oregon backcountry on an adventure full of exploration, curiosity, waterfalls, old growth forest, sparkling starscapes, and deep healing. With raw authenticity, Analise shares all the intimate foibles, fear, fun, and beauty of discovering her place in the outdoors. The landscape opens to greet her as she learns to lean into uncertainty, accept support, and trust herself on this wild ride.

Last Call for Moose Mountain, by Joe Fairbanks. In Minnesota, backcountry skiers are fighting to protect their most coveted terrain. Moose Mountain, located in Superior National Forest, is the crown jewel of skiable terrain in Minnesota. A local ski resort has applied for permission to develop this public land in a massive expansion. Superior Highland Backcountry, a grassroots group of backcountry skiers, offers an alternative vision.

TranSending, by Marin Hart, Chris Naum, and Lindsey Hagen, follows the journey of Erin Parisi as she comes into her own identity as a Transgender woman and trains for the Seven Summits to create awareness and visibility for the Trans community. The film showcases this journey of extensive vulnerability, heartbreak, and courage.

Through the voice of Colleen Cooley, one of the few female Diné (Navajo) river guides on the San Juan River, Water Flows Together elevates the importance of acknowledging Indigenous land in outdoor recreation. The film, by Palmer Morse, Taylor Graham, Matt Mikkelsen, and Colleen Cooley, is a meditation on the challenges Colleen and her community have faced, the kinship she has with the San Juan River, and the unique opportunities her role as a river guide affords as she seeks to create positive change.

Guardians of the Owyhee, produced by Bank of the West in collaboration with Lauren Veen and Vincent Tremblay of Fine Grain Pictures, takes us to The Owyhee Canyonlands, where unprecedented threats such as wildfire and invasive species fueled by climate change, mining and extraction of natural resources, and overdevelopment threaten the future of this remarkable landscape. Without a thriving Owyhee region, the surrounding local communities that depend on it won’t be able to exist. In response, people from varied backgrounds, demographics, occupations, and motivations—and from groups that historically have not seen eye-to-eye—have banded together to protect an area of which they all feel fiercely protective. The result of this broad coalition of activists, ranchers, tribal members, small business owners, nature lovers, hunters, and more is real hope that the Owyhee Canyonlands will receive the protection the region’s advocates say it needs and deserves.

Through the Breaks, by Tom Attwater, tells the story of a float down the Upper Missouri River in eastern Montana that reveals a spectacular, remote, and unspoiled prairie landscape, whose preservation is the work of the American Prairie Reserve. The organization’s mission is to create the largest nature reserve in the continental U.S., and this film serves the same purpose — showing the audience why this place matters. For boatbuilder Jason Cajune, the river trip carries on a family tradition; he grew up on drift boats in Glacier National Park, operated by his parents. As a boatbuilder, Cajune says, “I’m really just sort of a caretaker of an idea that came before,” a succinct definition of conservation itself.