Director: Soraya Simi

Producer: Gillian Annis

Female Director + Producer

Salt water heals everything.

Cold

Washes over me

And I succumb to it,

Shocks me until I am numb to it

As much as instinct tells me not to

I run to it

And pray today the baggage on my shoulders

Will sink into this dark abyss

That the god I once found here,

Left here

In all her immensity and indifference,

Will be back with the tide

The hushed beast inside my belly

Awakens and growls louder

Its appetite threatens to devour me

The stinging salt invades me

Persuades me to push past the pain

To see what lies on the other side

Lungs bursting to breathe

Roaring waves pounding deep

Into every fiber of my being

Out here there is no apprehension

Out here there are no secrets

Out here I lie bare

I ask myself

how can a body withstand this?

How can it not?

Director: Claire Gorman

Producers: Claire Gorman + Anna Grieve

Female Director + Producers

Bigger Than Me is a female coming-of-age film about the complexity of being a girl and the challenges that drive you as a woman to take on the elemental power of big waves.

Wrenna is a young woman with a fearless dream - a 6’ 2” natural with a body built for the ocean, she wants to be a big wave surfer. But she finds the discipline and sacrifice required to be a professional, extremely challenging. Growing up in New Jersey with hippy parents, her teenage years were spent caring for her younger siblings and schooling herself in the local library. At 19, Wrenna makes her pilgrimage to Hawaii's North Shore risking it all on big waves.

She is confronted by the pressures of carving out a professional sporting life as a woman and without a sponsor, she works two jobs to support her dream. Filming over ten years, from Oahu’s iconic big wave, Waimea Bay to the cold waters of Mavericks to the ultimate big wave of Peahi (Jaws), we travel with Wrenna through the seasons, the highs and the lows of facing your fears - to find out how much bigger you can be.

Producer: Black Diamond

Literally looming above her backyard in Chamonix, Mont Blanc beckons BD Athlete Hillary Gerardi. With travel grinding to a halt due to the global pandemic, the dream to link the summit to her own home became a reality. Follow Hillary as she journeys from Home Summit Home.

Directors: Jules Jimreivat + Lizzy VanPatten

Producers: Jules Jimreivat, Lizzy VanPatten, Kelsey McGrew + Cody Kaemmerlen

Female Directors + Producers

Letting Go of the Grade follows four climbers as they work to overcome outside pressures to enjoy climbing.

Director: Zoya Lynch

Producer: Natalie Segal

Female Director + Producer

Recipient of the 2018 NMLFF Pitchfest Film Fund

A short film that explores the history of the land and its shared significance to Indigenous groups and mountain sports enthusiasts. Standing tall over the Revelstoke valley Mount Begbie has inspired an entire community. It is iconicized in the logos and names of local businesses, featured heavily in artists’ works, is photographed by every visiting tourist, and most importantly of all, is explored by the outdoor enthusiast - no matter the season.

Climbing Mt Begbie is a “right of passage” for every hiker, climber, sledder, and skier who chooses to make Revelstoke their home. While this peak has created an entire contemporary culture in Revelstoke, its name and story only represent colonial history, with no reference to the Indigenous heritage of this land. Is it the outdoor community’s responsibility to help change this?

Director: Jen Randall

Producers: Heather Mosher + Sarah Steele

Female Director + Producers

Pass It On celebrates three locals who spread their love of Squamish climbing into the fabric of the broader community. In this series, we meet Sandy Ward of the Lil’wat Nation, who dedicates time to sharing her climbing knowledge with local indigenous youth; we get silly with Tami Knight, route developer of the late 70s and 80s; and go projecting with long-term carer Michelle LeBlanc who takes residents in their 80s on imaginary expeditions.

Director: James Saunders

Producers: Palmer Morse + Matt Mikkelsen

Director of Photography + Edit/Color: Palmer Morse

Add. Cinematography: Kirk Horton

Sound Mix + Design: Matt Mikkelsen

In 2022 alone there have been over 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed in various states across the country. Refusing to sit idly by, trans trail runner Perry Cohen (he/him) formed a team of fellow runners who identify as trans men with an aim to compete in races in states proposing and passing hateful legislation. Miles to Go follows their journey into the world of trail running and the freedom to be themselves on the trail.

Director: Jen Randall

Producers: Sarah Steele + Noam Argov

Cinematographers: Tara Kerzhner + Jen Randall

Female Director, Producer + Cinematographer

Rock climber Beth Rodden is one of the most prolific athletes in climbing history, with multiple free ascents of El Capitan and first ascents of cutting-edge lines to her name. ‘This is Beth’ takes an intimate look beneath the forward-facing success of her career, diving into Beth’s grapple with body image and cruel self-talk, and celebrating how she transformed this dynamic to rediscover the love of her sport and herself.

Director: Hannah Maia

Female Director

When Britain goes into lockdown at the start of the pandemic, Hannah picks up her camera and begins to film family life with young children. At first, it feels like they are living a whole heap of delightful low-key Sundays in a row, but just like zoom calls even a delightful never-ending succession of low-key Sundays can start to lose their shine.

Throw covid health anxiety, pregnancy during lockdown, and postnatal rage into the mix, and life becomes a struggle. That is until a red envelope lands on Hannah’s doorstep which forges a new and special friendship with a wonderfully bonkers lady in America. The friendship helps Hannah to refocus attention on cold water swimming adventures and ice baths in the garden.

Director: Line van den Berg

Produces: Line van den Berg + Scenarios4

Female Director + Producer

For years, Line van den Berg has been searching for the 'perfect' female climbing partner to share their passion for mountains, but also the struggles of being an athlete in a male-dominated sport. But is this search really about finding this one partner, or is it about finding her own place in society?

MY PHANTOM portraits Line climbing hard mixed routes throughout the Alps, with the highpoint being the First Female Ascent of the Phantom Direct on the south face of the Grandes Jorasses with Fay Manners, established in January 2022.

Director: Andrew Harrison Brown

Producers: Palmer Morse + Brooke Jackson

Female Producer

As one of only 30 fluent Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) language speakers left in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), Myia Antone teaches as a way to preserve her language for generations to come. Seeking to learn more about her culture and language, Myia uses her mountain bike as a needle weaving through her ancestral lands and language. While biking with other Indigenous women, Myia utilizes the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language to point out geographical features and native plants on rides. Weaving complex conversations through nuanced layers of generational trauma, Inseparable ultimately paints Indigenous joy and community as vital elements for a path forward.

Director: Alastair Lee

This film follows the remarkable visit to the UK of US climber Anna Hazelnutt. Anna teams up with Tom Randall and the sparks fly off the crag both in terms of climbing feats and the volume of fun thrown into each day. Entertaining and compelling Anna has only been trad climbing for 12 months yet under Tom’s stewardship they set themselves the challenge of a one-day ascent of the coveted Quarryman in North Wales and the first female repeat of the notorious Walk of Life at Dyers Lookout in Devon. Tom spots a rare ability in Anna and with his expert guidance blows the lid off a normal trad climbing progression. Join us on this breathtaking and hilarious quest, experience the highs and lows then witness some truly impressive climbing.

Director + Director of Photography: Kody Kohlman

Producer: Luke Webster

The Green Mountain Trail is iconic in the Boulder, Colorado community and it has special meaning for Hillary Allen. It’s where she got into trail running. And it’s where she relearned to run after a 150-foot fall broke bones in her legs and back.

But while she was training to Everest the segment, she found herself back in the hospital with a broken foot. The process of recovery would push her harder and teach her more than her original goal ever would have.