Cycles (12:28)*

Directors: Johanna Brunner, Anjuna Hartmann

Producer: Johanna Brunner

Cast: Jana Linicus, Hannah Ziegler, Celina Weber, Anna Baab, Verena Stahl, Inese Grinberga, Helena Launay Orlando, Rosina Friedel

Female Directors

CYCLES IS AN ALL FEMALE FREERIDE, EXPERIMENTAL MOVIE PRODUCTION ABOUT THE POWER THAT LIES WITHIN LIVING WITH THE FEMALE CYCLE.

Cycles is a free film project produced by an all-female crew. The film showcases a group of freeriders exploring the stunning mountains of Tyrol. However, it goes beyond just action and athletic performance. The project delves into the female menstrual cycle and the transformative power of living in tune with it

Through an experimental and action-packed short film, Cycles portrays the four phases of the menstrual or lunar cycle. Its aim is to raise awareness among viewers about their own inner phases and provide a platform for the still-tabooed topic of the female cycle.

Additionally, the project seeks to highlight the connection between the cycle and sports. It aims to make women more visible in the freeride sport and inspire them to pursue their dreams and goals in outdoor activities. The film also strives to enhance awareness about the significance of the female cycle in sports.

Dirt Pride (10:13)*

2023 No Man’s Land Film Festival Genderqueer Pitchfest Grant Recipient

Director: Christina Rosetti

Assistant Director: Tara Segall

Producers: Wild Hybrid + Rad Dad Productions

Female + Genderqueer Director

Dirt Pride centers queer joy and community, separating out the trauma from queer stories. It features a group of empowered queer women and gender-nonconforming people bikepacking through WA and explores the transformative power of building queer community outside.

Diagonal (10:35)*

Director + Producer: Ryan Ernstes

Female Director + Producer

Feeling stuck in life, 54-year-old India Wood bucks the traditional way of recreating and strikes a novel path across the state of Colorado. Taking a uniquely in-depth look at the world around her, India's walk is a celebration of the originality that makes us human and delights in doing things a little bit differently.

Identity and Endurance with Alexandera Houchin // Stronger Together (19:42)

Director: Brandon Watts

Producer: Brandon Watts, David Thomas, Issac Presson

It has taken time for Alexandera Houchin to weave layers of her identity together. First and foremost, Alexandera is an Ojibwe woman. She’s also an artist, a farmer, a mechanic, a cyclist and a person who cares deeply about her community on the Fond Du Lac reservation near Cloquet, Minnesota. “Stronger Together” takes an intimate look into Alexandera’s life while examining concepts of identity, forgiveness and what it means to merge seemingly different aspects of your soul in order to continue moving forward, one pedal stroke at a time.

Groundwork: Building Community Through Regenerative Rubber (16:30)*

The second installment of Groundwork, The North Face’s series on internal sustainability initiatives, takes an intimate dive into the life of one rubber farmer in Thailand. Chorthip Pragpree, is a multigenerational farmer and an essential contributor to TNF’s industry-leading regenerative rubber program. As a steward of her community, she works with brands like TNF to establish sustainable programs and equitable pay. 

Director: Lindsey Hagen

Producer: Lauren Todd

Director of Photography: Chris Naum

Executive Producers: Dan Riordan, Dana Saint, Lindsey Hagen, Lauren Todd

Head of Production: Aaron Schurman

Senior Executive Producer: Lisa Ann Wagenbach

B Camera: Biz Young

Lead Editor: Chris Naum

Color: Jensen Vinca

Music From: Ben Sloan

Sound Mix: Jared Blizzard

Post Supervisor: Joe Torino

TNF Global Sustainability Lead: Carol Shu

TNF Producer: Biz Young

Female Director + Producer

Embracing the Grim (12:38)*

Director: Aleksandra Janiak

Producers: Aleksandra Janiak, Simon Bizzard

Cast: Line van den Berg, Fay Manners

Female Director + Producer

After conquering massive alpine walls together, Fay and Line head north to the ephemeral Scottish land of mixed climbing. The objectives are ambitious and the weather is fickle, testing the all-women team’s perseverance.

This project was conceived and produced by Aleksandra Janiak, Fay Manners and Line Van den Berg. Sadly, Line never had the chance to see it finished.

The Debora Effect (10:42)*

Director: Darcy Hennessey Turenne

Producers: Danny Venner, Scott Jewett

Female Director

After suffering a life-altering brain injury 7 years ago, mountain bike enthusiast Debora DeNapoli’s life would never be the same again. Finding profound healing in the one place she was warned never to return to—the trails—The Debora Effect demonstrates the true essence of mountain biking: pure, unadulterated joy.

Debora didn’t see a ceiling for what she could experience in life. Always pushing to be faster, harder and stronger, before her injury she completed long endurance efforts to raise money for causes close to her heart. When a motor vehicle accident in 2014 significantly impaired her riding ability, she started seeking a different level of fulfillment. Riding for the fun of it.

Recovering from a TBI one outing at a time, Debora found getting on her bike and back into nature was key to processing her most debilitating symptoms and tackling her mental health. Altering her course in mountain biking, Debora now brings her contagious energy and love of community to every single ride and person she interacts with—accompanied by a whole lot of singing. With boundless happiness, joy and laughter, people just gravitate towards Debora, and it’s easy to see why.

The Pass (14:08)*

Director: Andrea Wing

Producer: Zanny Venner

Executive Producers: Sarah Steele, Darcy Hennessey Turenne

Female Director + Producers

Rogers Pass represents one of the most complicated avalanche programs in the world. Ski touring through its storied terrain is only possible thanks to the visionary mountain guide who engineered the ski system years ago, and the woman she mentored who’s now at the helm of that avalanche program. The stakes are higher than most skiers could ever imagine.

Light Beams For Helena (9:58)

Director: Kirk Horton

Helena Bourdillon has pushed her limits in the freediving world, using a single breath to dive to depths that would kill most human beings. But her path to discovering her diving potential started 20 years ago when she was on the verge of suicide. Light Beams For Helena explores her journey with depression, her ongoing mental health efforts, and what diving into the darkness of deep water has taught her about life and light.

Coming Home (14:44)*

Directors + Producers:
Katie Lozancich, Alex Showerman

Director of Photography
Austin Hopkins @austinrhopkins

Editor: Charlotte Percle

Photographer: Katie Lozancich’

Cast: Alex Showerman, Brooklyn Bell, Hannah Bergemann

Female Directors + Producers

"Coming Home" is a short film centered on Alex Showerman, a lifelong Vermonter and professional mountain biker who came out as a queer trans woman in 2020. The film explores Alex's journey of finding a sense of belonging in the unexpected world of women’s freeride and her complex relationship with the sport of mountain biking, viewed through the lens of current events surrounding the LGBTQ+ community and the fight for equality in women’s sports. The project also celebrates those who have supported Alex, including professional athletes Brooklyn Bell and Hannah Bergemann. The film culminates in showcasing what a community looks like when people set aside their differences and uplift each other, broadening the definition of who can call themselves a mountain biker.

Ascend (19:40)*

Directors + Producers: Kathryn Francis, Campbell Brewer

Executive Producers: Alex Lowther, Monika McClure, Justin Roth

Director of Photography: Campbell Brewer

Editors: Campbell Brewer, Will Lee, Mattias Evangelista

Cast: Mina Bakhshi, Haniyan Tavasoli, Rabia Hussain, Raihana Ahmady, Sughra Yazdani, Marina LeGree, Batool Behnam, Merryn Venugopal, Michelle Pellette, Alison Kaplan

Female Director + Producer

Mina Bakhshi, Haniya Tavasoli and Rabia Hussain had a fair amount of latitude for women in Afghanistan, able to pursue their education, go to work, and explore hobbies and interests. Joining Ascend, a nonprofit organization teaching leadership and rock climbing to women, gave them the chance to test their personal and cultural limits and explore the mountains of their home country. But when the Taliban took over in August 2021, Ascend became their one chance to escape a regime that would restrict their freedoms and future.

While the women of Ascend were being resettled in other countries with volunteer host families from Ascend’s network—often other climbers wanting to help—Merryn Venugopal and Michelle Pellette, two members of Yosemite Search and Rescue, were also looking to find ways to support fellow climbers in need. They invited the women to spend a week in Yosemite, where they could safely reunite and find solace in the climbing community. Now, as they build new lives in a country separated from their families, the women find that meeting other climbers in Yosemite is also a connection to home.

People Like Us (24:07)*

Director: Ryan Collins

Producer: Nat Segal

Director of Photography: Colleen Gentemann

Cast: Ryan Collins, Bruce Johnston, Jasmine Clancy, Lily Bradley, Janet Wong, Hank Stowers, Emma Kelly, Katarina Chycjiz

Female Producer

Ryan Collins explores the implications of being a gay man in Revelstoke, BC, while seeking to frame a larger picture of queer life in a mountain small-town. People Like Us follows Ryan as he connects with the queer community of Revelstoke, seeking their opinions and stories and relationship with mountain culture, in the hope of building perspective into what it is like to be queer in mountain towns. After moving to Revelstoke in 2020 to work in the mountain sports industry, Ryan felt welcomed, building a strong friend group and work opportunities. Despite this warm reception, he started to feel that something was missing, a connection with people like him.

As Ryan actively reaches out to members of the local queer community he begins to build a better understanding of the shared queer experience. In doing so People Like Us will celebrate the existence of queer folks in non-urban settings and show that healthy queer communities can flourish in small towns.