2017 • USA • 22 min • Tyler Wilkinson-Ray

Aaron Rice was a couple years out of college, ski bumming through winters and scraping together work over summers, but getting sick of resort crowds and feeling a little aimless, like he needed to pick a direction. The direction he eventually settled on: Up. Rice set out to become the first person to ski 2.5 million human-powered vertical feet in a year, which is the equivalent of climbing from Everest Base Camp to the summit over 200 times. Through fatigue and injuries, excursions to South America and storms, he climbed and skied. Along the way, he learned a lot about self-determination, grit and what’s possible if you set your mind to it.

2018 • USA • 26 min • Corey Adkins

Filmmaker in Attendance

Three men from the group “Stand Up For Great Lakes” put their bodies to the test and paddle board more than 90 miles across Lake Huron for something they believe in.

2018 • USA • 9 min • Dominic Gill, Producer: Nadia Gill

Bryant Huffman spent his days deep water soloing, sport climbing and bouldering as founder of Climbing Puerto Rico. Then Hurricane Maria dropped a nuclear bomb of water and wind, which destroyed much of the island. With his work as a guide temporarily suspended, Huffman and his climbing buddies put their skills to good use by morphing into emergency arborists. And out of the devastation comes a glimmer of something positive. The hurricane peeled huge chunks of limestone from cliffs, creating scores of new routes. Climbing Out of Disaster is about shifting your perspective to see the silver lining in calamity.

2017 • USA • 34 min • Troy Anderson

Filmmaker in Attendance

Detroit is known as Hockeytown. When the city had to close many of its recreation centers in the early 1990’s the once abundant outdoor ice rinks disappeared with them. Except for one. Clark Park is the story of the Southwest Detroit community that saved a rink, helped stabilize a neighborhood, and gives inner city youth the opportunity to play the game of hockey. This short documentary with a runtime of 34 minutes is told through the perspectives of seven southwest Detroiters ranging from 12 to 87 years of age.

2017 • USA • 8 min • Ryan Heffernan & Grayson Schaffer

Clare Gallagher was headed toward medical school, until she realized the path everyone else wanted her to take wouldn’t make her happy. So she took one step back, 100 miles forward, and went in a new direction.

2018 • USA • 14 min • Dietrich Ludwig

Filmmaker in Attendance

Name your favorite outdoor female role model. Don’t worry, we’ll wait. Before, women in the outdoors sounded like a gimmick – but they are far from that - they are a force to be reckoned with. From around Michigan, a group of women shares how they set out on a path and found adventure. Their reasons and activities may vary but they all have these things in common; they are strong, they are in this together, and they will not back down.

Children of all ages will have the opportunity to explore outdoor gear (set up inside the cafeteria). Let your young children climb in and out of a canoe, try dry land paddling, explore a tent and sleeping bag, carry a camping backpack, and “warm up” next to our indoor campfire. Child friendly camping snacks will be available. Bobby and Maura Marko will be on hand to chat with parents and children, offer camping and canoeing tips and answer any questions.

2009 • USA • 55 min • J.J. Kelley & Josh Thomas

Filmmaker in Attendance

Two best friends build their own kayaks and paddle alone for 97 days in the wilderness over 1,300 miles from Alaska to Seattle and survive to talk about most things.

USA • 9 min

2017 • USA • 7 min • Goal Zero

Join the father and daughter team Joyineers and Goal Zero ambassadors, Mike and Lilliana Libecki, along with Human Outreach Project and Dell computers on a journey of giving back in Pashpa.

2018 • USA • 4 min • Joseph Daniel McMahon

Subject in Attendance, Filmmaker in Attendance

Music video featuring local Surfer Dan.

2018 • USA • 3 min • Dietrich Ludwig

In the second teaser for the proposed Dead River Community Forest, we talk with Jeremiah Johnston from the Noquemenon Trail Network. NTN is one of Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy’s partnering organizations to help build trail systems within the forest. The trail systems will serve as a multi-accessible path allowing for hikers, bikers, and runners to use the path simultaneously. Jeremiah explains how trail building and land protection go hand-in-hand.

2018 • USA • 5 min • Jordan Halland

A dash of spelunking. A pinch of ice climbing. A sprinkle of semi-psychedelic light show. This brief recipe is just right for a short feast.

2018 • USA • 2 min • Dietrich Ludwig

The Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy is in the process of raising money to acquisition the a 181 acre property along the Dead River to serve as a accessible community resource for multi-use recreation and environmental education. While UPLC will own the land, the resources on the land and management decisions which affect land will be based around what will bring the most benefit to the community. The Dead River Community Forest will protect 3.5 miles of riparian corridor along the Dead River and provide innumerable benefits to the region.

2017 • USA • 2 min • Charles Hallett

A collection of my best time-lapse work in 2017. Featuring shots from all around North America. From Michigan and the Upper Midwest, to Casper Wyoming, the Wasatch Mountains in Utah and the North Cascades of Washington.

2018 • USA • 3 min • Aaron Peterson

Filmmaker in Attendance

2017 • USA • 3 min • Aaron Peterson

Filmmaker in Attendance

Mike Horton is Marquette’s original surfer, and co-founder of the Presque Isle Depot art studio. This is his story.

2018 • USA • 3 min • Aaron Peterson

Filmmaker in Attendance

The Thompson family of Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis craft custom skis from quality hardwoods in Northern Michigan.

2018 • USA • 4 min • Melanie Sommerfeldt

Filmmaker in Attendance

If an international clothing company from Sweden offered an opportunity to manage your own dog sled team across the Scandinavian Arctic, would you spend a month collecting the necessary votes on Facebook to win a spot on the team? The Fjällräven Polar is a 300 km dogsledding expedition through the Scandinavian Arctic, and it’s Melanie’s dream to earn a spot on the team. After volunteering at the Copperdog 150 Melanie developed an interest in dogsledding and having the opportunity to join Fjällräven’s efforts in showing that EVERYONE can get out and enjoy more winter activities, she’s inspired to apply in the hopes of encouraging others to chase adventures of their own.

Target Audience: Parents & children ages 5 to 12
This 27 minute 1966 film by Bill Mason was nominated for an Academy Award for best live action short film. The film follows the travels of the carved, toy sized canoe from the north shore of Lake
Superior through Canada’s waterways to the Atlantic Ocean.
Following the film, children will have the opportunity to make their own birch bark toy size canoes to take home!

Target Audience: Parents & young children
Planning a canoe trip but thinking the kiddos need to stay home? Don’t call the babysitter just yet. Canoe camping with babies and toddlers is loads of work but incredibly fun! Learn best packing, meal planning, gear, diapering, and sleeping practices from Bobby and Maura Marko. The Markos take their two children, Jack and Rowan (ages 4 and 2), along on all their adventures including frequent visits to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota.

Target audience: 12 years and older
The Joyineering Fund Founder and and Young Explorer Lilliana Libecki, at the age of 15, has already been to 28 countries, all 7 continents, and five major expeditions, including two ski expeditions to Antarctica, ascent of Kilimanjaro in Africa, and a 150-mile trek through the Himalaya of Nepal, 18K foot peaks in Peru, that have all focused on humanitarian and conservation work. Mike and his daughter Lilliana just founded a nonprofit 501c3 organization that will focus on conservation and humanitarian work around the world…Lilliana has already received 4 grants from the American Alpine Club at the age of 14! “In a world where we can be and do anything, be kind and do good!” – Lilliana Libecki

National Geographic Explorer and National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Mike Libecki can define his life in two ways: An obsession with exploring and climbing the worlds most remote and untouched corners of the planet to find huge, world class first ascents…And a being a dedicated father to a daughter that wants to help save the world. Mike has completed more than 75 major expeditions all over the planet with a goal of 100 expeditions, from Afghanistan to Antarctica, to Greenland to Guyana, to Siberia to Socotra Island Yemen and everywhere in between…His pride and joy is being a father to his daughter Lilliana.

2017 • USA • 9 min • Colin Ruggiero

Bison were nearly exterminated across North America. Thanks to the Shoshone tribe, the National Wildlife Federation and the coordinated efforts of a host of other individuals and organizations, bison have finally been brought back the Wind River Indian Reservation and a landscape that they once defined. This short film show their return after a 130 year absence and the significance it has for the Shoshone and the rest of America.

2018 • USA • 2 min • Finn Ryan

Filmmaker in Attendance

A winter portrait of the Yahara Watershed and trail for upcoming film examining the history and environmental challenges of one of the best studies watersheds in the world.

2017 • USA • 11 min • Ile Mitaru

In 2011, Russia’s largest meat producer, Miratorg, began recruiting American cowboys to help restart a national beef industry that had been destroyed during the Soviet era. Follow four of these American cowboys as they attempt to train their Russian counterparts and create new lives for themselves and their families in this new unexpected Russian frontier.

2016 • United Kingdom • 2 min • Jiaqi Wang

Adult Content

The World Naked Bike Ride is a global protest where people cycle naked through cities. The ride is a celebration of bikes and bodies, a protest against oil dependency and a demonstration of cyclists’ vulnerability. All scripts are based on true people and true stories.

2016 • USA • 5 min • Stefan Hunt

A young surfer helps kids get clean water.

2017 • USA • 3 min • Paxson Woelber

Filmed in south-central and southeast Alaska over the course of two winters, “Wild Ice” features members of Alaska’s backcountry skating community including nordic bladers, hockey players, and figure skaters as they hunt for wild ice on rivers, lakes, or glacial lagoons, or in caves.

2017 • Canada • 5 min • Kelsey Thompson

SUP surfers Emre Bost and Glen Pearson discuss the experience of living and surfing in Tofino, British Columbia.

2017 • USA • 3 min • Riley Hooper

Blind and afraid of water, Vivian Stancil learned to swim at 48. “I heard that blind people can’t swim,” Stancil says, followed by: “Oh, yes they can!” Two hundred and twenty-one medals later, at half her former body weight, Stencil is still at it.

2018 • USA • 6 min • Brenda Piekarski

Filmmaker in Attendance

In 2017, Jay Gustafson launched Paddle for Progress, a two-year, 4,300-mile personal journey in response to Governor Dayton’s call for water action. Jay’s mission to reconnect humanity with one of our most precious resources took him to the most remote and least visited corners of Minnesota, as well as through nearly every major community in the state. Alone in the wilderness, Jay reminds us how we are all linked to water, one of the most powerful elements on earth that is in a constant state of danger. His passion for paddling and call to something greater than himself leads us down water trails into our own spirit’s journey and connection with the earth. Waterway Jay is the story of this one man’s journey to save water, and how we are connected to it all.

2017 • USA • 22 min • Michael Premo

Adult Content

In 2013, Texas-based SWN Resources arrived in New Brunswick, Canada to explore for natural gas. In response, a multicultural group of unlikely warriors–including members of the Mi’kmaq Elsipogtog First Nation, French-speaking Acadians and white, English-speaking families–set up a series of road blockades, preventing exploration. After months of resistance, their efforts not only halted drilling; they elected a new government and won an indefinite moratorium on fracking in the province. Water Warriors is the story of a community’s successful fight to protect their water from the oil and natural gas industry.

2018 • USA • 4 min • Mark Knight

Take a four-minute journey to some of the planet’s most spectacular glaciers, waterfalls, beaches, rivers and waterways. Destinations include, Iceland, Igauzu Falls Brazil, Atchafalaya Basin Louisiana, Lake Tahoe California, Black Canyon of the Gunnison Colorado, and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

2018 • USA • 9 min • Andrew Wyton

In the film, the world’s freshwater supply has become too toxic to support mass human life. A lone survivor is mystically transported back in time to the present day, where he and his surf pals were still able to enjoy the greatness of the lakes before the toxifying effects of agricultural and industrial pollution reached a tipping point.

2018 • USA • 1 min • John Berry

Filmmaker in Attendance

This was shot in about an hour! I was camping near the dunes, and spent the afternoon hiking and exploring the sand dunes that overlook Lake Michigan. I also created the music for this piece.

2018 • USA • 3 min • Layne Johnston

Filmmaker in Attendance

A day in the life of a 9 year old. A brief reminder of how simple life is as a kid and a reminder of where our thirst to explore the world begins.

2018 • USA • 3 min • Ben Cole

A brief escape from life at school in lower Michigan to the backcountry paradise and powder pockets of Mount Bohemia in the Kewennaw Peninsula. A short edit put together from our weekend spent ripping around in the trees and tossing ourselves off a few cliffs. Skiers - Matt Eckel, Mikey Knoth, Ben Cole

2017 • USA • 3 min • Grant Piering

Filmmaker in Attendance

It’s not the places you go, the fancy equipment you bring along or the people you try to impress through social media that make a trip special. Rather, the ones you go with are what really matter.

2017 • France • 10 min • Guillaume Broust

If dirtbag dreams could come true, climbers would send routes all day and never pay dues on the other end of the rope. This dream has been realized by a handful of climbers, thanks to belay sensei Ray Verseau. Verseau has been dubbed the world’s best belayer, leaving climbers everywhere with one burning question: how can we find him?

2017 • USA • 6 min • Will Stauffer-Norris

Unsung environmental hero Jimmy Carter grew up inspired by nature’s wonder. But not until he first paddled the Chattooga River did he understand the true power of wild rivers. To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, President Carter urges all Americans to protect our rivers.

2017 • Canada & USA • 23 min • Jacob Wise

Vancouver Island is home to some of the largest areas of old-growth forests on the planet. This is the story of ancient, biodiverse forests and the indigenous people who live among them, a system being mismanaged closer and closer to extinction.

2016 • USA • 29 min • Tucker Marder

Adult Content

A poor and uneducated nurseryman from Northern Michigan is sent back from heaven with the mission to save the world from global warming by cloning the world’s oldest and largest trees.

2017 • USA • 5 min • Tim Roberts

If you’ve spent time skiing around the Utah’s Wasatch Front, you’ve probably seen or shared a chair with Burke Weir. A local at Alta, Brighton, Snowbird, and Solitude, Burke and his blades are a well-known fixture on the hill. His love for skiing is unparalleled.

2017 • USA • 17 min • Daniel Sherer

Filmmaker in Attendance

Amid a snow-covered Nordic landscape, a portal on the side of a frosty mountain leads to a long, dark tunnel and then a frozen door. Behind that door: the history of agriculture — of cultivation, selection and environmental symbioses— as told by more than 880,000 seeds. This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the largest collection of seeds in the world and a safeguard against loss of diversity, insurance that human agriculture can adapt and continue to feed the world. This film follows world-renowned scientist Cary Fowler as he delves into the state of agriculture, co-evolution, extinction and the future of our food supply.

2016 • South Africa • 5 min • James Suter

Black Mamba is a documentary about young, fearless women working in the anti-poaching unit who go out in the bush everyday — weaponless — to patrol and protect wildlife. These courageous women have inspired many through raising awareness of poaching by visiting 668 learners, educating the youth and providing jobs.

2018 • USA • 14 min • Michelle Smith

Jacques “The Frenchy” Houot is a Colorado icon. He is an 82-year-old badass athlete who gets after it non-stop on skis, mountain bike, and the cyclocross race circuit. He inspires us with his contagious love of life, epic tales of survival, ability to counter aging though laughter, and his impace on the community over decades.

2018 • USA • 16 min • Jason Whalen

Filmmaker in Attendance

A film about the spring songbird migration through the Great Lakes region and the people who interact with them. From research to rehab, it takes a lot to understand and conserve this natural phenomenon.