2023 • USA • 16 min • Danami-Maurice

Filmmaker in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

In ‘Belonging,’ follow Dalorian, a student in the college course GCST 1970, as he embarks on a journey through nature-based education and environmental justice. Exploring serene Minnesota lakes and the Bois Forte Museum, he and his classmates confront a profound question: What does it mean to belong in nature? This film weaves raw, poetic visuals with deep reflections on identity and community, highlighting their transformative experience in understanding their connection to the natural world.

2024 • United States • 11 min • Brody Kuhar

Michigan Premiere

In 2021, a tragic car accident left Veranique (or V, as she’s known at Rox) paralyzed from the waist down. After a long stint in the hospital and multiple surgeries, doctors told Varanique she would never walk again. While this news would reshape her life, it wouldn’t alter her vibrant spirit. Veranique knew the key to living a full life rested in her mindset. In 2022, V set out to find a job, landing at Memphis Rox, a climbing gym in South Memphis. Witnessing climbing for the first time, she thought the gym would keep her behind the front desk — that she couldn’t participate in the sport. Until she did. Surrounded by community, Veranique is now a regular climber with a philosophy on and off the wall that the sky’s the limit.

2024 • USA • 17 min • Chris Cresci

Subject in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

Set against the backdrop of Desolation Canyon, UT, Mikah Meyer, a world-record traveler and LGBTQ+ advocate, reflects with three close friends and his mentor, Larry Edwards, on their stories and the power of mentorship within the queer community. As a child, Mikah believed he could never have a successful life AND be publicly out and gay. When he moved to college and met Larry, his openly gay choir professor, a lifelong mentorship was born. Amidst conversations and joy along the river, we understand the power and importance of their friendship. As Larry enters what he calls the ‘final chapter’ of his life, he reflects on the lifelong fight for openness and vulnerability within the queer community, and through the desolation of nature, finds contentment in a job well done.

2024 • USA • 27 min • Isaac Seigel-Boettner

Has Subtitles, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

This is a story about the power of feeling wind in your hair, no matter where you are on life’s journey. John is a retired school teacher who uses his pedal-powered rickshaw to give adventures to people who have lost the ability to get outside themselves. Through the intimate moments of these rides, _Cycling Without Age _explores the importance of the outdoors for those who are all too often trapped inside.

2024 • USA • 6 min • Mike Schwartz

Family Friendly, First Time Filmmaker, Staff Pick

“Elladj" follows the remarkable journey of Elladj Balde, a Canadian figure skater whom found his voice and fan base through wild ice skating. The film centers on the transformative power of embracing one’s passion over measurable results.

2024 • USA • 17 min • Palmer Morse

Michigan Premiere, Filmmaker in Attendance

While navigating a myriad of life challenges, Anjelica Avella turned to the outdoors to improve her mental health only to discover a noticeable lack of other plus-size women of color on trail. By posting a simple flyer looking for more women to hike with, Anjelica created a community she never could have imagined.

2022 • United States • 13 min • Allison Doxey

Family Friendly, First Time Filmmaker

The story of Know Obstacles, a band made up of disabled kids in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and their founder, Steve Osburn.

2024 • USA • 4 min • Eden Sabalboro

Family Friendly

Step into the US’s largest urban sugarbush in Detroit’s sprawling Rouge Park with the Detroit Sugarbush Project.

2023 • USA • 14 min • Sergio M. Rapu

Michigan Premiere, Subject in Attendance, Staff Pick

Ojibwe artist Jonathan Thunder explores the mythic inspirations of his surrealist work.

2024 • Canada • 11 min • Graeme Meiklejohn

Michigan Premiere

Dan Craven, or Dan from Nam, as he was known during his professional road racing career, had for years dreamt of starting his own handmade bike brand at home in Namibia. He had travelled the world for riding and racing bikes, but he knew that to find the best builders, returning home to Namibia would make the most sense. When it comes to using their hands, Namibian skill sets are highly developed so that, whether it’s in the arts like sculpture or pottery or in the trades like mechanics and builders, their dexterity, precision and attention to detail are invaluable.

2024 • USA • 31 min • Dominic & Nadia Gill

Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere, Staff Pick

In 1971 John Francis, known the world over as ‘Planetwalker,’ witnessed an oil tanker collision in the San Francisco Bay. The sight of oiled birds on the shoreline caused him to give up motorized transport and rely solely on his own two feet. Months after that he took a vow of silence convinced that listening rather than adding fuel to any fire was the way ahead.
 
He didn’t talk, but he kept on walking clear across the country and back again. During the next seventeen silent years he listened and studied the world around him.

2023 • USA • 32 min • John Curtis

Filmmaker in Attendance, Representative in Attendance

Six elementary school girls fly to an island in the middle of Lake Michigan to test their fly fishing skill. The girls are members of a school sponsored Adventure Club that focuses on building community, belonging, and leadership skills to change the narrative of what girls can and can not do. During the two day trip the girls discuss the pressures of growing up in a digital world and the need for nature based connections like fly fishing.

2024 • USA • 7 min • Justin Deegan

Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere

An artistic celebration of the environmental activism of Darline Deegan and her efforts to protect the land of her Indigenous community.

2023 • Canada • 22 min • Nadia Louis-Desmarchais

Michigan Premiere, Family Friendly, Has Subtitles

Currently, post pandemic, one in two young people show symptoms of anxiety and depression. The World is ours  is a film that gives the opportunity to six Montreal teenage girls to leave their urban environment for the first time to take part in a nature canoe-camping expedition.

2024 • USA • 12 min • Palmer Morse, Matt Mikkelsen

Filmmaker in Attendance, Michigan Premiere, Family Friendly

An Unangax scientist, delves into her vital research concerning toxic algal blooms affecting filter feeding shellfish—a staple Indigenous food for her people, illuminates the profound connection between the Unangax people and their environment, showcasing the resilience and resourcefulness of a culture in the face of unprecedented challenges.

2023 • USA • 14 min • Rishi Sethi

Filmmaker in Attendance, Subject in Attendance, Family Friendly, Michigan Premiere

Watermarks shows how one person’s dedication and passion for paddling, river surfing, filmmaking, and conservation can have a ripple effect, inspiring others to take action and make a difference in their communities.  The story is centered on a program called First Waves, which provides under-resourced youth with the chance to enjoy and protect their local waterways. 

2023 • Canada • 3 min • William Binamé

Family Friendly

Melissa Arnott from Indigenous Women Outdoors, in Squamish, British Columbia, recites how spending more time on the land and starting a trail running program helped her reconnect with mother earth (niimaamaa aki) and her Anishinaabe culture.

2024 • USA • 20 min • Nkaujoua Xiong

Filmmaker in Attendance, Has Subtitles, Subject in Attendance, Staff Pick

At the age of 13, my father left his homeland, Laos, to seek a brighter future in the United States. Throughout the years, he devoted himself to supporting his family, seldom sharing the details of his past. This film intimately explores the experiences that shaped my father’s understanding of love.