In 1963, Illinois naturalist May Watts, inspired by walking paths she鈥檇 seen in Britain, wrote a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune, suggesting converting a stretch of abandoned railroad into a public trail. Her idea caught fire among the newspaper鈥檚 readers, inspiring the opening of the Illinois Prairie Path in the Chicago suburbs a few years later.

A new, hour-long documentary now airing on public television tells the story of how Watts鈥� simple idea ultimately led to the creation of more than 26,000 miles of rail-trails across the country.

From Rails to Trails is based on a book by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) co-founder Peter Harnik. A nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., RTC works with communities to preserve unused rail corridors. The book, and now film, chronicles the 60-year, sometimes rocky movement to create the still-expanding network of car-free paths.

As proponents of the movement point out today, railroad corridors are generally flat, with only slight grades, because they were built to accommodate trains. Many railroad corridors today are no longer used by trains, and those in support of the idea are hoping to give these paths new life.听Trails give people a place to connect with nature and get a little exercise, and communities don鈥檛 have to start from scratch to build them if they put them on existing corridors.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e recycling a resource that the railroads and others have invested a tremendous amount in,鈥� Harnik tells 国产吃瓜黑料.

Nationwide, trains were chugging along on about 254,000 miles of tracks in 1916, at the peak of the railroad’s influence. But by the 1970s and early 1980s, large swathes of tracks had been abandoned, due to the decline of industries that depended on them and the construction of the interstate highway system.

Today, trains still operate on about 137,000 miles of rail corridor. Of the 117,000 abandoned miles, roughly half were lost to development and other uses before the creation of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in 1986. About 26,000 miles of the remainder have been (or are being) converted to rail trails.

As they worked to convert rail lines for new uses, activists learned that finding out when a railroad company would abandon tracks was their biggest challenge. Typically, that happened quickly,听leaving municipalities little time to evaluate whether defunct tracks would make a good trail. Through legal work, the conservancy slowed down that process. Today, communities are notified in advance, giving them more time to raise money for trails.

鈥淭rails aren鈥檛 super expensive, but you have to take out tracks, take out ties, smooth out the corridor, and put down an asphalt or crushed rock surface,鈥� Harnik says. 鈥淭hat costs money.鈥�

The documentary touches on other challenges as well.听 Sometimes, landowners fought against trails through their private property. Two of these landowners were interviewed in the documentary including one who moved away because he didn鈥檛 want to live next to a trail.听 While there’s still possibility for property disputes, the film explains how 鈥渞ailbanking鈥� legislation passed by Congress in 1983 allowed communities to use abandoned railroad corridors as trails while preserving them for potential future train use.

From Rails to Trails听highlights some of the country鈥檚 best-known rail-trails, including the High Line in New York City, a mile-and-a-half-long stretch of elevated railroad corridor once slated for demolition that鈥檚 now a linear park where people stroll among gardens and public art.

Also mentioned are the bustling Atlanta Beltline, conceived by a graduate student and once maligned as a taxpayer boondoggle, and the West Rail Trail in Brownsville, Texas, where a grassroots community effort stopped an abandoned railway from becoming a toll road.

Trails, Harnik says, provide economic value in rural areas and ease congestion in urban areas. For example, the Great Allegheny Passage runs for 150 miles through economically depressed areas between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

鈥淣ow that this railroad track has been converted into a听trail, that鈥檚 a beautiful trip through the mountains that almost anyone can do because of the even grade鈥攁nd the small towns have come back to life,鈥� Harnik says. 鈥淧eople have converted barns and homes into bed and breakfasts and restaurants barely eking by have come back into profitability. The whole area is feeling a rejuvenation.鈥�

And riding or walking the trails gives users more than a stretch of gravel or asphalt to explore. These outdoor escapes听offer a chance to learn the history of corridors where trains carrying freight, cattle, mail, and passengers once ran.

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e bicycling along at 15 miles per hour, you can almost hear the train whistle, and alongside the trails you can see leftover artifacts from the railroad industry,鈥� Harnik says.

Noteworthy figures such as former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Vermont Governor Howard Dean are interviewed in the film, shedding light on how Burlington鈥檚 Island Line Trail became the subject of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case. Dan Protess directed and produced the film.

Actor Edward Norton, whose father was involved in the early days of the Rails to Trails movement, grew up hiking and biking along many of the rail-trails. He also served on the board of the High Line.

鈥淚t reminds us of what tenacious citizen activism can accomplish,鈥� Norton says. 鈥淎ll good ideas seem half-baked and unrealistic at first, 听but, as my grandfather used to say, 鈥榃hat ought to be, can be 鈥� with听the will to make it happen.鈥欌��

Harnik says he hopes the film will inspire people who don鈥檛 automatically jump out of bed to go for a bike ride or a walk to explore area trails鈥攐r advocate for future routes.

鈥淧art of the reason I wrote the book (upon which the documentary is based) was to encourage people to look for abandoned tracks wherever they live, so we could see how many are available and what condition they鈥檙e in,鈥� says Harnik, who has explored more than 200 rail-trails in 45 states.

That could add momentum to an effort to complete a halfway-finished multi-state route, dubbed the Great American Rail-Trail, which would connect 3,700 miles of existing rail-trails into a route that spans the country, from Washington D.C. to Washington State.

鈥淪o many people have now experienced rail-trails,鈥� Harnik says. 鈥淭hey go home and say, 鈥榃e could do that here.鈥欌��

To see the documentary 鈥淔rom Rails to Trails,鈥� check local PBS listings or click here to it.听

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Ben Masters and his team spent 80 days at the edge of the Vermillion Cliffs in Arizona, their cameras trained on a condor nest as they waited to capture footage of a chick taking its first flight.

Instead, they caught the moment when the gawky bald bird slipped, then tumbled hundreds of feet off the sheer rock face. The bird survived, and clips of its day-and-a-half struggle to climb back to its nest mark one of the most riveting scenes in听The American Southwest,鈥� the fourth feature-length wildlife documentary produced by Masters and Fin and听Fur Films.

The documentary traces the green ribbon of the Colorado River nearly 1,500 miles as it flows through forests and canyons near its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains and into the diversion tunnels and irrigation canals of Southern California before vanishing onto a sunbaked stretch of dried mud in Mexico.

The 107-minute film includes plenty of how鈥檇-they-get-that-shot moments, from a cutthroat trout leaping from the river to gulp a giant salmonfly to a beaver looking expectantly up at a tree it鈥檚 been chewing on just as it teeters over. But beyond the captivating images of wildlife lies a deeper message鈥�humans are bleeding the Colorado River dry.

The river, the most litigated in the world, supported about 2 million people in 1900. Today 40 million rely on it as their main water source.

Masters teamed with , a non-profit organization that works to restore and protect wild rivers, to create the documentary, and its call to action. The film opens in theaters around the Southwest U.S. on September 5.

The documentary highlights charismatic animals and behavior from each ecosystem along the river鈥檚 pathway. 鈥淚t鈥檚 told from the perspective of the land and the wildlife,鈥� Masters tells 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淎nd it’s an objective look at our society鈥檚 relationship with the world.鈥�

The film features footage of bugling elk, shape-shifting giant salmon caddisflies, which look like something from a horror show as they crack out of their exoskeletons, and water-hoarding saguaro cactus鈥攁s well as a family of charmingly industrious beavers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 cool watching (the beavers) chop down trees, but it鈥檚 a lot more than a cute animal doing something interesting,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese animals are providing an invaluable service throughout these wetlands by slowing down water and purifying water.鈥�

Getting the footage took time鈥攖hree years in all.

鈥淭here鈥檚 lots of pre-production planning and understanding species and developing relationships with biologists to get those scenes,鈥� Masters says. 鈥淭hen you just never know what nature鈥檚 going to throw at you.鈥�

Quannah ChasingHorse Lends Her Voice

The film鈥檚 narrator, Indigenous model and activist Quannah ChasingHorse (featured on 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 September/October 2023 cover), adds the voice of the Indigenous people who have long lived along the Colorado River. She was born in Arizona and raised on Navajo Nation land in Arizona and Alaska.

鈥淭oo often in nature films and documentaries, Indigenous people are excluded, even though we have lived in, stewarded, and fought to protect these lands for generations,鈥� ChasingHorse said in a prepared statement.

Masters, who grew up in Amarillo, Texas, where he hunted and worked as a ranch hand and oil field worker before earning a degree in wildlife biology from Texas A&M University, made his first full-length film, Unbranded,听in 2015. It followed the adventures of Masters and three friends as they adopted, trained, and rode a string of wild mustangs from Mexico to Canada.

Next, Masters and four others hiked, rode, pedaled and paddled along the Texas-Mexico border to film The River and the Wall, which examined the potential impact of a border wall on the region鈥檚 wildlife and humans. Most recently, Masters produced ,听narrated by Matthew McConaughey, which highlights the wildlife of Texas, from black bears and mountain lions to whale sharks and bison.

The Colorado River Plan Is Up for Renegotiation

Masters timed the release of The American Southwestto raise awareness about the upcoming renegotiation of Colorado River鈥檚 management plan in 2026. The plan was last updated 20 years ago, and today the river鈥檚 water is over-allocated and it runs dry before it reaches the Gulf of California.

鈥淭here鈥檚 more paper water than wet water,鈥� Masters says. 鈥淪tates have to try to figure out how to progress into the future, so water management is decided cordially among states instead of in the courts.鈥�

Today, about 25 percent of the Colorado River basin鈥檚 water feeds California鈥檚 Imperial Valley, where farmers use it to irrigate crops, including water-hogging alfalfa.听鈥淎 third of that alfalfa is shipped overseas to feed livestock in foreign countries,鈥� Masters says. 鈥淚s that the greatest use of water? In my opinion no, it鈥檚 not.鈥�

The film ends with a glimpse of a tiny portion of river delta that remains where the river runs out in Mexico. In the scene, huge flocks of birds soar over a lush landscape. It鈥檚 a reminder, Masters says, of how the entire delta once looked鈥攁nd how it could look again if the river was better managed.

鈥淲e want to influence negotiation so there鈥檚 a greater value on nature-based solutions. It鈥檚 bullshit to drain the river dry,鈥� he says.

A Love Letter鈥攁nd a Plea

Masters, 37, says he wanted to make the documentary because of the impact the American Southwest has had on him. He calls it a 鈥渓ove letter to the landscapes and wildlife that shaped him.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e just been in love with landscapes of the Southwest for my whole life,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hose landscapes and public lands, the big vast unfenced freedom that still exists, have shaped my values and my land ethic and I wanted to give back,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is my attempt at inspiring people to conserve the landscape and wildlife of the southwest.鈥�

The credits include a QR code that links to the , where Masters says he hopes viewers will send a message to their political representatives that we need better management of the river.

鈥淚t is not OK to use the river and exhaust it so completely that it literally goes dry,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 insane that we continue to manage the river like it’s 1922, when the management plan was devised. There needs to be a vast update that reflects the reality of the water crisis we鈥檙e facing.鈥�

It鈥檚 also important to recognize there鈥檚 not a shortage of water in the Southwest, Masters says.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much water that hundreds of acres of acre feet are exported in the form of alfalfa that鈥檚 shipped overseas. And if there鈥檚 enough water to export overseas, there鈥檚 for damn sure enough water to give to the river to provide for wildlife, habitat and economies that rely on the river, and for ourselves to enjoy through recreation.鈥�

Masters, who lives in Austin with his wife and two young children, is already working on his next project鈥� a river-focused sequel to 鈥淒eep in the Heart,鈥� due in theaters in fall 2026.

鈥淚 was born in Texas. This is my home, and I had the duty to tell the story of its wildlife and its rivers,鈥� he says. 鈥淭exas is also changing so rapidly that a lot of species and landscapes we鈥檙e filming may be forever developed or extirpated. I wanted to capture those images so my children can see what it looked like before it was developed.鈥�

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Ocean Ramsey spends more time with sharks than most people spend with their coworkers. For more than 25 years, she鈥檚 been studying, swimming with, and advocating for sharks鈥攃reatures she calls 鈥渨ildlife, not monsters.鈥�

Her high-visibility free dives with great whites have earned her the moniker Shark Whisperer, the title of a new Netflix film from the Academy Award-winning director of My Octopus Teacher, James Reed. Premiering June 30, the provocative documentary makes clear the soft-spoken Hawaiian marine conservationist doesn’t let her critics distract her from her mission: to use her voice and platform for shark conservation, not demonization.

Watch an exclusive clip of Shark Whisperer below.听

Ramsey鈥檚 social media following over 2 million across and features up-close encounters with dozens of different shark species (including 20-foot-long great whites), as well as frequent calls for policy changes to help promote shark protections around the world.

鈥淧eople look first and listen second,鈥� Ramsey tells 国产吃瓜黑料 about using her social media to challenge听our perceptions of sharks. Ramsey’s peaceful shark encounters caught on film go against Hollywood’s demonization of sharks and unwind our cultural frenzy that these creatures are to be feared.

Shark Whisperer doesn’t shy away from the controversy these close interactions also stir. Ramsey gets incredibly close to the animals while freediving, sometimes touching them. While Ramsey says these moments challenge negative perceptions of sharks and raise awareness about their importance in marine ecosystems, some in the scientific community say that type of interaction stresses the animals, alters their natural behavior, and sets a poor example for the public. On the other hand, world-renowned marine biologist Sylvia Earle, “our era’s Jacques Cousteau,” advocates for Ramsey in the film (and in the above video clip), applauding her fearless efforts to change the public perception of sharks.

Outside caught up with Ramsey to talk about the criticism, the dangers of getting too close, and how she hopes Shark Whisperer will shift how we view the ocean’s top predator.

OUTSIDE: How do you hope the encounters you share with the world changes public perception of sharks?

Ocean Ramsey: I’m really hoping that it’ll shift the Hollywood fictitious portrayal of sharks as mindless monsters into the reality that we can coexist. We need to learn to adapt to their behavior. Because the reality is there are over 100 million sharks being killed every year for wasteful things like shark finning for shark and soup, shark fishing, shark culling. And deep sea sharks being killed for the pharmaceutical and souvenir and cosmetic trade.

I hope to inspire people to get involved in marine conservation because we really need more people speaking up for those without a voice. A lot of people don’t go diving; they don’t get to see the amazing underwater world. Maybe they don’t feel a connection. I hope that with this film we can show the reality and the beauty and the importance [of sharks].

Your activism can be polarizing. On one hand, you鈥檝e contributed to passing protective shark regulations. On the other hand, people sometimes get heated when they see your close interactions with sharks. What do you have to say to critics who say your media is more about spectacle than science?

I think it is undeniable by this point that we’ve been able to help pass laws because we’ve been able to bring millions of people to the table. But I understand that there’s always going to be critics. The way that I handle it is staying focused on my mission. Who really deserves my time? The sharks.

I do also try to look for gratitude in moments like that as well. I have noticed in the past that while this isn鈥檛 their goal, [the critics have] actually brought more attention to the subjects, and that can be a really good thing to keep sharks in the news.

You spent six years advocating to make shark fishing illegal in Hawaii, which was ultimately adopted in 2021 and went into effect in 2022. Tell me more about the role you and your platform played in passing that ban.听

Since we have built this online social media presence, we can reach potentially millions of people a day. By utilizing our social media platforms, when we do a call to action during the legislative process, we have a little bit more educated of an audience, and people who are more willing to speak up, lend their voice, send in a听 letter, write to a politician.

And then for people that are on the Island, we put out other calls to action; filming ourselves going down to the capitol and saying , 鈥淧lease come join us. You can do this too.鈥� I know that for some people, it could be nerve-wracking to go and sit in front of a committee and testify again and again and again, as we did year after year after year. And a lot of times for these committee schedules, you get like two days’ notice, and so we had to drop everything and drive across the Island to go into the capitol.

The nice thing was, year after year after year, we fine-tuned our approach, we made more connections and we gained more support. There’s people that come there and they’re not necessarily even caring about sharks鈥� they care about corals and turtles and dolphins. But protecting sharks helps the whole ecosystem. We got those people on board, too.

Let鈥檚 talk about warning signs when you鈥檙e diving with sharks. How do you know when to call it and get out of the water? What are the signs to you that the shark doesn’t want an interaction right now?

It’s called agonistic, territorial body language. If you’ve got two cats, when they come together maybe they don’t like each other and they need to sort out their social hierarchy. They arch their back. When you have two dogs who might be territorial, maybe they smell each other first, then maybe they flatten their ears back, they lower their tails, they may bear their teeth.

Because of domestication, most people are more attuned to cat behavior, dog behavior, bird behavior. But it’s the same thing in the water with sharks and my team, because I train [the team] them to notice this. There are subtle, small behaviors, and you can see the way that they’re interacting with one another, and that’s precursory behavior towards a physical confrontation.

Now this doesn’t mean that we don’t occasionally get a wild card. A wild card is a shark that randomly swims in, from out of your field of vision. Maybe they’re moving from one aggregate site to another. Maybe it’s a highly migratory species. And they might be a very dominant individual, and they might come right up to you. And so with this [shark] approach, I train people on redirection methods and techniques, which doesn’t harm the shark. It’s just a gentle redirection off the side of them.

But most of the time, 99% of the time, the sharks don’t really care that you’re around, if you’re being quiet, if you’re not wearing bright, flashy, colorful things. If you’re looking around and any of them start to swim towards and you acknowledge them, they’re going to treat you a little bit more like a predator.

Again, not trying to encourage anyone to just jump in. Please go under the guidance of a trained professional who are very sensitive to their body language, to their swim patterns.

What policy efforts are most urgent for protecting sharks right now? What can people do?

The EU shark fin ban is currently under the environmental assessment, so stay tuned for when that’s going to be back open to public comment. At that time, it would be great if people could re-engage in that one, because that’s the entire European Union, and Europe is responsible for with Spain being the top exporter to Hong Kong.

And then if people could also potentially try to reach these companies that are still shipping shark fins. The U.S. removed themselves from the global fin trade, but there’s still a lot of companies out there on the global market, including FedEx, that are still shipping shark fins. And there’s a lot of companies who have banned it, and a lot of airlines who have banned it. It’s just that we haven’t gotten all of them on board yet.

And for the U.S., I would say banning shark fishing should be like the next really big one, because states like New York, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida and Texas, are still running shark fishing tournaments and doing recreational shark fishing.

So if anyone reading this is from those states, if you could talk to your legislators and send them a letter letting them know that this is important to you, and to rally your communities. If you’re from those areas, politicians are more likely to listen to you. But we can all help, collaborate and support each other.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Visit for information about ongoing advocacy campaigns.听

鈥淪hark Whisperer鈥� premieres on June 30, exclusively on Netflix.听

The post New Netflix Doc 鈥淪hark Whisperer鈥� Dives Into Ocean Ramsey鈥檚 Controversial Activism appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Sailors have been known for telling tall tales. So when Terry Kennedy, a now 83-year-old sailor, would talk about swimming with his friend off Mexico鈥檚 remote Revillagigedo Islands in the late 1980s, it鈥檚 understandable why some questioned if it was all true. The charismatic friend he was always going on about was, after all, a 22-foot giant manta ray.

This extraordinary bond between man and manta is the focus behind the new film , premiering at Tribeca Film Festival on June 8th, World Oceans Day. If The Octopus Teacher could change the way the world sees cephalopods, this film will surely move you to care more deeply about mantas. The documentary follows Kennedy on a final expedition, a 鈥渄ying wish,鈥� to swim with his friend Willy one last time.

An ex-Hells Angel and Vietnam vet sailing Baja鈥檚 Sea of Cortez on a boat named Erotica in the 80s, Kennedy is a local legend with no shortage of stories. But the one that forever changed his life鈥攁nd the lives of the Pacific manta rays in these Mexican waters鈥攚as how he became friends with 鈥淲illy Wow.鈥�

It all began one morning in 1988, when Kennedy was on his sailboat off San Benedicto, a tiny uninhabited volcanic island in the Revillagigedo Islands chain, 210 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

鈥淎ll of a sudden, there’s a big old bang on the side of the boat. The boat actually moves about a foot in one direction. I thought we got hit by another boat, but looking around we were the only ones in the [area],鈥� Kennedy shared with 国产吃瓜黑料.

鈥淚 look over the side and here’s this giant manta ray half the length of the boat. And the boat’s 46 feet long. Well, I can’t pass this up,鈥� he recalled. An expert diver who鈥檚 clocked more than 14,000 dives, Kennedy has taken a lot of chances in his life. At this point, he had only seen a massive ray in the distance; he had never been in the water with one before. Not wasting a moment, Kennedy grabbed his tank and his fins, and jumped over the side. But once in the water, saw the ray was gone.

鈥淗e just vanished. As I looked down to make sure I had my fins on, there he was right below me, about four feet down. Nothing but massive black coming up right underneath me. There’s nothing I could do鈥ut hang on.鈥�

And off they went. Kennedy says he hung on, gently, to the back of this gigantic manta ray while it took him for a ride. 鈥淎fter about 15- 20 minutes, he brought me right back to the boat. And then he did the same thing the very next morning.鈥�

So began a nearly 20-year-long friendship between Kennedy and Willy, his name for his new friend (鈥淲illy Wow鈥� being his full name). 鈥淲henever he’s feeding on the south end of the island, he recognizes the bottom of the boat,鈥� Kennedy believes. With a gentle slap of his wing on the hull of the boat, Willy signals him to come take another dive.

An Unlikely Conservationist

Some of you reading this are likely thinking no one should be touching鈥攁nd especially riding鈥攁 . But these encounters happened over 37 years ago, when little was known about the lives of manta rays, even by marine biologists.

Since no one believed Kennedy鈥檚 encounters of riding a magical manta, he started to film them. From then on, when he talked about Willy, he’d be able to prove that these incredible moments happened by pictures and video. It was also Kennedy鈥檚 quick camera skills that documented what would become a catalyst to protect these same mantas.

On February 14, 1994, fishermen aboard two Mexican boats moved into the waters around San Benedicto Island with nets, baited hooks and harpoons seeking to catch and kill anything they could鈥攊ncluding Kennedy鈥檚 friends, two other giant manta rays he swam with other than Willy. Mexican law prohibited commercial fishermen from fishing within two miles of Revillagigedo Islands; these fishermen were only 200 yards from shore.

As eyewitnesses, Kennedy and his then partner, Joyce Clinton, were horrified yet managed to document on video and camera what later would be called . What they captured on camera attracted international news, and the swift attention of the Mexican president to intervene and soon after declare the Revillagigedo Islands a Biosphere Reserve, which increased the no-take zone to 12 miles around each island.

In 2016, UNESCO declared the islands a World Heritage Site, and in 2017,听 it become the largest marine protected area in North America. These islands are now known as the 鈥�,鈥� and home to one the largest aggregations of manta rays, and sharks, in the world.

The Last Chance to Find Willy

Kennedy鈥檚 incredible encounters with manta rays defied everything that was known about ocean life at the time, and changed irrevocably our understanding of mantas. After , founder and director of the and one of the leading authorities on the species, saw the sailor鈥檚 footage, he secured funding for one of the first major manta ray research projects. This work led to an entire field of manta research that tracks over a thousand individual mantas at these islands. The affectionate names Kennedy gave to his manta friends in addition to Willy鈥擱osy, Chevy, Tippy鈥攕cientists still use today.

Kennedy鈥檚 bond with Willy goes beyond research, suggests The Last Dive director Cody Sheehy: 鈥淲illy wasn鈥檛 just tolerating Terry鈥攈e was engaging with him, leading him through underwater canyons, protecting him from sharks, or just playing.鈥�

Terry Kennedy and his wife Dawn, watch the sunrise before the last dive. (Photo: Chance Falkner)

For nearly two decades, Willy always found Kennedy, who would then climb onto his back and the two would communicate on a level no one else could understand. Willy could read his mind, Kennedy believes鈥攚hat Dr Rubin says 鈥渋sn鈥檛 an unreasonable thought.鈥� Rubin鈥檚 research suggests that manta rays can identify us by the unique signature of our bioelectric field.

It was another chance encounter that brought Kennedy鈥檚 friendship with Willy to the big screen. Sheehy, a sailor as well, met Kennedy while he was anchored off Loreto, a coastal town on Baja California Sur, nine years ago. One evening over sundowners, Kennedy鈥檚 stories started to flow. 鈥淚t became clear that this man wasn鈥檛 just another cruiser鈥攈e had lived a life most people couldn鈥檛 even dream of,鈥� states the filmmaker.

Sheehy, admittedly, was also a bit skeptical at first of Kennedy鈥檚 stories about Willy鈥攗ntil he saw the footage. 鈥淲hen I found out about the massacre, and the role that Terry played in bringing attention to it, especially at the level of the Mexican president and the protections that came from it, that’s when I realized this is a great human story, a story of redemption.鈥�

鈥淭he reason why the mantas are still there is because of [Terry]. It just shows what one person can do,鈥� says the director. 鈥淭hink of what else people will be inspired to do [after watching the film].鈥�

As Kennedy aged, his life moved to land. Now in his 80s trips to the islands are more challenging, and maintaining a boat that can make the journey is expensive and tiring. So Sheehy saw a way he could take Kennedy back home to see his long lost friend. The last recorded Willy sighting was in 2012, and giant manta rays have been reported to . So it鈥檚 not unreasonable to think Willy could still be around. Kennedy hasn鈥檛 stopped thinking about Willy in all these years; he worries his old friend thinks he forgot about him.

Kennedy had a troubled past, but none of that mattered under the surface. He not only found redemption in the ocean, but healing. Blue therapy is a growing body of research that shows time in or near water reduces stress, anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD. Scuba diving, in particular, has proved transformative .

How to Swim With Mantas鈥擡thically

While Kennedy was the first known person to ride a manta, it鈥檚 now considered harmful and extremely discouraged. But the close connection Kennedy made with Willy and all the footage he captured proved there is so much we don鈥檛 know about manta rays and ocean life in general. The sailor鈥檚 unusual bond ultimately became the catalyst for protecting manta rays and all life around Revillagigedo Islands.

What are the dangers today for the mantas around these islands? And is there still an ethical way to swim with them?

Today, the biggest threats to mantas are overtourism and boat strikes, both around the islands and on their migratory travels. 鈥淎s Revilla is a remote location, technically protected by both a National Park and the World Heritage Site, it’s largely a safe space for these animals,鈥� says Karey Kumli, project manager at Pacific Manta Research Group. 鈥淗owever, there is the occasional illegal fishing, primarily at night; we know this as the liveaboards keep their AIS scanner on and watch for lights.鈥�

Yet tourism plays a powerful role in protecting the manta rays. 鈥淚t wasn’t until all the tourist boats came [to Revillagigedo Islands] that the fishing really was enforced. So it’s crucial that there’s tourists there,鈥� says Sheehy. 鈥淭he money and the jobs brought to those islands show the Mexican government could justify their position on keeping it in the national park and [staving off] fishing,鈥� he adds.

Now the issue is how to keep tourism here ethical and responsible. Mantas like to come to the surface, but getting hit by boats is one of the biggest threats to them right now.

“The tourism operators are really good about understanding that too many people in the water, and touching and riding mantas, is not going to be good for mantas,” notes Sheehy. “The film, and our team really, is behind the idea of sustainable diving with the mantas.鈥�

In the 10 days they were filming the documentary around the islands, a manta got hit by another boat, adds Sheehy. 鈥淚f [mantas] get hit too many times, they’re not going to want to be around tourists, right? And then all those diving experiences that the operators are getting money from will disappear, because the mantas won’t come anymore.鈥�

Kennedy鈥檚 final chance to find his long lost friend is no fool鈥檚 errand. Individual mantas have been identified through photo-ID for up to 33 years鈥攖he worldwide age record for the oceanic (giant) mantas. When they look back at photo sets taken 10-40 years ago, ninety-five percent of those animals have made at least a second appearance, shares Kumli.

If you think you spotted Willy or any other manta ray, you can submit photos to the 鈥淲hen divers submit manta images from Revilla to us, we do a quick scan for re-sighted animals. We’d recognize Willy in a heartbeat,鈥� adds Kumli. Willy has four signature black dots in the shape of a diamond on his right shoulder.

Will Kennedy find Willy? You’ll have to watch the film to find out. While their encounters changed so much of what we know about mantas, so many mysteries remain. Why did Willy pick him to be his friend? What is certain is that an unlikely conservationist became a hero for the ocean鈥攔eminding us of how much we have yet to discover鈥攁nd that anything is possible. But bring a camera if you want anyone to believe you.

_________________________________________________________

Kathleen Rellihan is the Senior Travel and Culture Editor at 国产吃瓜黑料. She听swam with mobula rays (Willy’s smaller cousins) in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and seeing a manta ray while scuba diving Australia’s Great Barrier Reef was a lifelong dream. Now another one is spotting Willy herself.听

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Midway through Sasha DiGiulian鈥檚 new eighty-minute HBO sports documentary, Here to Climb, she expresses one of the film鈥檚 major tensions: 鈥淵ou have to be selfish,鈥� she says. Early in her climbing, DiGiulian鈥檚 mom acted as her belayer so she could spend time on the wall and not waste time belaying other people. Thanks to support like this鈥攁nd personal dedication鈥擠iGiulian became one of America鈥檚 most accomplished sport climbers, sending some of the hardest sport routes around the world, and she recently ticked off her 50th 5.14 route. But when she shifted from short sport climbs to making first female ascents of longer, multi-pitch routes, she found that focusing on herself wasn鈥檛 enough. 鈥淏ig wall climbing is about teamwork and about partnership,鈥� professional climber Cedar Wright says in the film. DiGiulian, admittedly, needed to learn how to climb with others.

The main narrative of Here to Climb, which debuts June 18 on HBO, uses DiGiulian and Lynn Hill鈥檚 2023 ascent of the three-pitch route called “Queen Line” on the Flatiron鈥檚 Maiden to demonstrate DiGiulian鈥檚 development as a climber and teammate.

DiGiulian grew up with a poster hanging on her wall of Hill making the first free ascent of the Nose of El Capitan with the caption, 鈥淚t Goes Boys!鈥� And, in the film, Hill assumes the role of mentor and DiGiulian鈥檚 foil. Though they both stand at the forefront of climbing in their respective eras, the two women developed vastly different understandings of what it means to be an elite climber. Hill came from a time before social media, where even groundbreaking ascents, like Hill鈥檚 first free ascent of the Nose, were understated. Digiulian, meanwhile, a late-generation millennial, discusses her focus on monetization and hyping her ascents. 鈥淚 took a very business-forward approach to my career,鈥� DiGiulian says, which allowed her to move from a skilled climber to a professional who capitalized on her social media reach.

鈥淪he鈥檚 the OG millennial influencer pro climber,鈥� Wright says.

But social media work comes at a price. The film discusses her struggles with her body while operating both as a performance athlete and as an influencer. DiGiulian describes her experience of being an 18-year-old 94-pound comp climber with body dysmorphia and then, gradually, finding comfort in her own skin. She talks about the criticism she received from an Agent Provocateur campaign, where she climbed in lingerie to show a correlation between strength and femininity. The film also examines the fat shaming she experienced online, though the film avoids naming Joe Kinder and the specifics of the event.

Though DiGiulian does note that this 鈥渨as an incredibly traumatizing period,鈥� the fact that the cyberbullying occupies a mere three minutes of the film might leave some viewers might be left to wonder just how much these things have affected her. Lynn Hill, however, notes that, DiGiulian is 鈥渞eally good at compartmentalizing her emotions,鈥� saying that she was shocked to observe a calm, young DiGiulian giving a slide show not long after the death of her father in 2014.

The film delves a little into the negative impacts of DiGiulian鈥檚 relentless drive, however. During one of her attempts on Pico Cao Grande, a volcanic plug on Sao Tome, an island south of Nigeria, DiGiulian rips off a large section of rock, which nearly hits her photographer. After that, the team questions her motives and her acceptance of risk for others. After nonstop rain, DiGiulian and her partner, Angela VanWiemeersch, reassess their objective and bail, one of the few retreats in DiGiulian鈥檚 long career.

As with her struggles with social media and body image, her climbing failures and difficulties are only briefly portrayed, but candor leaks into the film.

鈥淚 feel like with every big thing she鈥檚 done, there鈥檚 always a weird asterisk,鈥� Alex Honnold notes early in the film, referring to the significant scrutiny that DiGiulian鈥檚 ascents have seen from the climbing community.

After her 2021 ascent of Logical Progression, a long multi-pitch bolted route in Chihuahua, Mexico, DiGiulian that her partner didn鈥檛 successfully free one of the crux pitches and that DiGiulian top roped it, which adds a small asterisk to the ascent. Drama has also surrounded DiGiulian鈥檚 first female ascents, as with a public tiff in 2014 (detailed in an ) she had with Nina Caprez over which one of them should have the right to rig and film the first female ascent of Orbayu, a 5.14 big wall on Spain鈥檚 Naranjo de Bulnes. While the film alludes to another controversy on the Eiger, it glosses over the details.

In addition to the Lynn Hill partnership, the film also focuses on DiGiulian鈥檚 experience with chronic hip dysplasia, for which she underwent five surgeries in 2020. She had planned for Logical Progression to be a last hurrah before the surgeries, but before she could arrive, Nolan Smythe, one of the film crew riggers, died while fixing ropes for DiGiulian鈥檚 team. The death caused DiGiulian to retreat from the climb and instead push forward with her hip surgery. She struggled through her recovery, fixating on getting back on rock and . 鈥淪he needs something that鈥檚 just on the ragged edge of insanity,鈥� her partner Erik Osterholm said of DiGiulian鈥檚 drive to get back to her pre-surgery objective. Her dedication saw her back to Mexico and up the route.

Here to Climb鈥檚 arc moves quickly through DiGiulian鈥檚 problems, offering a superficial glimpse into what drives her. That鈥檚 easy criticism, though. It both minimizes the film鈥檚 breathtaking climbing footage and doesn鈥檛 do justice to the fact that DiGiulian speaks with vulnerability about her career. All in all, it鈥檚 an enlightening look at professional climbing.

Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg directed the HBO sports documentary Here to Climb from Red Bull Media House. The film debuts Tuesday, June 18 at 9pm ET/PT on HBO.

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Pioneering mountaineer, climate advocate, and adventure filmmaker David Breashears was found deceased on Thursday, March 14 at his home in Massachusetts. He was 68 years old.

The news was confirmed by longtime members of the American climbing community Ed Viesturs, Kathy Harvard and Jed Williamson, all of whom were close with Breashears and his family.听国产吃瓜黑料 also received a statement from Breashears’ family announcing the death.

It is with tremendous sadness that we share the news of David Breashears鈥� untimely passing. David was a beloved brother, uncle, father, friend, and colleague and a caring, impassioned advocate of adventure, exploration, and the health of our planet.

In his lifetime, David climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest five times, including an ascent with the IMAX camera in 1996. He combined his passion for climbing and photography to become one of the world鈥檚 most admired adventure filmmakers.

What fulfilled him the most – where he鈥檇 want his legacy to lie – is his non-profit organization, GlacierWorks, which he founded in 2007 to highlight the Himalayan glaciers through art, science, and adventure. With GlacierWorks, he used his climbing and photography experience to create unique records revealing the dramatic effects of climate change on the historic mountain range.

We want to thank everyone for their wonderful messages of support and love for David and understand that we respectfully ask for privacy as we grieve our loss.

Breashears was one of the most influential Americans in the world of Himalayan mountaineering. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as a climber and video documentarian on Mount Everest, and in 1983 Breashears transmitted the first live television images from the peak’s summit. Two years later Breashears again reached Mount Everest’s pinnacle, becoming the first American climber to make a repeat visit to the highest point on the planet.

In a , Breashears said he was the 135th person to reach the top of the world, and the experience forever changed him. “Looking back to 1983, it almost seems quaint. We had the entire south side of the mountain to ourselves, and not only did I know who my teammates were, but I also knew they had come to Everest with the careful preparation, experience and thorough training to climb it,” he said. “I remember feeling much closer to the mountain then, more in tune with the experience.鈥�

Over the following decade Breashears helped millions of people learn about Mount Everest through his films and broadcasts. In 1997 he produced the first live audio Webcast from the summit for the documentary series NOVA as part of the film Everest: The Death Zone. The next year he released the feature film Everest, which became the first IMAX production from the peak, and one of the fastest-selling films shot in the high-resolution format. The film chronicled his 1996 expedition to the peak alongside American guide Viesturs, and explored the training that mountaineers follow prior to their expeditions, and the hazards they encounter along the route to the top. Everest generated more than $120 million in revenue, and transformed Breashears into a celebrity in the outdoor world. Writing for 国产吃瓜黑料 in 2004, journalist Karen Heyman called Breashears the “James Cameron of the IMAX set.”

In a 1997 interview, Breashears said he was fascinated by extreme altitude and its impact on the human body and brain. In his films, he said, he wanted to explore how hypoxia impacts a person’s judgement. “A climber at high altitude is the last person to know that their thinking and thought processes are probably impaired,” he said. “There’s not an angel on your shoulder saying, 鈥榢nock knock, beware, you’re not thinking clearly.鈥�”

Breashears shot Everest during 1996 climbing season, and witnessed the deadly blizzard that killed eight climbers and was later chronicled by author Jon Krakauer in the 国产吃瓜黑料 feature and best-selling book听Into Thin Air.听Breashears helped with the rescue and recovery of climbers after the incident, and his experience led to another Everest film, the 2008 Frontline documentary Storm Over Everest.听The film included interviews with survivors, video from the 1996 expedition, and recreated scenes of the storm and rescue efforts.

Speaking to Frontline, Breashears said he felt it was necessary to retell the story via film and not just words to try and help viewers understand the tragedy. “For me, to see and hear direct testimony from a person who has overcome such adversity, has survived such a difficult and stressful event, is very powerful,” he said. “There is something so much more poignant about seeing a person’s face and looking into their eyes and hearing their voice than just reading about them on a written page.”

He pursued a prolific career in filmmaking, racking up credits as a cinematographer, cameraman, and producer on nearly two-dozen films, including the Hollywood blockbusters Cliffhanger and听Seven Years in Tibet.听

Breashears was not done with telling the story of the 1996 disaster, and in 2015 he served as a co-producer and consultant on the Hollywood film Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, and Jason Clarke. He was also on the peak in 2015 filming a documentary when an earthquake sent debris and ice crashing down onto Base Camp, killing 19 people.

In recent years Breashears had turned his attention to the impacts of climate change on the Himalayan region. He founded an advocacy group called GlacierWorks, which documented glacial retreat across the region through still photography and video. He displayed his images in galleries across the world to show viewers how quickly the region was being transformed. Through his work with GlacierWorks, Breashears gave lectures and talks across the world to educate audiences about the impact of the warming climate. “It鈥檚 a very easy thing to do, awareness. You can go find two pictures on a website and say that you鈥檙e creating awareness, while the real hard work is taking people from awareness to impact,” Breashears. “That鈥檚 why taking this imagery and moving it to exhibits, or to scientists at NASA, is important.”

Breashears grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and was a great rock and ice climber, turning heads early as a youth in Eldorado Canyon. As told in a , Breashears earned the nickname 鈥淜loeberdanz Kid鈥� after a speedy ascent of the challenging route Kloeberdanz, 5.11c R in Eldorado Canyon at just 18 years old. His visionary 1975 first ascents of the difficult and committing routes Krystal Klyr and Perilous Journey, both 5.11b X, with the X for great danger in the event of a fall, remain legend. Among their other mountaineering feats, in winter 1982 Breashears and Jeff Lowe made the of the 4500-foot north face of Kwangde Lho (6011 meters) via a hard and technical route on extremely steep rock and ice. The face was unrepeated until 2001.

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Watch on 国产吃瓜黑料 Watch.

鈥�Most people know me as Mo Farah, but that鈥檚 not my name or my reality.鈥�

Prior to 2022, if you鈥檇 asked any British citizen who Mo Farah is, they likely would have listed off the facts they know about one of the most accomplished athletes in Britain: He made a name for himself as a kid who arrived in the U.K. as a Somalian refugee, worked hard in track and field, and eventually won gold in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races in the 2012 London Olympics. He was even knighted by Queen Elizabeth, making him Sir Mo Farah.

Except Farah kept a secret for years.

In 2022, Farah revealed that he鈥檇 been lying about who he really was. All the stories he鈥檇 told during press junkets and interviews鈥攖hat he arrived in the U.K. with his family as an asylum seeker鈥攚ere lies. Even his name was a lie. Mo Farah was really Hussein Abdi Kahin.

RELATED: Mo Farah Opens Up About His Tortured Past

鈥楾he Real Mo Farah鈥� Documentary

The BBC produced a documentary about Farah鈥檚 story, now available for the U.S. audience on 国产吃瓜黑料 watch.

In , we hear the real tragic story of how at nine years old, Farah鈥攖hen called Hussein鈥攚as taken from his mother during the Somali Civil War and illegally trafficked into being a domestic servant. He took on the identity of a young boy he’d met from Somalia, whose name was Mo Farah, and made it his own.

Although Farah was moved into a safer home environment after a few years, he continued to live as 鈥淢o.鈥� At thirteen-years-old, he placed ninth in the English schools cross-country championships and the following year won the whole thing. After years of securing championships and records in the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters, Farah was selected to run for Team Britain in the World Athletics Championships at the age of 14.

And, as most people know, at the London 2012 Olympics, Farah solidified his legendary status by winning two gold medals in the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters.

The Real Mo Farah depicts the weight Farah felt living under false pretenses through all of this success, and the guilt he constantly battled over taking the real Mo Farah鈥檚 name.

In the film, Farah asks , a Rights Lab鈥檚 Health and Wellbeing Programme Trafficking Expert, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the long term effect of this? Do you ever get over it? Or will it always just鈥e there?鈥�

鈥淚 think the very fact that you鈥檙e starting to think about these things 20 to 30 years after they鈥檝e happened shows that it鈥檚 a long and complicated journey,鈥� Garbers responds. 鈥淎nd sometimes with potential victims, they feel guilty as well, because they feel like they were part of it.鈥�

In the documentary, Farah is asked if he is worried about what people will say in regards to his past.

鈥淧eople who love me, who care, like my mom and Kinzi, told me it鈥檚 OK to say my real name,鈥� Farah says. 鈥淚鈥檓 starting to understand me. Me. not Mohamed Farah. Me. Hussein Abdi Kahin.鈥�

Watch on 国产吃瓜黑料 Watch.

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You鈥檝e likely seen adrenaline-pumping videos of mountain bikers soaring off cliffs, descending steep and rocky trails, and flipping aerial stunts off of dirt jumps. This style of mountain biking鈥攃alled freeride鈥攖races its roots back to a small cadre of athletes who all sought to push the boundaries of the sport decades ago.

The new feature documentary Nothing鈥檚 for Free, produced by 国产吃瓜黑料 Studios in association with Freeride Entertainment, chronicles the birth and evolution of freeride from a cult sport to a global phenomenon. It takes viewers on a 30-year journey with the pioneers, visionaries, and industry masterminds that pushed the sport to where it is today. 国产吃瓜黑料+ members can now .

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We鈥檙e living in a gilded age of adventure filmmaking, and thanks to gizmos like flying drones and undersea cameras, couch potatoes like myself can view the most heart-stopping moments in outdoor sports in gleaming high-definition. In recent years I鈥檝e watched mountaineers trudge below the skyscraper-sized ice serac on K2, surfers shred 80-foot swells off the Portuguese coast, and kayakers bob down Tibet鈥檚 raging Yarlung Tsangpo river like twigs in a brook. From the safety of my sofa, I鈥檝e often gazed at these dangerous moments caught on film and thought: boy, I鈥檇 love to be able to do that! 听

I had no such reaction while watching the latest film to enter the adventure oeuvre: Netflix鈥檚 new documentary听, which is now streaming. The film takes viewers inside the dangerous world of competitive freediving, where divers descend to the dark depths of the open ocean while holding their breath and then attempting to swim to the surface.

The Deepest Breath shows in gut-wrenching detail what happens when things go horribly wrong. Underwater cameras show divers swimming upwards, only to black out from oxygen deprivation before reaching the surface. These moments trigger a frantic reaction from life-saving personnel: safety divers grab the stricken athlete鈥檚 neck, seal off their nasal passages, yank them out of the water, and then begin performing CPR. The athlete, meanwhile, is limp and lifeless, with bugged-out eyes and blue lips. After a few moments, they jolt awake and begin coughing.

Scenes like this play out again and again in The Deepest Breath. The message is clear: near-death blackouts are as common in freediving as sprained ankles are in marathoning.

I鈥檒l be honest: these video clips now fuel my nightmares. After watching The Deepest Breath, I can say without any hesitation that I鈥檇 sooner attempt K2 in a pair of Tevas or paddle out at Nazar茅 on a boogie board than ever try my hand at freediving. While the film may not be a shining endorsement of the sport, it is still a very compelling watch. I would recommend it to anyone who can stomach repeated scenes of people appearing to drown before being resuscitated.

Spoilers ahead!听There鈥檚 a love story and tragedy at the heart of The Deepest Breath, one that 国产吃瓜黑料 reported on in 2017. The film chronicles the lives of popular divers Stephen Keenan of Ireland and Alessia Zecchini of Italy鈥攖he latter is a freediving prodigy, world champion, and world record-holder (she dove to 358 feet on March 27, 2023). By age 14, Zecchini was already toppling breath-holding records in the swimming pool, and by 18 she had become freediving鈥檚 undisputed up-and-coming star. Keenan, meanwhile, discovered the sport after spending his twenties as a rudderless globetrotter. After becoming a SCUBA instructor in the freediving hotbed of Dahab, Egypt, Keenan blossomed into a safety diver on the sport鈥檚 international circuit.

Irish filmmaker Laura McGann weaves their respective narratives together with detailed archival footage from the early parts of their lives. Along the way, McGann pulls the curtain back on the sport and its competitive nuances. Freedivers propel themselves downward for the first 90 feet or so before the ocean takes over and sucks them into the dark depths at high speed. After reaching a platform set at a prescribed depth, a diver snatches a token from the platform and begins swimming toward the surface. Once they emerge, a team of judges examines the diver鈥檚 health to determine if the attempt is good. A blacked-out diver is disqualified.

Kudos to McGann and her fancy, high-definition waterproof cameras for capturing freediving鈥檚 eerily beautiful field of play. From 50 feet below, the surface appears emerald, the depths purple. The camera makes a free dive look both exhilarating and claustrophobic鈥攍ike flying blind through a moonless sky.

Top competitors play mind games with one another鈥攖hey only announce the depth of their forthcoming dive shortly before the descent to keep competitors from scheduling deeper attempts. The sport is a constant game of one-upmanship. Divers are constantly trying to push the limits of their bodies to see who can go deeper. In this fanatical push to push the limits, athletes often find their physical barriers in tragic ways.

You see, those repeated submersions have a grim impact on the human body. During a freedive, the ocean鈥檚 pressure squeezes a diver鈥檚 lungs down to the size of a lemon鈥攔epeated dives can crush and tear the organ apart, causing bleeding, irreparable damage, and even death. That鈥檚 not the only danger. Divers sometimes get pushed off course by the current and become disoriented. This is what likely killed the sport鈥檚 most decorated female champion, Russian diver Natalia Molchanova, who vanished off the coast of Ibiza in 2015 at age 53.

The message at the heart of听The Deepest Breath seems to be that a freediver鈥檚 pursuit of the sport is a one-way ticket to an early and watery grave. Tragedy is central to the听the film and its two central characters. After meeting on the freediving scene and beginning a short courtship, Zecchini travels to Dahab to train with Keenan. She also wants to dive , an undersea cavern that supports a submerged arch, that only the best divers can swim through without running out of air.

The filmmaker captures the fateful events of Zecchini鈥檚 attempt. She descends into the Blue Hole, finds the arch, and attempts to swim through it, but then becomes disoriented and runs out of air. Keenan, meanwhile, swims down to her, grabs her hands, and hauls her weakening body upward. The effort saves Zecchini鈥檚 life, but it costs Keenan his.

Keenan went missing during the dive, and swimmers found his dead body floating at the surface a short time later. The footage shows his heroic effort.

I absolutely teared up during the film鈥檚 conclusion, which features Zecchini on camera retelling the tragedy. In this way, The Deepest Breath is similar to other excellent contemporary projects in adventure filmmaking. The best footage captures emotion and heart. And you don鈥檛 need a flying drone or an expensive waterproof camera for that.

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This Memorial Day weekend marks 45 years of听, with more than 100 documentaries screening at the festival in Telluride, Colorado, from May 25 to 29. The 2023 festival is dedicated to the iconic late ski mountaineer听Hilaree Nelson, who died during her descent from 26,781-foot Manaslu on September 26, 2022. A longtime Telluride resident, Nelson appeared in various documentaries at Mountainfilm over the years, and guided programming as a guest director in 2021. At 1 P.M. on Sunday, May 28, the festival will host the world premiere of a documentary that captures one of Nelson鈥檚 last expeditions. 国产吃瓜黑料 is supporting Mountainfilm as its 2023 national media sponsor.

After three years of holding an online festival due to the pandemic, Mountainfilm will only be in-person this year. In addition to feature-length and short films, Coffee Talks, the Minds Moving Mountains Speaker Series, and DocTalks are on the schedule. You can purchase passes for the festival .

When Mountainfilm was founded in 1979, most of its programming focused on gravity-defying climbs. As word of the festival spread, the event grew to include a diverse range of athletes, activists, and artists. This year鈥檚 lineup exemplifies that tradition, celebrating the resilience of the human spirit.听听

Here are five films we can鈥檛 wait to see this weekend:

Earthside

In the spring of 2022, Hilaree Nelson, Brette Harrington, Emily Harrington, and Christina Lustenberger flew north of the Arctic Circle with the goal of scoring first descents on Baffin Island. Navigating massive seracs and freezing temperatures, the group spent over a week skiing 1,000-meter couloirs and climbing more than 20,000 vertical feet as part of an expedition sponsored by the North Face. Earthside (40 min.) captures the highs and lows of that trip, as directors Kaki Orr and Robert Wassmer follow the team through tests of will and trust. The documentary is especially poignant in light of Nelson鈥檚 death just months after filming. The 49-year-old mother of two was a mentor to athletes of all genders, but particularly to women. Watching Nelson guide this all-women expedition is both heartbreaking and heartening, a reminder of all that she made possible.

Wild Life

When her husband Doug died in a kayaking accident in 2015, Kristine Tompkins was left to lead the couple鈥檚 conservation nonprofit alone鈥攋ust as the organization was about to make the largest private land donation in history. Wild Life (93 min.), from Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, chronicles Tompkins鈥檚 dogged efforts to create national parks in Chile and Argentina, preserving the countries鈥� natural wonders for generations to come. The documentary is, as Stephanie Pearson wrote for our听 May/June issue, an 鈥渆pic saga of love and loss,鈥� revealing how Tompkins channeled her grief into protecting some 14.8 million acres. 鈥淚 want people to realize that this film is not about Doug and Kristine,鈥� Tompkins told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the representation of hundreds of Chileans鈥� and Argentines鈥� work. Mother Nature is not winning this game. We are all on the losing team, and everybody needs to join the fight.鈥�

Cowboy Poets

Since 1985, people have gathered in the high desert of Elko, Nevada, for the annual . For six days, crowds pack into small downtown theaters to hear stories about ranching, horses, and life in the rural west. In Cowboy Poets (92 min.), director Mike Day turns his lens toward these storytellers as they navigate an ever-changing landscape blighted by climate change, fossil fuel extraction, and political polarization. Through lyrical verse, the cowboy (and cowgirl) poets interrogate their region鈥檚 founding myths and contemplate a way forward, as drought and wildfires threaten to decimate their livelihoods. With lingering wide shots of torched pasture and mountainous expanses, Day records what has been lost and what鈥檚 at stake.

Patrol

On the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua sits a wildlife sanctuary teeming with jaguars, great green macaws, and howler monkeys. The 785,000-acre Indio Ma铆z Biological Reserve is home to the Rama and Afro-descendant Kriol peoples, who consider the area sacred. In Patrol (82 min.), directors Brad Allgood and Camilio De Castro Belli follow park rangers from both groups as they attempt to shield the land from illegal cattle ranchers. The film draws attention to the urgent issue of 鈥渃onflict beef鈥濃�攎eat harvested from deadly attacks on Indigenous land. Demand for imported beef in the U.S. soared during the early days of the pandemic, and Nicaraguan settlers stole acreage to increase production, . The reserve is one of the most intact tracts of lowland forest left in Central America. As Patrol shows the Indigenous rangers teaming up with a conservationist and undercover journalists, the documentary illustrates how protecting ancestral lands is a moral and environmental imperative.

Mama Bears

As GOP-led state legislatures across the country attack the rights of trans children, thousands of mothers are taking a stand. Mama Bears (90 min.), directed by Daresha Kyi, follows some of the 32,000 movement members fighting for a better world. Many self-described 鈥渕ama bears鈥� grew up in conservative Christian households, where they were taught that being LGBTQ was a sin. But their faith in God is what propels their activism. 鈥淭he Bible says some are born this way, and some are made this way. And my child is fearfully and wonderfully made. My child was born for a time such as this,鈥� activist Kimberly Shappley says .

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