A lineup of films highlighting diversity and inclusivity in the outdoor adventure realm has been assembled for a film festival which will be part of the inaugural Outside Festival coming to Civic Center in five weeks.
The film festival will be held at the Denver Art Museum. Outside Festival ticketholders can attend the film festival without additional cost, but they should make reservations via an app that will be activated soon because theater space will be limited. The Outside Festival will be held May 31-June 2. Films will shown on Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s an amazing collection of work from diverse athletes, filmmakers, adventurers on topics that range from exploring new waterfalls in Central America, to skiing first lines in Alaska, to achievement and redemption stories from people in communities that have historically not been as welcome in the outdoors as they should have been – trans cyclists, BIPOC adventurers and runners,” said Jon Dorn, chief entertainment officer at Outside Inc., the Boulder-based digital media company organizing the event.
The list includes two feature films and 19 shorts. Outside received more than 100 submissions, Dorn said.
“The state of adventure filmmaking has never been stronger,” Dorn said. “There is so much vibrant work happening, and coming from so many places and new kinds of stories being told. It’s just so inspiring to see that happening.”
The two feature films are Ashima, the story of an elite young female Japanese-American climber, and Wade in the Water, a surprising look at the history of Black surfing that hopes to inspire the next generation of Black surfers.
“Ashima is a film about a bouldering champ who is putting up some of the hardest bouldering routes in the world, and her relationship with her father, who is very passionate and demanding,” Dorn said. “It’s a human relationship film as much as it is a climbing film.”
Ashima will be the feature film shown on Sunday, along with a discussion with director Kenji Tsukamoto. Wade in the Water will be the feature on Saturday. Director David Mesfin will be present for a discussion as well.
“There have been a lot of surfing films out there,” Dorn said. “Everybody loves to watch surfing on TV. What you don’t see a lot in surfing are Black people, but there is a real history of Black surfing that goes back more than 100 years. David has brought that history to life in just such a beautiful way; interviewing, doing archival research, going on location. It really is a story that needs to be understood in this space so Black kids see people like them who are enjoying these sports, getting out and having an opportunity on the ocean.”
Subjects of short films include a group of paracyclists who set out to ride the challenging White Rim trail near Moab, a traverse on a highline strung between two hot-air balloons in Brazil, and the quest of three Costa Ricans searching for waterfalls in the jungle.
The film lineup was curated in partnership with the Boulder International Film Festival, Telluride’s Mountainfilm Festival and the Mountains of Color Film Festival.
“We were trying to (decide), there’s so much great work out there, how do we hone in and focus to create a lineup that will create a narrative story by itself?” Dorn said. “Ultimately what we all coalesced around was that we want this group of films to be about inclusivity, about recognizing the people and issues that have not necessarily graced the covers of outdoor magazines in the past.”
Tickets are available through the Outside Festival website. Two-day ticket prices begin at $69, and single-day tickets begin at $44. VIP tickets are available for $169.
