2022 Winter Winners
Jury Award Best Documentary Feature - An Accidental Life
Audience Award Best Documentary Feature - Riverborn
Jury Award Best Documentary Short - Motus Avium: A Mission To Save California's Last Wetlands
3rd Annual Eastern Sierra Mountain Film Festival Winter 2022
Dec 1-4, 2022
FEATURE FILM LINE-UP
All Screenings at the Edison Theatre
100 College Parkway
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546
Opening Night
Dec 1 Thurs. @ 7pm
EXPOSURE
Dir. Holly Morris
Run Time 88 Mins
Against all odds and polar advice, a Muslim chaplain, a French biologist, a Qatari princess and 8 other women from the Arab World and the West attempt to ski across the melting Arctic sea ice to the North Pole. Director Holly Morris captures the struggle of these boundary-breaking adventurers who, led by veteran polar explorer navigate everything from frostbite and polar bear threats, to sexism and self-doubt in an intimate story of resilience, survival and global citizenry. This is the story of the audacious women who are, to date, the last ever to ski over the ice to the North Pole.
Screens along with short MOTUS AVIUM: A MISSION TO SAVE CALIFORNIA'S LAST WETLANDS dir. Rob McAllister Run Time 13:52 mins.
Friday Night
Dec 2 Fri. @ 7pm
RIVERBORN
Dir. Oden Few Roberts
Run Time 65 Mins
1996. After discovering his factory, Ford Glass Plant, is polluting a major Tennessee River, Vic Scoggin, a union autoworker, reports the devastation to local authorities. Unanswered, he takes matters into his own hands. Armed with a camcorder he plans a 696 mile protest swim to document the pollution and save the river, but soon discovers something far worse threatens the river.
Screens along with ENCHAINMENT dir. Nick Kowalski
Run Time 30:00 mins and RECLAIM YOUR WATER: JAHMICAH DAWES Dir. Faith Briggs
Saturday Night
Dec 3 Sat. @ 7pm
AN ACCIDENTAL LIFE
Dir. Henna Taylor
Run Time 87 Mins
Screening Sponsor
GROUND UP CLIMBING GUIDES
PEDAL UP BIKE TOURS
Story of climber Quinn Brett, who suffered a horrific fall in Yosemite at the height of her athletic career that left her paralyzed from the waist down and forced to question her identity and community. Soon after her accident Quinn’s relationship ends throwing her into a lonely place where she wonders if this new version of herself is lovable - until an expected romantic connection reveals that she is indeed still Quinn Brett, and nothing can take that away from her. Over the course of the film, viewers watch Quinn's raw recovery and return to the world she almost lost as she eventually comes to accept the things she cannot change.
Screens along with short UNWITNESSED dir. Jeffrey Reid
Run Time 6:10 mins.
Closing Night Sunday
Dec 4 Sun. @ 7pm
SURF NATION
Dir. Jessica Chen and Jeremiah M. Bogert Jr.
Run Time 88 Mins
As China trains its first generation of Olympic surfers, two promising young athletes - Alex and Lolo - navigate adolescence, freedom and their love of the sport. With unprecedented access, Surf Nation is an observational documentary that tells a story beginning in Hainan, China’s southernmost province where hundreds of athletes as young as 9-years-old train as part of the Chinese National Surf team. These young recruits have left their families around the country and are paid to become surfers with Olympic aspirations.
Screens along with short THE TRUTH AND DIGNITY PROJECT
dir. Will Truettner Run Time 7:28 mins.