Eastern Sierra Mountain Film Festival
Films about environment and mountain culture will screen in Bishop and Mammoth Oct. 4 – 7
The Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre has announced the line-up for its fourth annual Eastern Sierra Mountain Film Festival, in cooperation with the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association and sponsored by Measure U and the Tambour Foundation. This event features four days of films about the environment and mountain culture, covering subjects such as the ground, the mountain peaks, overcoming tragedy, and changing the world.
Schedule:
Bishop Twin Theatre in Bishop
• Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m.
Edison Theatre in Mammoth Lakes
• Friday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
• Saturday , Oct. 7, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Passes for all screenings are $48. Tickets to individual screenings are $12 each online or $14 at the door. Tickets can be purchased online at www.easternsierraarts.org/esmff.
Wednesday: The Wednesday opening night film, “Bad Press”, directed by Rebecca Landsberry-baker (Muscogee Creek) and Joe Peeler, recently screened at the Sundance Film Festival. A stirring and topical film, it tells of the Muscogee Nation government that abruptly repeals its landmark
Free Press Act to muzzle the tribe’s hard-hitting news outlet. Defiant and foul-mouthed journalist Angel Ellis charges headfirst into a historic (and surprisingly funny) battle to restore her tribe’s press freedoms. “Bad Press” is a timely and unprecedented documentary about a lone journalist fighting a corrupt system for her fellow citizens.
Thursday: Thursday evening’s block of “Cragging Shorts” includes “Reel Rock: Resistance Climbing,” directed By Nick Rosen, Zachary Barr and Peter Mortimer. In the strife-torn hills of Palestine, a diverse crew of Bedouins, dirtbags and urban professionals embraces climbing as a much-needed respite from the burdens of the Israeli occupation. American writer & climber Andrew Bisharat visits the West Bank to explore his own roots and the power of climbing to transform lives. It is followed by “A Little Life,” directed by Eric Bissell, which focuses on professional climber Keenan Takahashi who reflects on a life of passion while attempting to climb a terrifying and difficult new route in the legendary Buttermilk Boulders of Bishop, California.
The third of the “Craggin Shorts” is
“Reel Rock: Rayu,” directed by Nick Rosen and Erik Osterholm. In this film, elite sport climbers Sasha Digiulian and Matilda Söderlund team up with trad specialist Brette Harrington to attempt a free ascent of the 2,000-foot alpine rock route, Rayu – a 5.14 in Spain’s Picos de Europa. Unrepeated since its first ascent by the Basque Pou brothers and Kiko Cerdá in 2020, Rayu combines heady trad climbing with a burly sport crux on a steep headwall a thousand feet off the deck. Living on the wall for days on end, the team battles stormy weather, loose rock, and the tension between personal goals and group success.
Friday: The Friday Night Spotlight film at the Edison Theatre is “Common Ground,” directed by Josh Tickell and Rebecca Tickell. The film is the highly anticipated sequel to the juggernaut success documentary, “Kiss the Ground,” which touched over one billion people globally and inspired the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to put $20 billion toward soil health. By fusing journalistic expose’ with deeply personal stories from those in the front lines of the sustainable food movement, “Common Ground” unveils a dark web of money, power, and politics behind our broken food system. The film reveals how racist practices forged our current farm system in which farmers of all colors are literally dying to feed us. The film profiles a hopeful and uplifting movement of white, black, and indigenous farmers who are using alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that could balance the climate, save our health, and stabilize America’s economy - before it’s too late.
Saturday: Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. is the shorts block “Environmental & Mountain Culture.” First up is “Paddle Tribal Waters,” directed by Paul Robert Wolf Wilson and Rush Sturges. It tells how when the largest dam removal project in history began, a group of indigenous youth learned to whitewater kayak in hope of becoming the first people to paddle the restored river from source to sea. It is followed by “CALL In The Crèche,” directed by Tim Guthrie. It is a mini-doc about a crèche in Paparoa, New Zealand, focused on saving an iconic species of kiwi, and how that relates to protecting the entire ecosystem.
Also screening is “Hirampari: Legacies Of The River,” directed by Lucía Flórez. In one of the most remote places in the Peruvian Amazon, an Ashéninka boy must overcome his fears and catch a giant catfish using only a hook to start his journey as an adult.
“Python Huntress,” directed by Nicholas Orris and Matt Deblinger, provides a glimpse into the life of Donna Kalil, an environmentalist who spends her nights patrolling the Florida Everglades in search of the Burmese Python–an invasive apex