A Line in the Sand
The director of Mountainfilm on Tour from 2006 to 2011, Justin Clifton now devotes his talents to making films with the specific aim of helping environmental and social justice organizations tell their stories. A Line in the Sand is one of three short films done in collaboration with The Grand Canyon Trust, aimed at raising public support for protection of threatened parts of Canyonlands. Co-directed by Clifton and Chris Cresci, A Line in the Sand is a spirited call to arms, illustrating some of Edward Abbey’s most inspiring and passionate language with beautiful 3-D animation.
The Thousand Year Journey: Oregon to Patagonia
Jedidiah Jenkins quit a job that he loved to ride his bicycle from Oregon to the southern tip of Patagonia. Friend and filmmaker Kenny Laubbacher joined him for a month and a half to pose the question: Why? Jenkins’ poignant answers are woven together with sun-soaked travel footage and shots of life on the move in this short film about shattering routines, staying open hearted and keeping the flames of inspiration not just burning, but raging. The Thousand Year Journey is a paean to travel, adventure and, as Jenkins puts it, “turning your 100 years on this planet into 1,000.”
Les Voyageurs Sans Trace
Although Everest still beckoned, the Earth’s poles had been visited and the golden age of exploration was in its twilight by 1938. That year, three young adventurers from Paris decided to float the Colorado River in the wake of John Wesley Powell’s famed expedition. In doing so, newlyweds Bernard and Genevieve de Colmont and their friend Antoine de Seynes became the first to kayak the Green and Colorado rivers, pioneering a new age of adventure travel (although they could not have known it).
Seventy-five years later, American Ian McCluskey stumbled upon a plaque in Wyoming commemorating the French expedition. Intrigued, he decided to learn more about the adventurers, and after finding their journals, photographs and 16mm film (some of the first-ever color film) he decided to retrace their route.
Les Voyageurs Sans Trace tells the story of parallel river trips. Between 1938 and 2012 much changed on the river. And much remains the same, including wild unknowns, overwhelming beauty and explorers documenting their journeys.