Samsara

In the heart of the lofty, knife-sharp Vindhya Mountains in India sits a 6,500-foot rock route that resembles a massive shark fin and rises from the ocean of crags. This fin, which is twice as long as anything on El Capitan and just as steep, has denied many notable climbers from reaching its summit. In Samsara, all-star climbing team Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk set out to attempt a first ascent. Directed by Ozturk, the film is woven together with art, journal excerpts and still photography. Here’s the thing: The sacred peak, Meru, is said in mythology to be the center of the universe, but can you climb to the center of the universe? And that’s what Samsara—which means “wheel of suffering”—is about.
 
 Fridays at the Farm

Feeling disconnected from their food, a photographer/filmmaker and his family decide to join a community-supported organic farm. Hoffman moves from passive observer to active participant as he photographs the natural processes of food cultivation. Featuring lush time-lapse and macro photography sequences compiled from nearly 20,000 still images, this personal essay is a meditation on the miracles of life.
 
Deep/Shinsetsu

Sometimes, words aren’t necessary. In Deep/Shinsetsu, filmmaker Masaki Sekiguchi (Presence: 40 Days in Greenland, Mountainfilm 2008) lets the images speak for themselves. Filmed in Japan after what appears to be a 100-year storm, this short is a melodic and meditative portrait of skiing powder—chest-deep powder. The film is stripped of the genre’s usual racket: no voice-overs, jibbers, helicopters or hip-hop music here. Instead, it cuts straight to the essentials—the wash of white and the joy of bounding through bottomless snow
 
 The Red Helmet

In a dark and drab world, a fearful young child discovers a bright red helmet that transforms everything
 
 Shikashika

I like the term “snow cone” well enough, but it’s not nearly as cool or fun or as perfect as its Peruvian translation “shikashika.” Compared to what we get at a summer ball game or the country fair, shikashika is distinguished not by its name alone. The snow in this cone is for real. And it’s not just any snow that makes a shikashika; it’s pure glacial ice from a volcanic mountain. This sweet and simple film offers a cool glimpse of a sweet tradition from a land where culture has not yet been crippled by expectations of constant convenience
 
 Revolution One

Cliff edges, boulders, logs, park benches, public sculpture, handrails, picnic tables, walls and window sills—all are apparently perfect terrain for extreme unicycling. Kris Holm returns to Mountainfilm with more one-wheel wonders and this radical new film.
 
 The Job

A satirical peek at a political hot-button issue.
 
 Pickin' & Trimmin'

With the Walmartization of this country, small town America is changing quickly. This sweet and lovely short film about The Barbershop in Drexel, North Carolina, shows a bit of what we are losing.
 
 History Making Farming Author on the Move

Vern Switzer is an idiosyncratic character: A black farmer in Rural Hall, North Carolina, his passion for growing watermelon found new meaning when God directed him to write children’s books. Now this “farming author on the move” brings his message of sustainable farming and character building to schools across the country. Director Matt Morris (Pickin’ and Trimmin’, Mountainfilm 2008) was inspired by this year’s food theme to create this film to premiere at Mountainfilm
 
 The Last Frontier: Conservation and Exploration in Papua New

First descents by kayak are usually high-risk ventures. By definition, they’re beset by the unforeseen if not always the unexpected. The Pandi River in Papua, New Guinea, proves no exception to the rule with 50-foot falls, extreme hydraulics and even the odd crocodile or two to keep things honest. That said, this film is much less an adrenaline flick than a short homage to stunning natural beauty, prolific biodiversity and venerable ancient customs—all of which are, daily, more and more threatened by the modern world.