https://www.lucywalkerfilm.com Lucy Walker Film Tue, 23 Jul 2024 20:27:26 +0000 https://www.lucywalkerfilm.com en https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Home Wed, 10 Jul 2024 16:24:57 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Home https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Mountain-Queen Fri, 12 Jul 2024 17:02:43 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Mountain-Queen Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa&nbsp;(2024)watch on Netflix The first Nepali woman to summit and descend Mount Everest, Lhakpa Sherpa devoted her life to empowering girls. Now a single mother working at a Whole Foods in Connecticut, she embarks on a dramatic return to the mountain, determined to redeem her life’s purpose and inspire her own daughters.Mountain Queen was made independently and premiered at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a rapturous reception and was acquired by Netflix. It is available to watch on Netflix globally. Here is the trailer: Director’s Statement The first time that Lhakpa and I met, she told me that her daughter Shiny had looked me up online and knew that I was the one who would finally tell her story. Then she burst into tears, and of course so did I, and we both knew it had to happen. She is exactly the kind of person who inspires me and whom I love to make films about, people for whom life has not been easy, but who meet challenge with grace and courage. I related to her on so many levels. And I was blown away by her mountaineering accomplishments, but - and here’s the thing - even more so by what she has surmounted in her life off the mountain. Growing up in a remote region of Nepal far enough from Everest that she had never seen white people and when the first tourists trekked into her village when she was very young her mom and siblings ran away screaming, thinking they were yetis come to grab them, the mythical monsters who lived&nbsp; in the unknown lands beyond her valley, Lhakpa’s life has been a fairytale starring the bravest girl in the world. She was denied an education which at the time was allowed only for boys, and dedicated her life to fighting for opportunities for women and girls. She escaped an arranged marriage by chopping off her hair and passing herself off as a boy in order to become the first girl in her village to work as first a porter and then being promoted to “kitchenboy” on the first tourist treks in her region. But having held out for a “love marriage”, she was betrayed, and found herself once again experiencing the cruelty of the world’s double standards for women…. and that’s just the beginning of the story, which only gets more breathtaking from there. I knew instantly that I wanted to structure the movie around “the summits” of Lhakpa’s life, and to organize the film by following her Everest climb and organizing the backstory of her previous life summits and Everest summits as “stations of the cross” along the route. And what’s funny is that what Lhakpa didn’t know that she wasn’t the first Lhakpa that I would make a movie about.&nbsp; I had spent several months in Tibet and climbing Everest to make my 2006 documentary Blindsight, which was about an expedition to Lhakpa mountain, which is the next mountain over from Everest on the north side. I had fallen in love with Tibet and its people and specifically Sherpa people, who are ethnically Tibetan, and who had been incredibly wise and wonderful partners on that film. Now, as the movie explains, there are only very few names in the Sherpa language, and Lhakpa is the name you get if you are born on a Wednesday, but still, it’s quite a coincidence to have made two movies about two towering Lhakpas. And for both to have their world premieres at Toronto Film Festival, 17 years apart, was a real marker of time in my career. That earlier film, Blindsight, about the first blind person to summit Everest, Erik Weihenmayer, and the blind woman who founded the only school for the blind in Tibet, Sabriye Tenberken, and how they take six blind teenage students up to climb Lhakpa mountain in order to show the world that it is not only privileged blind white guys who can accomplish great things, in many ways forms a diptych with this film. I was able to make Mountain Queen because of all that I had learned making Blindsight. I knew immediately that we had to capture Lhakpa climbing Everest, and I knew exactly how to do that. I also knew how challenging that would be, but with our whole incredible team, and an extraordinary amount of hard work, and fortune favoring the bold, we were thrilled with how it all turned out. There was definitely a strong theme of team work throughout the climb of making the film, and I am in awe of the hard work of our entire team, because filmmaking like climbing is all about having the strongest team. The team extends to the many other filmmakers, professional and amateur, whose materials we were able to gather and include in the film. Lhakpa’s first climb was in 2000, and the footage of that climb in particular was instrumental in my wanting to make Mountain Queen. Because for me one of the most thrilling aspects of our craft of documentary filmmaking is the opportunity for longitudinal storytelling using real film and video captured over decades. I am fascinated by editing together clips of somebody’s life that have been taken over decades, to see how their lives have unfolded. An always inspiration for me to want to make nonfiction films is the Up Series, which follows the unfolding lives of a group of British people by catching up with them every seven years, hence 7 Up. I think of my films as character-driven narratives, like scripted films but ones in which unfolding existence is my co-writer, for example following Amish teenagers through their rumspringa years in my first feature Devil’s Playground (2002), or the artist Vik Muniz’s collaboration with the catadores in the world’s largest garbage dump in Waste Land (2010), or our blind protagonists climbing Lhakpa mountain in Blindsight (2006). In the case of Mountain Queen, I was so intrigued by the film Daughters of Everest, which documented the 2000 expedition which Lhakpa instigated and led, but which is not focused on Lhakpa, that it became a big part of my being sure that I wanted to pursue making this film. I knew that if we could include it, it would be riveting for the audience. I was blown away by watching Lhakpa aged 26, desperately shy and ashamed of her status as a single mother, but 100% self-possessed and unafraid and determined to become the first Nepali woman to summit Everest and survive, with the very clear purpose of proving that women what women can do and inspiring women and girls to fulfill their potential and to be empowered by nature and the outdoors and by being active. So I asked the incredible filmmakers, Sapana Sakaya and Ramyata Limyu, if they might possibly share their dailies with me, so that I could unlock more of what they’d filmed with Lhakpa, and it is an enormous testament to their generosity and collaborative vision that they allowed me to comb through all their footage in order to include that historic part of the story in our film. I also owe terrific debt of thanks to the incredible lengths which so many people went to, digging through old storage to find video and photos, and being so extremely kind as to share them with me, in order to do justice to Lhakpa’s story. I want to single out Michael Kodas in particular, who provided all the video and photos from the jaw-dropping 2004 expedition. I have always thought that our archivist Gabriella Gallus is the best in the business, but who knew that she spoke Romanian! An incredible serendipity, which she put to great use, and she was able to gather the materials from 2003. All these pieces were especially important because of the events of 2014, in which as the film depicts, Lhakpa lost access to all her possessions, and so she herself had next to nothing by way of personal archive - which you would never guess, by looking at the rich sources that bring her fairytale of a life to the screen in such a vivid way. I also knew from climbing up all the camps of Everest on the north side (in order to climb the mountain next door you take the same route up as if you were going to summit Everest, and only depart from the Everest route above 21,500’) that I would only slow down any climb, and that in my stead we had to hire a superstar high-altitude director of photography, so I was overjoyed when Matt Irving was available. I didn’t dream that he would manage to summit Everest while shooting, because that is not something that you can usually demand of your collaborators, but I couldn’t even dream of what he’d be able to accomplish. And I knew we should also give cameras to Lhakpa’s family climbing team of Sherpas, and train them to shoot and explain to them the kinds of shots that we could us, and wow were we glad that we did, because it was incredible to see their climbs through their shots. And I knew that Tahria Sheather who was the most capable field producer I’ve ever seen could also climb, including through the icefall, which is a very scary feat and lies immediately past Base Camp on the Nepal, or South, side which is the route we took in spring 2022. The movie is a fairytale of a magical life, and it is also deeply feminist fable, or, as Lhakpa might say, it’s about the inspiration “woman power”. Lhakpa has stood up and fought for women and girls, determined to prove what women and girls are capable of, especially in her home region where she feels women enjoy less freedom and opportunity than in the country which she immigrated to, and loves, the USA. She wants women and girls to be inspired by her to climb higher, reach farther, pursue their dreams, attain their goals, and gain strength and healing and empowerment from nature and the outdoors and being active, which for her are her doctor, her antidepressant, and her spirituality. For Sherpa people, Everest is called Chomolungma, the “Goddess Mother of the World”, for Lhakpa it is an act of spiritual purification and prayer to climb it, as well as a fierce defiance of the limitations placed on women and on Sherpa people. It is noteworthy that when Lhakpa climbed in 2022, how refreshing it was that her team was all Sherpa. They were not employees of white Westerners. It is obviously overdue that stories about Everest center Sherpa people. Lhakpa embodies a stunning strength and resilience. Many people who succeed “are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple”, said coach B. Switzer. Lhakpa’s life is the opposite to this. She was born not knowing that the sport existed, and being actively disallowed from playing it once she discovered it. Her courage, vision, faith, and relentlessness are breathtaking. And that is before she sets foot on Everest - for the first time. Now, having found a way to climb it ten times, I want to emphasize what a feat that is, because she was not someone who could ever afford to climb it by paying. She had to find a way to do it without any money of her own, and she accomplished that ten times. And then, because even after she accomplished that, last year in 2023 she still felt that people underestimated her technical climbing skills, so she set out to climb K2, the second-highest and most feared and notorious mountain in the world, and summited that on her first attempt as well. And I want to shout: what is happening with how women and their accomplishments are acknowledged, that Lhakpa still felt the need to prove herself, even after having climbed Everest ten times, by far beating any other woman of any nationality (the next being Melissa Arnot, who’s done it six times)? Because the answer to why Lhakpa climbed Everest ten times is that she kept doing it until anybody really gave her credit for it. I hope that the movie will help her accomplish this goal, for her and for the benefit of all of us. But in her life off the mountain, she has been hurt, almost mortally, and&nbsp; - as the film so viscerally tells - physically. In pursuing, as she describes it, “what her heart wants”, she has been dealt cruel blows, especially by the two men whom she trusted the most in her life. Having escaped arranged marriage, her two “love marriages” laid her low and brought her to heartbreaking lows in her physical living conditions and emotional states, suffering acutely from depression and discouragement and feelings of personal shame. I knew it would be important for this film to share that someone so uniquely, demonstrably strong could also be so vulnerable. I know millions of viewers will relate to Lhakpa all around the world, which is why Netflix is the perfect partner to share her story with the broadest global audience, where members worldwide will be forever inspired by the unforgettable Lhakpa Sherpa. And there is so much more to Lhakpa, and to her story. She is as funny as she is fierce. There was so, so much to her - not to mention her incredible family - that it was a very tall order for the film to justice to her… an order as tall as Everest… I am so proud that so many people will have the opportunity to see what I see and feel in the story of our Mountain Queen and the Summits of her life. <img width="1368" height="1096" width_o="1368" height_o="1096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4ad4eeb5dd6ea1c0294f1c3b0d022a88981c630cc2e3b26961b3267a0bd6f2a7/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.58.21PM.png" data-mid="224472406" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4ad4eeb5dd6ea1c0294f1c3b0d022a88981c630cc2e3b26961b3267a0bd6f2a7/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.58.21PM.png" />If anyone watching Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa is moved to help Lhakpa, you can: 1. Donate to Lhakpa's nonprofit to help fund community hikes and motivational programs at https://creative-visions.networkforgood.com/projects/230442-lhakpa-sherpa-climb-any-mountain-initiative-s-fundraiser 2. Support Lhakpa and her family directly through their GoFundMe at http://gofundme.com/f/lhakpa-sherpa. 3. Get involved with Lhakpa's climbing guide business at http://cloudscapeclimbing.com. Every contribution helps Lhakpa continue her incredible journey. Thank you&nbsp;❤️️<img width="2386" height="934" width_o="2386" height_o="934" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3b6fb1a218b0d90b7fb392bd0b53a26869c23467162a9603cd3113389bf5002/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.58.32PM.png" data-mid="224472405" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e3b6fb1a218b0d90b7fb392bd0b53a26869c23467162a9603cd3113389bf5002/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.58.32PM.png" /> SYNOPSIS MOUNTAIN QUEEN: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa tracks Lhakpa’s storied mountaineering career against her record-breaking 10th summit to reveal a rich personal history – from her childhood as a girl denied an education in rural Nepal, to her experience as an immigrant in America and survivor of intimate partner violence, to her fight to live as a fearless example to her teenage daughters. Through it all, Lhakpa climbs - her incredible strength and resilience inspired by her own mother goddess of the universe - Chomolungma, Mt. Everest. Lhakpa Sherpa has summited Mt. Everest more than any woman in history. The first Nepali woman to summit and descend in 2000, Lhakpa keeps climbing in pursuit of a better life for herself and her children and to champion Nepali women and girls. The film highlights the incredible determination of mothers fighting to protect and inspire their children. Above all, Lhakpa’s story is one of a family surviving, healing, and climbing forward.<img width="2358" height="922" width_o="2358" height_o="922" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b1b1be8f914850566a4f09a2135092997a93b31957b4f952f2831e2ec9db76aa/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.58.42PM.png" data-mid="224472404" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b1b1be8f914850566a4f09a2135092997a93b31957b4f952f2831e2ec9db76aa/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.58.42PM.png" /> Awards*Peabody Award winner *Sports Emmy Awards, Outstanding Long Documentary and Outstanding Camera Work – Long Form nominations *The Producers Guild of America, Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Picture nomination*Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, Best Sports Doc nomination *#1 best Docutmentary of 2024, POV Magazine *Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence *Kendal Mountain Film Fest, Best Film *Cinema Eye, Unforgettables, winner *Cinema Eye, Audience Award nomination *San Diego International Film Festival, Humanitarian Award *Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA), Audience Choice Award Award for Best Feature*Toronto International Film Festival, People’s Choice Award Second Runner-up*Mountainfilm, Charlie Fowler Best Adventure Film Award *Sheffield DocFest, Audience Favorite<img width="2354" height="910" width_o="2354" height_o="910" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6b205d99601c91930119a5358094dc44f3f10d089d32101e344e4947a8740822/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.59.00PM.png" data-mid="224472403" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6b205d99601c91930119a5358094dc44f3f10d089d32101e344e4947a8740822/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.59.00PM.png" /> Academy Conversation moderated by Matt Carey: Press Quotes “Everest has provided the dizzying backdrop for numerous documentaries about famous mountaineers. The latest addition to the oeuvre, called Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, is one of the best.” Outside “I expected a portrait of an incredibly strong woman, and that's an apt description for Mountain Queen. But Lhakpa's story is much more complicated than that”The New York Times“poignant and heart-pounding” Variety“Open, honest with herself and never exuding false humility, [Lhakpa]’s a dream subject for this kind of portrait” The Telegraph&nbsp;“More remarkable than Sherpa’s physical achievements, though, is the depth the film goes to in revealing her personal life...” The Guardian“a gripping mountain adventure tale and a moving exploration of family strife...Walker skillfully and vividly recounts Lhakpa’s often astonishing life story.” Filmmaker Magazine“As far as mountain movies go, no doc has ever captured Everest quite like Mountain Queen. The details of Everest are on full display here: the attitude, the grade, the wind, and the cold, but most significantly, the spiritual power that fuels Lhakpa. This exhilarating film should make many mountain queens by inspiring viewers to conquer the impossible.” POV Magazine“highlights the degree to which [Lhakpa’s] determination to regain her strength and start her life over rivals or even surpasses the fortitude she displays when climbing.” San Francisco Chronicle“Inspiring” Financial Times“[Lhakpa] has conquered more than mountains.” The Hollywood Reporter“...paints an almost perfect literal and metaphorical picture of an epic journey to the top of the world…If this film doesn’t uplift, move and empower you, I’m afraid nothing will.” Business Doc Europe“an intimate, gripping portrayal of resilience, survival, and the never-ending pursuit of one’s dreams.” Next Best Picture<img width="2258" height="872" width_o="2258" height_o="872" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/da54af46b9b882e3a231fa696fa8832acc447ab4e00743d72c92ea7e73db6b0d/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.59.10PM.png" data-mid="224472402" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/da54af46b9b882e3a231fa696fa8832acc447ab4e00743d72c92ea7e73db6b0d/Screenshot-2025-01-09-at-5.59.10PM.png" /> https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Of-Night-and-Light Tue, 23 Jul 2024 20:27:26 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Of-Night-and-Light Of Night and Light: The Story of Ibogaine (2024) Of Night and Light tells the astounding unknown story of what might be the scientific discovery of our generation. Back in 1962, a teenage psychonaut in New York City named Howard Lotsof experimented with an obscure psychedelic from the root bark of a West African shrub and recognized its unique therapeutic potential. Together with his African-American wife Norma, a pair of outsider NYU film students, they dedicated their lives to convincing the scientific community and government agencies to research it, certain that it would be of great medicinal benefit, despite it sounding too good to be true—like the textbook definition of snake oil—and being written off as con artists.Sixty years later, their dream is now materializing as clinics spawned from their original test sites have treated more than 100,000 people with opiate use disorder and now over 1,000 US Special Forces veterans, who have experienced dramatic relief from a spectrum of problems including traumatic brain injury, depression, anxiety, ptsd, addictions, and physical disabilities through the use of ibogaine. Now jaw-dropping new research, about to be published, is revealing that ibogaine is the most powerful therapeutic ever observed for the human central nervous system.After a sneak peek at the Tribeca Film Festival, the film will be released in 2025. It has not yet been reviewed and no trailer is yet available. <img width="980" height="551" width_o="980" height_o="551" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/214c109a2808dc45f1443047e4a13027fa2a6069a7d5f9864d295509fc671c11/of-night-and-light.png" data-mid="215150110" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/980/i/214c109a2808dc45f1443047e4a13027fa2a6069a7d5f9864d295509fc671c11/of-night-and-light.png" /> Press “Lucy Walker’s film was a major step in humanizing people with addiction and mental illness, while celebrating the heroic efforts of Howard and Norma Lotsof.”ForbesDeadline piece on the Tribeca sneak peek https://lucywalkerfilm.com/How-To-Change-Your-Mind Fri, 12 Jul 2024 17:29:22 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/How-To-Change-Your-Mind How To Change Your Mind (2022)watch on Netflix A documentary series directed and executive produced by Lucy and produced in association with her company Tree Tree Tree, adapted from Michael Pollan’s bestseller about psychedelics.&nbsp;Each of the fours episodes delves into a different&nbsp;psychedelic substance - LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and mescaline-containing cacti (peyote and san pedro).The series has accumulated more than 7.5 million hours watched on Netflix and received an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction. Here’s the trailer: https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Bring-Your-Own-Brigade Wed, 10 Jul 2024 22:12:00 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Bring-Your-Own-Brigade Bring Your Own Brigade (2021)watch on Paramount+ and CBS News Bring Your Own Brigade premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,&nbsp; was aquired by CBSN and was named one of the top ten films of 2021 by The New York Times.&nbsp; In early November 2018, raging wildfires forced the frenzied evacuation of thousands of terrified residents from the cities of Malibu and Paradise, two very different California communities. In the documentary Bring Your Own Brigade, two-time Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker captures the heroism and horror of that unfathomable disaster. Embedded with a team of firefighters during the deadliest week of fires in the state’s history, Walker’s film takes viewers on an eyewitness journey into the very heart of the inferno. The result is a remarkable character-driven investigation into the causes of — and solutions to — the global wildfire epidemic that’s engulfing the planet. Drawing on hundreds of hours of astonishing video footage shot by fleeing residents who found themselves surrounded by walls of flames, the film offers a palpable “you-are-there” intensity that serves to highlight the severity of the crisis. Told from the kaleidoscopic perspective of a compelling array of people from all walks of life, including fire battalion chief Maeve Juarez, whose courageous efforts saved countless lives, quick-thinking bulldozer operator Joe Kennedy, who risked death to clear an evacuation path for trapped residents, and warmhearted local Brad Weldon, who opened his house to 20 neighbors left homeless in the aftermath of the Paradise blaze, this visually immersive exposé addresses a question humanity can no longer afford to ignore: Why are these catastrophic wildfires increasing in number and severity, and can anything be done to mitigate their staggering destruction? Featuring candid interviews with shell-shocked survivors, firefighters and rescue workers on the frontlines, scientists and historians studying the issue behind the scenes, and indigenous tribal leaders whose generational knowledge holds a vital piece of the puzzle, the film reveals the shocking failures of our nation’s misguided fire suppression policy — an approach that ignorantly casts fire as a villain to be obliterated at all costs rather than an invaluable tool, which when wielded effectively, can prevent future wildfires and restore health to forests that have been mismanaged for far too long. As Bring Your Own Brigade makes abundantly clear, although climate-driven alterations to the environment have created the perfect conditions for the harrowing “Fire Age” we now find ourselves living in, this situation doesn’t have to become the new normal. Short of solving global warming itself, there are numerous, often simple steps that could be taken to not only lessen the death and destruction caused by wildfires, but help balance and revitalize our natural woodlands and wilderness for future generations. But do we as a society have what it takes to put aside short-term interests and outmoded thinking to confront a crisis that’s quite literally burning our world to the ground? Watch the trailer: PRESS QUOTES″…Inherently optimistic”A.O. Scott, The New York Times “Incendiary”Jason Gorber, Slash Film “Remarkable”David Poland, Movie City News “Required viewing”Bradley Gibson, Film Threat “Amazing… scary, sobering and yet full of humanity.”Herb Stratford, KMSB Fox 11 Tucson “Gripping… revealing. Powerful stuff.”Michael J. Casey, Boulder Weekly STILLS <img width="1037" height="612" width_o="1037" height_o="612" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d80bbb165d5138fee7f1df76dd3924def70e21a1ba14d461938b598ea3fe4f4f/06_BringYourOwnBrigade_by-JeffFrost.jpg" data-mid="215727422" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d80bbb165d5138fee7f1df76dd3924def70e21a1ba14d461938b598ea3fe4f4f/06_BringYourOwnBrigade_by-JeffFrost.jpg" /> <img width="1280" height="720" width_o="1280" height_o="720" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2379ad3c61405638bfa8d1843e7926b8c755b817da07fa19ef1ecbbb003fa364/03_BringYourOwnBrigade_MaeveJuarez.jpg" data-mid="215727421" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2379ad3c61405638bfa8d1843e7926b8c755b817da07fa19ef1ecbbb003fa364/03_BringYourOwnBrigade_MaeveJuarez.jpg" /> <img width="1024" height="683" width_o="1024" height_o="683" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7c7d1581b027df29c5bd897b54bcf9e4c56e85459fe49125c58a2c81c10efeae/08_BringYourOwnBrigade_ManOnRoof_GettyImages.jpg" data-mid="215727387" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7c7d1581b027df29c5bd897b54bcf9e4c56e85459fe49125c58a2c81c10efeae/08_BringYourOwnBrigade_ManOnRoof_GettyImages.jpg" /> <img width="1280" height="720" width_o="1280" height_o="720" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4c7ac48906ba1baf3f69dcadeccc32bb93b9123c00a70e0301845debbe6477a9/09_BringYourOwnBrigade_Briana-Conrad.jpg" data-mid="215727423" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4c7ac48906ba1baf3f69dcadeccc32bb93b9123c00a70e0301845debbe6477a9/09_BringYourOwnBrigade_Briana-Conrad.jpg" /> <img width="2304" height="1536" width_o="2304" height_o="1536" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/49a59a034cd4f72bc6a209142493641b2d3a0a644b4b68097ca2d8ac7435b204/12_BringYourOwnBrigade_BradFlag-by-LucyWalker.JPG" data-mid="215727386" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/49a59a034cd4f72bc6a209142493641b2d3a0a644b4b68097ca2d8ac7435b204/12_BringYourOwnBrigade_BradFlag-by-LucyWalker.JPG" /> https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Defying-Gravity Fri, 12 Jul 2024 18:20:30 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Defying-Gravity Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women’s Gymnastics (2020)watch on YouTube A 6-part documentary series that tells the story of Women’s Gymnastics — the Events and Milestones, Icons and Hopefuls, Triumphs and Heartbreaks — through the voices of its greatest champions.&nbsp;The episodes are organized according to the different Olympic disciplines - beam, vault, floor, bars, all-around, team. The series has more than 21 million views on YouTube and won the 2021 Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Sports Program. It was also nominated for a 2021 Emmy Award for Outstanding Edited Sports Series and for a 2021 Critics Choice Real TV Award for Best Sports Show.&nbsp; Watch the trailer here:Interviewees include Olga Korbut Aly Raisman Phoebe Mills Cathy Rigby Vanessa Atler Kyla Ross Madison Kocian Dominique Moceanu Jamie Dantzscher Katelyn Ohashi Mykayla Skinner Jade Carey Mohini Bhardawaj Kathy Johnson Sam Peszek Carly Patterson Gabby Douglas Nellie Kim Zbigniew Brezinski https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Oh-What-a-Beautiful-City Tue, 23 Jul 2024 17:28:42 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Oh-What-a-Beautiful-City Oh, What a Beautiful City (2017)&nbsp; A day in the life of New York City’s Hamilton Fish Pool on the Lower East Side, a public community space that encapsulates the defiantly inclusive spirit of the city on a sultry summer’s day. Created for The New Yorker, inspired by Christoph Neimann’s New Yorker cover ‘Dropped Call’, and commissioned by Qualcomm, the film premiered at the 2017 New Yorker Festival and DocNYC Film Festival and features beautiful verité cinematography by Lucy’s longtime collaborator Aaron Phillips and a gorgeous arrangement of Marian Anderson’s Oh What a Beautiful City by Reza Safinia commissioned to score the film. Watch the full short film here: Christoph Neimann’s inspiring New Yorker cover: <img width="1180" height="1610" width_o="1180" height_o="1610" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e4306d63286f7798d0ce7f463a4125544335b5a0412c64d6f8c50a1eb282a804/nyer-cover.jpeg" data-mid="215138131" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e4306d63286f7798d0ce7f463a4125544335b5a0412c64d6f8c50a1eb282a804/nyer-cover.jpeg" /> Stills of Hamilton Fish Pool through the course of a day: <img width="1188" height="668" width_o="1188" height_o="668" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6c2888747d96e7b5ecba727bab0bfe0e0f9baa308237ff64498b9beb130123b2/OWABC---Hamilton-Fish-Pool-002.jpg" data-mid="215727627" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6c2888747d96e7b5ecba727bab0bfe0e0f9baa308237ff64498b9beb130123b2/OWABC---Hamilton-Fish-Pool-002.jpg" /> <img width="1280" height="830" width_o="1280" height_o="830" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a6f2c9cb91c4cf881d19f458ad50d6deb6677b67f48d1e395aabb9963bd02936/OWABC---Hamilton-Fish-Pool-004.jpg" data-mid="215727625" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a6f2c9cb91c4cf881d19f458ad50d6deb6677b67f48d1e395aabb9963bd02936/OWABC---Hamilton-Fish-Pool-004.jpg" /><img width="1280" height="818" width_o="1280" height_o="818" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8f9ac1b7bc81d61d7b1e4ec4d00a280b4550302abfca1a55dfc85c9816ee2860/OWABC---Hamilton-Fish-Pool-001.jpg" data-mid="215727628" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8f9ac1b7bc81d61d7b1e4ec4d00a280b4550302abfca1a55dfc85c9816ee2860/OWABC---Hamilton-Fish-Pool-001.jpg" /> https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Buena-Vista-Social-Club-Adios Sat, 13 Jul 2024 18:50:10 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Buena-Vista-Social-Club-Adios Buena Vista Social Club: Adios (2017)watch on Tubi or Pluto TV The musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club exposed the world to Cuba's vibrant culture with their landmark 1997 album. Now, against the backdrop of Cuba’s captivating musical history, hear the band’s story as they reflect on their remarkable careers and the extraordinary circumstances that brought them together.&nbsp;Note: Lucy was not a producer on this film and the producers ran into some chain of title issues and pulled the movie, unbeknownst to Lucy, out of its Sundance slot on the eve of its premiere. There were no creative differences, but the movie was recut for legal reasons and given a minimal release without publicity, festivals, or awards consideration. Nonetheless the version released was a New York Times and LA Times Critic’s Pick and is still worth watching, even in its “legal” cut. The film as made by the filmmakers was finished before Sundance. However it has not screened in public to this day. Those who saw it said that it was perhaps the finest film not just about the band but about the 100 years of Cuban history that their lifetimes encompassed. Watch the trailer: https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Wolvesmouth Sat, 13 Jul 2024 18:58:39 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/Wolvesmouth Wolvesmouth (2016) &nbsp;&nbsp; Created by Lucy for Amazon’s “New Yorker magazine television show” New Yorker Presents, this short documentary takes us on a culinary journey from the crystal meth capital of the world, Bullhead City, AZ, to the coolest underground supper club in Los Angeles, Wolvesmouth to meet chef Craig Thornton. Watch the full short here: https://lucywalkerfilm.com/The-Lion-s-Mouth-Opens Wed, 10 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000 Lucy Walker Film https://lucywalkerfilm.com/The-Lion-s-Mouth-Opens The Lion’s Mouth Opens (2014) watch on Amazon or&nbsp;Apple TV In this Cinema Eye Best Short Doc award winner, a courageous young Scottish actress takes the boldest step imaginable to confront her risk of having inherited the fatal, incurable Huntington's Disease. The Lion’s Mouth Opens premiered at Sundance, was distributed by HBO and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. See the trailer here: A BRIEF NOTE ABOUT LENGTH :)The film originally premiered as a 15-minute film, but has now been expanded and runs 28 minutes long.SYNOPSIS This verité documentary is about confronting life’s most daunting moments with purpose and grace, and about the impact of genetic bonds and genetic testing on the people we love and on how we face our destiny. Stunningly courageous young filmmaker-actress Marianna Palka gathers her friends around her as she finds out whether she has inherited Huntington’s Disease, an incurable degenerative disorder which took her father and now has a 50% chance of taking her body and her mind. Intimate, suspenseful, and emotional, with sensitive verité cinematography by Nick Higgins, and with a title taken from the Bob Dylan poem which Marianna recites about Woody Guthrie who died from Huntington’s Disease, The Lion’s Mouth Opens ultimately inspires us to find a new dream no matter what. <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a0963e70420530b34e532e8b0792e84b1c31104420ba1919566a79c3a9829127/TLMO-Screengrab-Brighter.jpg" data-mid="215728047" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a0963e70420530b34e532e8b0792e84b1c31104420ba1919566a79c3a9829127/TLMO-Screengrab-Brighter.jpg" />AWARDS premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2014Winner Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking, Cinema Eye Honors 2015Grand Jury Award nomination, Sundance Film Festival 2014Best Short Doc nomination, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014Special Jury Mention for Best Short Documentary, Aspen ShortsFest 2014Finalist, Best Short Film, Ashland Independent Film Festival 2014Director's Choice Best Short Doc, Rincon International Film Festival 2014Moving Mountains Prize nomination, MountainFilm in Telluride 2014Audience Award for Best Documentary Short, Traverse City Film Festival 2014shortlisted for Best Documentary Short, Academy Awards 2015PRESS "an espresso shot to the heart" - LA Times"the most emotionally devastating film at the Sundance Film Festival this year was a short" - Filmmaker Magazine“her latest work managed to become one of the most discussed and buzzed-about films to play in Park City this year… Rarely has a short made such an impact.” - Realscreen“a deftly executed piece of filmmaking… a powerful study of fear and friendship” - Aspen Daily News"Soon the audience is a part of this extended family privy, in real time, to the most intimate and terrifying line in the sand, life before-life after moments.” - ABC News"it builds emotions that many films struggle to capture throughout a feature running time. Some films are best served long, while others are most effective as brief fragments of time, capturing the moment when the lion bares its jaws and the future becomes less scary, more clear.” - Thompson on Hollywood, IndieWIREDONATE To donate to Huntington's Disease research in Marianna's name go here.The film so far has raised over $105,000 for HD research :) Thanks so much everyone!SCREENING INQUIRIES In the U.S.A., the film will be broadcast on HBO during Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month, and after that it will also be available online, and we want it to help those in the Huntington's Disease community, so if there are any ways in which we can use the film to help raise funds or awareness please be in touch. For screening or other inquiries, please contact us here.FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE hdsa.orghdfoundation.orgNOTE ON THE TITLE OF THE FILM "And the lion's mouth opens and yer staring at his teethAnd his jaws start closin with you underneath"The title "The Lion's Mouth Opens" is taken from lines from a poem that Bob Dylan wrote about Woody Guthrie called "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie" which Marianna recites aloud in the film.The story of the poem is that Dylan went to visit Woody Guthrie (arguably his greatest early influence) in Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, where Guthrie was dying from Huntington’s Disease. Dylan recited the poem live only once, after he returned to the stage at the end of his April 12, 1963 performance at New York's Town Hall. Dylan explained that "there's this book coming out, and they asked me to write something about Woody, sort of like what does Woody Guthrie mean to you in 25 words, and I couldn't do it, I wrote out five pages".To listen to Dylan reciting the poem please visit: youtube.com/watch?v=Q0OdNY8AybwHere's the poem in full:Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrieby Bob DylanWhen yer head gets twisted and yer mind grows numbWhen you think you're too old, too young, too smart or too dumbWhen yer laggin' behind an' losin' yer paceIn a slow-motion crawl of life's busy raceNo matter what yer doing if you start givin' upIf the wine don't come to the top of yer cupIf the wind's got you sideways with with one hand holdin' onAnd the other starts slipping and the feeling is goneAnd yer train engine fire needs a new spark to catch itAnd the wood's easy findin' but yer lazy to fetch itAnd yer sidewalk starts curlin' and the street gets too longAnd you start walkin' backwards though you know its wrongAnd lonesome comes up as down goes the dayAnd tomorrow's mornin' seems so far awayAnd you feel the reins from yer pony are slippin'And yer rope is a-slidin' 'cause yer hands are a-drippin'And yer sun-decked desert and evergreen valleysTurn to broken down slums and trash-can alleysAnd yer sky cries water and yer drain pipe's a-pourin'And the lightnin's a-flashing and the thunder's a-crashin'And the windows are rattlin' and breakin' and the roof tops a-shakin'And yer whole world's a-slammin' and bangin'And yer minutes of sun turn to hours of stormAnd to yourself you sometimes say"I never knew it was gonna be this wayWhy didn't they tell me the day I was born"And you start gettin' chills and yer jumping from sweatAnd you're lookin' for somethin' you ain't quite found yetAnd yer knee-deep in the dark water with yer hands in the airAnd the whole world's a-watchin' with a window peek stareAnd yer good gal leaves and she's long gone a-flyingAnd yer heart feels sick like fish when they're fryin'And yer jackhammer falls from yer hand to yer feetAnd you need it badly but it lays on the streetAnd yer bell's bangin' loudly but you can't hear its beatAnd you think yer ears might a been hurtOr yer eyes've turned filthy from the sight-blindin' dirtAnd you figured you failed in yesterdays rushWhen you were faked out an' fooled white facing a four flushAnd all the time you were holdin' three queensAnd it's makin you mad, it's makin' you meanLike in the middle of Life magazineBouncin' around a pinball machineAnd there's something on yer mind you wanna be sayingThat somebody someplace oughta be hearin'But it's trapped on yer tongue and sealed in yer headAnd it bothers you badly when your layin' in bedAnd no matter how you try you just can't say itAnd yer scared to yer soul you just might forget itAnd yer eyes get swimmy from the tears in yer headAnd yer pillows of feathers turn to blankets of leadAnd the lion's mouth opens and yer staring at his teethAnd his jaws start closin with you underneathAnd yer flat on your belly with yer hands tied behindAnd you wish you'd never taken that last detour signAnd you say to yourself just what am I doin'On this road I'm walkin', on this trail I'm turnin'On this curve I'm hangingOn this pathway I'm strolling, in the space I'm takingIn this air I'm inhalingAm I mixed up too much, am I mixed up too hardWhy am I walking, where am I runningWhat am I saying, what am I knowingOn this guitar I'm playing, on this banjo I'm frailin'On this mandolin I'm strummin', in the song I'm singin'In the tune I'm hummin', in the words I'm writin'In the words that I'm thinkin'In this ocean of hours I'm all the time drinkin'Who am I helping, what am I breakingWhat am I giving, what am I takingBut you try with your whole soul bestNever to think these thoughts and never to letThem kind of thoughts gain groundOr make yer heart poundBut then again you know why they're aroundJust waiting for a chance to slip and drop down"Cause sometimes you hear'em when the night times comes creepingAnd you fear that they might catch you a-sleepingAnd you jump from yer bed, from yer last chapter of dreamin'And you can't remember for the best of yer thinkingIf that was you in the dream that was screamingAnd you know that it's something special you're needin'And you know that there's no drug that'll do for the healin'And no liquor in the land to stop yer brain from bleedingAnd you need something specialYeah, you need something special all rightYou need a fast flyin' train on a tornado trackTo shoot you someplace and shoot you backYou need a cyclone wind on a stream engine howlerThat's been banging and booming and blowing foreverThat knows yer troubles a hundred times overYou need a Greyhound bus that don't bar no raceThat won't laugh at yer looksYour voice or your faceAnd by any number of bets in the bookWill be rollin' long after the bubblegum crazeYou need something to open up a new doorTo show you something you seen beforeBut overlooked a hundred times or moreYou need something to open your eyesYou need something to make it knownThat it's you and no one else that ownsThat spot that yer standing, that space that you're sittingThat the world ain't got you beatThat it ain't got you lickedIt can't get you crazy no matter how manyTimes you might get kickedYou need something special all rightYou need something special to give you hopeBut hope's just a wordThat maybe you said or maybe you heardOn some windy corner 'round a wide-angled curveBut that's what you need man, and you need it badAnd yer trouble is you know it too good"Cause you look an' you start getting the chills"Cause you can't find it on a dollar billAnd it ain't on Macy's window sillAnd it ain't on no rich kid's road mapAnd it ain't in no fat kid's fraternity houseAnd it ain't made in no Hollywood wheat germAnd it ain't on that dimlit stageWith that half-wit comedian on itRanting and raving and taking yer moneyAnd you thinks it's funnyNo you can't find it in no night club or no yacht clubAnd it ain't in the seats of a supper clubAnd sure as hell you're bound to tellThat no matter how hard you rubYou just ain't a-gonna find it on yer ticket stubNo, and it ain't in the rumors people're tellin' youAnd it ain't in the pimple-lotion people are sellin' youAnd it ain't in no cardboard-box houseOr down any movie star's blouseAnd you can't find it on the golf courseAnd Uncle Remus can't tell you and neither can Santa ClausAnd it ain't in the cream puff hair-do or cotton candy clothesAnd it ain't in the dime store dummies or bubblegum goonsAnd it ain't in the marshmallow noises of the chocolate cake voicesThat come knockin' and tappin' in Christmas wrappin'Sayin' ain't I pretty and ain't I cute and look at my skinLook at my skin shine, look at my skin glowLook at my skin laugh, look at my skin cryWhen you can't even sense if they got any insidesThese people so pretty in their ribbons and bowsNo you'll not now or no other dayFind it on the doorsteps made out-a paper mache¥And inside it the people made of molassesThat every other day buy a new pair of sunglassesAnd it ain't in the fifty-star generals and flipped-out phoniesWho'd turn yuh in for a tenth of a pennyWho breathe and burp and bend and crackAnd before you can count from one to tenDo it all over again but this time behind yer backMy friendThe ones that wheel and deal and whirl and twirlAnd play games with each other in their sand-box worldAnd you can't find it either in the no-talent foolsThat run around gallantAnd make all rules for the ones that got talentAnd it ain't in the ones that ain't got any talent but think they doAnd think they're foolin' youThe ones who jump on the wagonJust for a while 'cause they know it's in styleTo get their kicks, get out of it quickAnd make all kinds of money and chicksAnd you yell to yourself and you throw down yer hatSayin', "Christ do I gotta be like thatAin't there no one here that knows where I'm atAin't there no one here that knows how I feelGood God AlmightyTHAT STUFF AIN'T REAL"No but that ain't yer game, it ain't even yer raceYou can't hear yer name, you can't see yer faceYou gotta look some other placeAnd where do you look for this hope that yer seekin'Where do you look for this lamp that's a-burnin'Where do you look for this oil well gushin'Where do you look for this candle that's glowin'Where do you look for this hope that you know is thereAnd out there somewhereAnd your feet can only walk down two kinds of roadsYour eyes can only look through two kinds of windowsYour nose can only smell two kinds of hallwaysYou can touch and twistAnd turn two kinds of doorknobsYou can either go to the church of your choiceOr you can go to Brooklyn State HospitalYou'll find God in the church of your choiceYou'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State HospitalAnd though it's only my opinionI may be right or wrongYou'll find them bothIn the Grand CanyonAt sundownFESTIVALS Official Selection, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014Official Selection, True/False Film Fest 2014Official Selection, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014Official Selection, Sydney Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Palm Springs Shortsfest 2014Official Selection, Chicago Critics Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Rooftop Films 2014Official Selection, MountainFilm in Telluride 2014Official Selection, Nashville Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Maryland Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Sun Valley Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Napa Valley Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Seattle International Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Focus Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Los Angeles Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Vancouver International Film Festival 2014Official Selection, AFI DOCS 2014Official Selection, Provincetown International Film FestivalOfficial Selection, Tacoma Film FestivalOfficial Selection, Traverse City Film FestivalOfficial Selection, Amfest Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Big Eddy Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Calgary International Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Camden International Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Camerimage Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Cinema Vérité Iran International Documentary Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Culture Smash Nashville 2014Official Selection, DOC NYC Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Docuwest International Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Dokufest Kosovo Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Hamptons International Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Imagine Science Film Festival 2014Official Selection, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2014Official Selection, New Hampshire Film Festival 2014Official Selection, ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Rehoboth Beach Film Festival 2014Official Selection, Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival 2014Official Selection, St. Louis International Film Festival 2014