Protect Our Winters (POW), one of the nation’s leading organizations for climate action in outdoor communities, is launching a virtual “Holiday Stoke Fest” film festival free to the public. POW has been one of the most influential groups empowering trail runners as climate action leaders (see our article from 2020 with POW athletes Clare Gallagher and Stephanie Howe). This upcoming film festival is following in the success of POW’s in-person Stoke Fest film festival which took place earlier this fall 2023 in Missoula, MT. The Virtual Holiday Stoke Fest will feature three new films:
Soñadora by Vanessa Chavarriaga
Footprints on Katmai by Max Romey
Hypocrite by Amie Engerbretson
Find details of each film and RSVP for the Holiday Stoke Fest which will be held virtually on December 14, 2023 at 6:30PM MT here.
In the following Q/A style interview, I talk with POW about the inspiration behind the Virtual Stoke Fest and what makes it a fun yet effective way to engage the outdoor community on the topic of climate change.
[TAYTE] What was the inspiration for the Virtual Stoke Fest?
[PROTECT OUR WINTERS (POW)] As an organization, we work to turn the Outdoor State, the 50 million people who participate in outdoor recreation in the US, into the country’s most impactful and influential voice in climate action. That means we must find ways to bring people together to discover our shared values. Whether you ski, snowboard, bike, climb, fish, hunt or run, we all love the outdoors and more than likely we want to find ways to leave things better than we found them. We believe that if we can come together and build bridges, we can take on climate change as a community. The best way to figure out what values we all share is through stories.
Storytelling through film is ingrained in the outdoor culture. There are so many incredible film festivals and video premiers throughout the outdoor community each year, so you can absolutely say we have taken influence from them all. The inspiration for our Stoke Fest events is to invite our community and those who want to learn more about what we do to come together to watch inspiring stories of trials and tribulations and learn how others are acting on climate or overcoming their apathy to become part of the solution.
[TAYTE] How do you decide on the films chosen? Is there a thread or theme running across the films?
[POW] At POW, we have an incredible Alliance of Athletes, Creatives, Scientists, and Brands all on the front line with us, using their levers to speak up to help protect the places, people, and experiences they love from the impacts of climate change. At POW, we are always working to find ways to amplify their voices and stories, so in 2020, we created our Advocacy and Adventure and Empowerment Grants to provide more opportunities to bring these stories to life. Since then, we have supported over twenty projects, reaching over 1.5 million people! These stories are supported by a jury of their peers anchored around the fact that advocacy is a part of being someone who loves the outdoors.
Photo: Protect Our Winters
We want to first change the culture so we can then change the systems that exist right now. Stoke Fest is POW’s way of bringing these unique individuals and narratives to the big screen (or a couch near you) to dig in behind the scenes and learn from these incredibly inspirational and aspirational people standing up for what they believe in. Each film is very different in terms of its artistic style, but at the end of the day, each one will inspire viewers to find common ground with one another, embrace imperfect advocacy, and empower each other to use our voices to advocate for the things we care about most.
[TAYTE] Can we expect another in-person Stoke Fest? How might interested storytellers and videographers pitch to this fest or is it exclusive to POW athletes?
[POW] Yes! This is our second year hosting Stoke Fest and we are preparing for more stops in 2024 to help get out the vote! We will host a variety of virtual and in-person stops. Keep an eye out for a screening near you in the next year.
At this time, all content we screen comes through our grant programs and our Alliances.
[TAYTE] How does the medium of film and storytelling help push the larger agenda of climate action for POW?
[POW] Climate change is this big, audacious, scary challenge we are all facing, whether we like it or not. Losing snow so we cannot go ski or play outside is truly the least of our worries, but our passions can be a catalyst for action to help protect what we love and the people and communities who are facing the brunt of climate change right now.
In the face of this challenge, we have a choice. We can shrink, cower in our hypocrisy, and wait on the sidelines. Or we can choose to get in the game and try even if the odds are stacked against us. How we choose to act is up to the narratives we tell ourselves and each other. Facts alone will not create the change we want to see, we know that, as science shows us, we need to act now! To create the motivation to address climate change at scale, we need to tell stories.
Narrative is heart-based work, stories make you feel, make you want to act, make you want to do something. We use stories and films to bring people together to amplify each other’s voices and create collective action. There are thousands of ways to act on climate change, but the most powerful action we can all take to create systemic change is to bring people together and change the narrative to one of resilience and hope.
Photo: Protect Our Winters
Who better to take on something as daunting as climate change than those who do not accept failure so easily and often turn what is considered impossible into the possible? As many of us have experienced versions of this, whether it is winning or losing a race by a hair or climbing mountains that have never been climbed before we change the narrative, not by how we summit these goals but by how we show up again and again after failure. You don’t have to be the world’s greatest athlete to resonate with these values and not all stories are a victory, but the Alliance and POW chose to tell stories of resilience, joy and redemption.
If these values do resonate with you, we invite you to join us on December 14, 2023 at 6:30 MT for our Holiday Virtual Stoke Fest to see and feel what it is like to be a part of a community working to create change to create clean air, clean water and a healthy planet for future generations.
