Trust is the foundation of our backcountry relationships: with ourselves, each other, and even the land, these are the spaces that define us. Yet in this process of becoming—alpinists, ski partners, Latinas, ourselves —snowboarder Dani Reyes-Acosta and skier Lani Bruntz learn that the journey isn’t just the destination.
We have to believe that our pursuit is not pointless, that our will to survive and thrive takes us somewhere. Maybe, just beyond our pain and suffering, we’ll find the redemption of the infinite.
This film was part of VIMFF 2023, VIMFF 2023 Tour and is no longer available for viewing.
Faith is a creative producer and documentary film director passionate about sharing contemporary stories that widen the spectrum of representation. Her work focuses on the outdoors, access, and community connections. She believes that amplifying more diverse stories increases our sense of possibility. Her favorite feelings are a tie between sun on skin and warm mud oozing between bare toes. She is grateful for the life changing knowledge of literary grandmothers such as Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, & Toni Cade Bambara. Her previous work includes RECLAIM YOUR WATER series (Sperry, 2022), the WHO IS A RUNNER series (Brooks, 2021), CAMP YOSHI (REI, 2021), ASCEND (The North Face, 2021), THIS LAND (Merrell, 2019), & BROTHERHOOD OF SKIING (REI, 2018). She is the co-host of The Trail Ahead podcast, a 2021 Grist 50! Fixer, a Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellow, and a Western Conservation Hub William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Grant Recipient. She is a graduate of Yale University, The Hotchkiss School, and The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. Faith is also a member of The Governing Council of The Wilderness Society.
Dani Reyes-Acosta is a professional snowboarder, alpinist, and storyteller aiming to inspire individual action and collective communion through self-care and self-determination found in the outdoors. Mexican, Filipina, and Mestiza, she reclaims the complexities of her heritage as a food producer, cultivator, and legacy Coloradan. Her goal as an athlete and storyteller is to find the limits of her possible, searching out the peaks and valleys that tell the story of Mother Earth’s most impacted places. She believes that in community with ourselves and the world at large, we can reEarth the power within—to form a better future for us all.
She received a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies with an Emphasis in the Politics and Socioeconomics of Latin America from the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Certificate in International Relations from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Dani was born in Santa Monica, California, and lives in Colorado. Her first film, OUTLIER: Trust, is a Banff 2022 Selection and Hispanic Access Foundation “Our Heritage, Our Planet” funded film. She has contributed storytelling strategy to Red Bull’s “Hidden Gems” series, and currently has two additional film projects under development. Honored by Protect Our Winters as “Athlete Alliance Member of the Year” for her community advocacy, she is an Explore Fund Council Member for The North Face, charting a path forward for a new generation of explorers.
