Mountains of Color Film Festival Returns to Jackson This Weekend

Mountains of Color Film Festival (MOC), the first film festival
dedicated to celebrating BIPOC+ (Black, Indigenous, People of Color, + other intersecting
marginalized groups) in outdoors, adventure, and conservation filmmaking, is returning to
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, June 7th through June 10th. Founded in 2023 in Jackson, WY by filmmakers Sofía Jaramillo, Jr. Rodriguez, and Leslie Bahn
Steen, the first-of-its-kind national film festival calls attention to and celebrates the diversity of
the outdoor community through inspirational film, panel discussions, filmmaking, production, and
inclusivity workshops.The festival will feature nightly film screenings, panel discussions, and hands-on workshops as part of the goal to create a more welcoming and inclusive outdoor culture for all. We caught up with festival co-director Sofia Jaramillo during her drive from her home in Sun Valley ID, where she recently moved back to after living in Jackson.

First, can we just get a little bit about you and your background and journey into the photography and film industry?

I was born in and mostly grew up in Sun Valley ID. My family is from Manizales Colombia, which is the sort of mountainous coffee-growing region of Colombia, but probably have a family member in every major city in the country, just as family is different out there. I first got into photography when I was about 15 years old when my dad let me use his point-and-shoot camera. I took some photos and I just kind of knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I started in photojournalism, working as a photojournalist at newspapers, and I was an intern for the Associated Press in Mexico. Then I moved to the Tetons in 2014, where I interned for the Jackson Hole News and Guide, which was when I realized I could combine adventure photography with my love for storytelling. I then worked as a staff photographer for a newspaper in Washington, before moving back to Jackson in 2018 to pursue that dream of becoming more of an adventure commercial photographer. So I’ve been working in that space while also still balancing some documentary stuff and work with National Geographic.

Jackson’s the place to dive into that world of adventure photography.

Totally. So my last assignment for the newspaper was to climb the Grand Teton and photograph a group of high school students. And that moment just really impacted my career, and just remember being there and thinking “Oh yeah this is what I want to do,” and I couldn’t let go of that dream.

And so what inspired you to organize a film festival?

About three years ago I started getting into filmmaking and became involved in various aspects of filmmaking. I was a cinematographer on the first Approach film, I’ve been an executive producer on a film, a couple of short documentaries, and then I most recently directed a film called Wading for Change, which premiered at last year’s Mountains of Color Festival, along with all the major outdoor film festivals. From that experience, we kind of realized that there aren’t that many filmmakers of color behind the lens and the majority of people up on stage presenting their films were non BIPOC folks. And so Mountains of Color is really about trying to get more BIPOC folks behind the lens, so we can help tell our stories more authentically. And also decreases some of that inaccessibility with filmmaking, as well as provides more opportunities to network with each other, and brands and production companies.

Jackson, like many western mountain towns, has an interesting dynamic in that most people on the trails and chairlifts look pretty similar, but it also has a strong Mexican and Latino population. Did it feel frustrating that those outdoor spaces continued to look fairly homogenous?

You know I think things are changing right now. There are awesome programs like Camina Conmigo and Coombs Outdoors, as well as national programs that are helping change that space. I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating, but more so inspiring. That’s why the festival, and why a lot of the work I do is focusing on uplifting and highlighting stories about BIPOC in the outdoors.

I think that storytelling is at the core of who we are, and it’s how we change culture. If you can connect with a story, then you’re going to keep telling that story, and that influences culture.

But for me, as a kid growing up in Sun Valley, that definitely impacted my ability to understand who I was, as I didn’t see many other Latinos on the slopes. It took me a while to embrace all sides of who I am because of that kind of isolation.

But as you’ve said, things are changing, and 2024 does look a bit different than say 2014.

Yeah, totally. For sure we’re seeing more people of color in the outdoors, but we’re still not seeing those stories told by people who have similar experiences. And I think that we eliminate the possibility of unintended harm and also inauthentic stories when there’s at least one person of color on a production crew telling a story about a person of color. There’s cultural insight and understanding that non-BIPOC folks might be missing to tell that story authentically.

It is an interesting dynamic in towns and communities like Jackson, because of a lot of these outdoor activities we do, when you look around, everyone looks pretty similar, but the reality of our community and population isn’t just that.

Totally. I think it has two components. One is representation which is super important because if you don’t see yourself in the activity that you want to do, it’s a lot harder to go out and do it. You know, you’re a little less comfortable, you might look at a sport and say oh that's not for me because I haven’t seen anyone else doing it. When I became a filmmaker, Faith E. Briggs became such an inspiration to me and one of my mentors, (who will be at the festival this weekend,) and seeing what she’s doing encouraged me so that I could also do the same.

So representation is part of it, but also just like cultural understanding and awareness of different perspectives. That’s what we’re trying to share with these films.

This is the second year of Mountains of Color. What did you learn from last year’s event and how are you feeling about this year’s festival going into the weekend?

Well, I think the thing we learned was how important the festival was to not only the BIPOC community but beyond that. Like we got so much good feedback from the Jackson community, and the outdoor community in general. And that solidified that there is such a need for a space like this. So that just encouraged us to do a round two. We didn’t even know we were going to do a second festival this year, but it went so well, and there were so many people being like “Hey, why didn’t you tell me about this?” and wanted to sponsor us. And people who said, “This was the most impactful festival I’ve been to.” So that was super encouraging. And I’m feeling great. A little bit nervous, just because it’s gotten so much bigger, but I think it has so much more potential to make an impact.

It’s looking like a beautiful weekend and one of the films in the festival just received an Emmy, so that’s super exciting.

It does seem like festivals and gatherings to include the BIPOC community in the outdoors have increased with nonprofits like the Coombs Foundation and the work that you and Junior have been doing, but as an outdoor community as a whole how can we keep improving to create a more inclusive space for all?

I think for the folks who understand the importance of the work to continue doing the work. And to remember that this is like, not just for the greater good of one subset of people, but for the greater good of all people because the more perspectives we have in the outdoor community, the richer it is, and the more people that care about the outdoors as well. I grew up in Idaho where there are a lot of different perspectives and I think that having all those different perspectives in one space has made me a more well-rounded person and I'd like to see that for the outdoor space as well.

What films are you most excited to see this weekend? And what work of yours can we look out for?

I’m excited to see the Emmy-nominated film, but I’m also really excited to see Moving Mountains. That film won our Wading For Change BIPOC Filmmakers Grant at the Five Point Film Festival last year. And that was the initiative Junior and I started, and the filmmakers are going to come out from California to show that. It’s a unique take on surfing and has some kind of trippy art in it. A different take on filmmaking, and I’m excited about it.

For me, I’m directing a new fine art video project called A New Winter, where I’m reimaging historic ski images except centering folks of color. Those photos didn’t exist, and it’s a way of inviting conversations around - why the ski slopes are the way they are today. And so that’s what I’ve been focussing on.

Looking forward to seeing it!  Well have a safe drive, enjoy the weekend, and congrats on the festival!

For more information on the festival, events, and screenings click here.