About the Project

Creating this documentary was a wild ride. It started with the idea of filming a day-in-the-life style piece at a cafe that sits at the 150-mile mark of the trail—the first cooked meal people get after being on the trail for over a week. This spot is synonymous with being the point where most people give up. My goal was to capture the different emotions coming into their first hot meal. I decided these emotions would only have a strong impact if we knew the story of what they had been through so far.

The Journey

Figuring out where I could meet off-the-grid people somewhere along the trail, I began posting manically on Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram, asking for trail walkers willing to be in the documentary. Eventually I found some amazing people willing to support me. On average, I was driving once a week for 6 hours to get a couple hours of filming in. Because I didn't want to subjugate anyone to have to pack everything up at 5:00am and drive out to the middle of nowhere for an interview, I ended up doing this project almost completely alone. During this process I realized a lot about myself and how I work. I learned through experience the scope of this story and how much more I want to do with it. The potential is unending, and with more people supporting the piece it could be a full feature.

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Roles:

Director, Director of Photography, Editor

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Andre Lendi www.growingproductions.com