The Boundary Waters Traverse
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is 1.1 million acres of interconnected lakes, portage trails, and uncut forest in northern Minnesota - it's America's most visited Wilderness, with over one hundred thousand visitors a year. A proposed sulfide-ore copper mine threatened to change that permanently.
The Boundary Waters Traverse // Short Doc
The Boundary Waters Traverse // Short Doc
Trail runner and Save the Boundary Waters campaign manager, Alex Falconer decided the best argument was to hoof it for 110 miles and bring cameras along to tell the story. Falconer was attempting something no one had done before: a continuous ultra-run connecting the Border Route and Kekekabic Trail across the full width of the Wilderness.
What the work had to do:
- Follow Falconer and his team into Northern MN and capture the traverse as it happened
- Build a documentary that made the threat of the mine feel real to people who'd never set foot in the BWCAW
- Deliver a film that could earn attention at the national level
- Get in, get out, and don't compromise the athlete or the environment while doing it
The film helped the story travel well beyond the trail - through screenings, advocacy events, press, and award wins - helping Save the Boundary Waters turn a complicated environmental fight into a story people cared about. In January 2022, the Department of the Interior canceled Twin Metals’ federal mineral leases. One year later, the Biden administration withdrew more than 225,000 acres from new mineral leasing for 20 years.
The political fight has continued since. But for us, that’s part of the point. Good cause-driven work doesn’t need to solve the whole problem. It needs to make people care enough to keep showing up and keep fighting.
You’re…
- Fighting for a cause that matters and need more people to give a damn
- Trying to make a complicated issue understandable without sanding off what makes it important
- Looking beyond the people already paying attention
You need…
- A human story that gives people a reason to care, share, and show up
- A film strong enough to stand on its own and help carry a larger campaign
- A creative partner who knows when to follow the plan and when to follow the story
Sound familiar? Let's talk.
Made by Good People
Crew
- Director
- Erik Nelson
- EP
- Patrick Shelton
- Field Producer
- Erik Nelson
- DP
- Kellen Witschen
- Editor
- Bud Hjelmberg
- FPV Drone Pilot
- Jourdan Gomez
- Colorist
- Chaddix Malchow
- Sound Design & Mix
- Talyor Lewin
- Talent (Runner)
- Alex Falconer
- Talent (Runner)
- Clare Gallagher
- Talent (Runner)
- Peyton Thomas
- Talent (Runner)
- Kyle Pietari
- Talent (Runner)
- Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux
- Talent (Runner)
- Brendan Davis
- Talent (Runner)
- Matthew Wardhaugh