WALK! 4279 km from Mexico to Canada

Hot desert sand blows in the face, the mouth dry. Legs sink into masses of snow. There is a crackling in the thicket. A rattlesnake, a cougar, bear? Through endless burned forests, where white bear grass sprouts delicately from the ground, like Phoenix from the ashes. Wet feet crossing rivers, steep, dangerous slopes. Interstates and highways, representatives of a noisy civilization. Places to eat, without which a trail doesn't work. Heat, sub-zero temperatures, storms and thunderstorms, sunshine ... Feeling the ground underfoot, communing with nature, oneness. Counting steps, counting kilometers, pain in body and soul ... But also infinite happiness inhabiting body and soul.

Year after year, thousands of hikers set out on the Pacific Crest Trail. In search of insight, adventure, healing, inspiring states that describe our world, they give up months of comforts for a simple and always extreme life in nature. Nature as a counterpart that provides food for thought in a man-made age. Home on their backs, moving every day with tent and backpack. 4,279 km across the states of California, Oregon and Washington.

In 2019, Sabine and Olli hiked the long-distance trail. They met hikers from all over the world and conducted hundreds of interviews. People tell what drove them away and how home welcomed them back. With every step, every meter that brings you closer to your goal, you move a little bit away from yourself. If it goes well, you know yourself better afterwards. The instinct of self-preservation works.

Over 600 hours of footage were shot on the trail. Nature footage and over 250 interviews with hikers and others we encountered. Together with the still outstanding post trail interviews, which show our main protagonists in their cultural context in sharp contrast to the situation on the trail, an approx. 130-minute documentary film for the cinema is to be produced, which will be shown in Germany and the USA.

The film will not only show the beauty of our earth (the PCT leads through 7 national parks, 24 national forests, 33 designated wilderness areas and 5 geographic climate zones) according to the motto „Everyday is like a postcard“, but will also tell of the invisible, of dreams, hopes and respect and show a picture of the people along the trail that often remains hidden to us as Europeans from afar.

A philosophical film that – free from the calculations of everyday life – tries to give an authentic look behind the facade of what we do. What each individual needs personally is often different from what everyday life makes us believe. Good life, decisive success can lie in hardly visible things. Are we independent enough to be able to live that? We come closer to this by creating distance from our everyday life and gaining closeness to ourselves.

The way on the Pacific Crest Trail you have to go alone. But you can't do it alone. Without the help and support of others, you won't get far. Every day anew it shows that it is not possible without empathy, humanity and hospitality. Values that we humans seem to be losing more and more, and which are always worth focusing on.

The film wants to give courage to ask questions and to live dreams. Above all, the film shows nature as a space worth protecting, hiking does not mean to exploit nature for its own purposes, but to deal with it in harmony. „Leave No Trace“ is only one of several ethical principles. Give space to nature and protect what you want to use.

It is similar with the importance of encounters in life for more tolerance. The documentary film as a gateway to the world creates understanding for other opinions, attitudes, other ways of life.
Values have no minimum age, so our film is suitable for everyone who is interested in people and nature.

With the proceeds of the crowdfunding on Startnext we would like to financially secure the still outstanding shooting in Germany and abroad (summer – fall 2023) and the elaborate final production of the film (editing, color correction, sound design, sound mixing and music) - thus the completion of the final documentary.

Funds will be used for:

• Travel and accommodation expenses (expected for filming in Germany, USA, Brazil, Myanmar and South Korea).
• Loan of technical equipment
• Fair fees for team members (director, camera and sound)
• Fair payment in post-production (including director, editor, colorist, sound designer, sound mixer, film composer)
• Studio rentals (editing and sound studios)

Timetable

• April – June 2023: Crowdfunding
• June – July 2023: Preparation shooting block 2
• August – October 2023: Filming block 2
• Fall 2023 – Spring 2024: Postproduction (editing, color correction, sound design, sound mixing, music)
• Spring – Early Summer 2024: Completion & film premiere