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Last year’s top-grossing movies featured an even keel of female and male protagonists for the first time in recent history, according to an annual study by San Diego State University. It’s overdue for commercial cinema, but the founders of the No Man’s Land Film Festival weren’t waiting for that moment. Now in its 10th year, the touring festival touches down in Portland with two screenings of eight short films on Feb. 26 and 27 at Lewis & Clark College.
Riffing on the archaic term for remote, human-free spaces, No Man’s Land Film Festival’s organizers position it as a crucial celebration within the cinema and activism scenes. Paddling through the shore break of the 2010s cultural wave that crested with the #MeToo movement, NMLFF showcases adventure films with all-women and genderqueer leads. While the San Diego study demonstrates an improvement in equity, the founders of NMLFF know there’s more work to be done; none of 2024’s top 100 grossing movies had transgender or nonbinary protagonists.
Without ever leaving the Fowler Student Center’s Council Chambers theater, attendees will trot the globe. At these screenings, they’ll peer into the lives of Moroccan skater girls fearlessly chasing their dreams. Bend drag queen and climate activist Pattie Gonia explores the tragedy of two dying glaciers alongside Quinn Christopherson—a trans Ahtna Athabascan and Iñupiaq musician who won NPR’s annual Tiny Desk Concert contest in 2019—and acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Spectators will follow a group of delightful queers bikepacking—like backpacking, but on bikes—across the state of Washington and watch as a Mexican American rock climber navigates cultural identity on the crag. Another film will ask viewers to immerse themselves in a prayer ride, led by a group of Native American women, to a cemetery at the Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Carlisle, Penn.
A Sherpa woman returns to the valley of her childhood to obtain the title of mountain guide. Plus-sized women of color shed light on the social obstacles they face when exploring the great outdoors. A renewable energy sailboat’s two-woman crew treks toward a harrowing Arctic ski expedition in Greenland for the first time. Plots vary, but the festival’s mission remains unwavering: share quests led by women and genderqueer people where the explorers do more than survive the great outdoors.
Taylor Feldman, operations manager of the school’s College Outdoors program, chose eight titles from last year’s full 50-movie lineup, with the help of the associated student body. Collectively, they decided to screen Won’t Give Up, Dirt Pride, Raised by Sand & Salty Water, Both & Neither, Carlisle 200, The Destiny of a Sherpa Woman, Forward and Growing Greenland. Each film celebrates the full scope of athletes and adventurers and undefines femininity in adventure, sport, conservation and film, while keeping Lewis & Clark’s student populations’ interests in mind.
“The students are really excited about [NMLFF],” Feldman says. “Not just because it’s a film festival, not just because it’s an adventure film festival, but specifically because it’s an all-women and all genderqueer adventure film festival.”
The Feb. 26 screening is discounted to make the festival easier on high school and college students’ wallets. The price of admission for the Feb. 27 screening includes one free raffle ticket benefiting College Outdoors (patrons can increase their odds for $5 per ticket five-pack). Lewis & Clark College’s College Outdoors administrators wanted to make sure youth who need to see themselves onscreen are afforded that chance.
“Films are not only a vehicle of expression and activism, but they reaffirm our right to tell our own stories,” Kathy Karlo, the festival’s executive director, said in a statement. “Our goal is to champion the voices of the global majority through these exclusive premieres, important conversations and live performances.”
SEE IT: No Man’s Land Film Festival at the Stephanie Fowler Student Center at Lewis & Clark College, 615 S Palatine Hill Road, 503-768-7116, lclark.edu/live/news/nmlff. 7 pm Wednesday–Thursday, Feb. 26–27. $25, $10 with student ID on Feb. 26.