Filming days in Cha Simba 💛 it’s been over a year since we began this documentary and now it’s finally finished! Grateful for this beautiful project, the community and everyone who helped us bring the story to life.
I hope so many more people get to experience these sacred limestone caves filled with indigenous trees and flowers, animals and insects 🦋
We can’t wait to share this story @wearetheleaf@chariot_creationsllc
What does it take to know a mountain? ⛰️
Tired of all the stories focused on racing to the summit, Hannah Westhenry fell into the pages of her beloved book The Living Mountain, by Scottish writer & explorer Nan Shepherd. Inspired by Nan’s work, Hannah brings together a diverse group of women to follow in Nan's footsteps, adventuring into the UK's largest and wildest mountain range to tell a different story.
We’re excited to announce our film ‘To Know A Mountain’ will be premiering at Kendal Mountain Festival 2024 as part of the ‘Mountain Blue’ collection on Friday Nov 22nd at 12:15pm and Sunday Nov 24th at 9:30am. You can find tickets through @kendalmountainfestival
Directed, Shot, and Edited by @emily.pbaker & @_michellesanders
Super8 Cinematography by @moonseungsung
Music by @aliceboydmusic
Photography by @ameenarojee
Produced with @following_nanshepherd
With Support From @explorewhatmatters@alpkit@staywildswim@ffern.co
Clips from our new documentary Where Lions Once Were!
The film explores the connection between Cha Simba’s Chonyi community and Mawe Meru, an ancient cave with an uncertain future. The film follows Ibra, his mother Millicent and their community who are working to restore the deforested land around the caves. As a new cement mine threatens the future of this fragile landscape, we witness how a community comes together to protect the cave, their culture and its unique environment.
It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for the film winning best documentary at LampArt 4th Edition festival in Mombasa. So proud and thankful to the entire team involved in making the film!
Excited to see what happens next and can’t wait to share the film soon!
Left my editing and writing hole for a week and headed up to Scotland with @_michellesanders to join @scottish_adventure_film_tour in Glasgow and Edinburgh 🏔️
It’s been awesome to see our film screened alongside so many diverse stories about Scotland’s adventure communities. I’m really proud of how far To Know A Mountain has come since we filmed it in 2023 and I don’t think either of us expected it to resonate with so many people across the UK.
For me, it’s seems as though Nan Shepherds meditative prose and teachings from the Living Mountain feel more relevant today than when she wrote them in the 1940s.
We also travelled further up the east coast for a new project we’re working on 🌊
#documentary #sony #womeninfilm
🎬 FILMMAKER ANNOUNCEMENT 🎬
We’re thrilled to have Emily Baker and Michelle Sanders, the filmmakers behind To Know A Mountain, joining us at the Glasgow and Edinburgh screenings on 11th and 12th March!
Emily is a filmmaker and photographer exploring our diverse relationships with the natural world. Michelle is a documentary filmmaker working at the intersection of nature, climate and adventure.
Join us to hear about their creative process, what it takes to bring an outdoor film to life, and the story behind the Following Nan Shepherd Project.
🎟️ Tickets via the link in our bio or on @scottish_adventure_film_tour website
Photos by @ameenarojee , @worldwidewallace , and @conservation.diaries
#ScottishAdventureFilm #OutdoorFilmTour #ScottishOutdoors #MountainStories
Wind, sand and sun beaten with no connection to the outside world.
In October I spent 20 days filming and camping in the Namibian desert for a new expedition film following a group of incredibly strong women and the vital work of @ehranamibia to protect the regions desert elephants.
These elephants are 1 of only 2 populations worldwide adapted to live in the desert but human-wildlife conflicts have had drastic impacts on their numbers. EHRAs community-focused approach is helping to conserve these remaining herds and help communities live alongside them.
Grateful to @cathadventure for trusting me to tell the story of this adventure and to everyone involved!
📸 @conservation.diaries 💛
The first film we are announcing for our 2026 lineup is…. To Know A Mountain! ⛰️🐝🌱🌲
‘To Know A Mountain’, a film by Emily Baker and Michelle Sanders, interweaves visuals of the Cairngorms – from its grand landscapes to its smallest details – into an anti-summit story, promoting inclusion in the outdoors, and representing a diversity of ways of being in the mountains not often told in adventure films.
Tired of all the stories focused on racing to the summit, Hannah Westhenry fell into the pages of her beloved book The Living Mountain, by Scottish writer & explorer Nan Shepherd. Inspired by Nan’s work, Hannah brings together a diverse group of women to follow in Nan’s footsteps, adventuring into the UK’s largest and wildest mountain range to tell a different story.
We can’t wait to bring this beautiful and thought-provoking film to new audiences around Scotland and the UK!
Directed by Michelle Sanders and Emily Baker
following_nanshepherd
Peaceful moments in Lamu 🌊
I’m heading off-grid for a few weeks for an exciting new project with @cathadventure and @ehranamibia filming some wonderful matriarchs!
Photos by the lovely @lealcampbell back in March
#documentary #sony #womeninfilm #conservation
Kilifi’s limestone relics are entwined with the communities who live around them.
Ancient cave systems like Panga Ya Saidi, Cha Simba and Pangani are surrounded by small patches of forest filled with endemic, medicinal and endangered species like the African Violet; a small flower which clings to their rocky outcrops.
Unfortunately, over the years much of these forests have faced increasing encroachment and deforestation.
Amazing community members like Millicent and Alex are working with @wearetheleaf to restore these surrounding forests through reforestation of indigenous species, supporting the future of these rich habitats and the people who live alongside them.
@chariot_creationsllc and I are currently in post-production for a short documentary about the incredible Cha Simba caves! ✨
#documentary #sony #womeninfilm #conservation
Terima kasih daun keladi @emily.pbaker atas sumbangan karya kreatif anda kepada HULUK FEST.
Jumpa lagi di tahun hadapan pada 7-9 Ogos 2026 di Kg Peta Endau Mersing Johor hanya di HULUK FEST 2026
⛰️To Know A Mountain Tour! ⛰️
We're having our last planned run of screenings for To Know A Mountain with @alpkit . If you want to see it on the big screen this is the chance-- tickets are available (for free!) on @alpkit page and their eventbrite. We'll be having different members of the team along to the various screenings around the country 🥾
In association with @following_nanshepherd , check out their page for more resources on the project!
What a journey it’s been creating this film with an amazing group of women!
Our film To Know A Mountian is finally available to watch publicly on @sidetrackedmag alongside a beautiful written piece about our expedition by @ameenarojee . You can find the link in my bio!
I’m so proud of this film and our team. We battled the ever changing Scottish elements and still managed to come home in high spirits with functioning cameras.
So happy to be able to share a slower and more inclusive approach to hiking ⛰️
#adventurefilmmaking #cairngorms #womeninfilm #scotlandhiking
