Name: The Defender Service Awards | 2023
Duration: 1 min
Description: Learn more and nominate a deserving nonprofit

Learn more and nominate a deserving nonprofit 

The Defender Service Awards | 2023

Apayauq is a documentary following the story of a young Alaskan woman named Apayauq Reitan, who in 2022 became the first openly transgender musher to compete in the Iditarod, a grueling dog sled race that covers more than 1,000 miles through the Alaskan wilderness.

The film explores Apayauq’s journey as a transgender person in a state where discrimination and prejudice against LGBTQ+ individuals are still prevalent. It also showcases the strength, perseverance, and dedication it takes to compete in the Iditarod, a challenging race that tests both the musher and the dogs.

Throughout the film, viewers get a glimpse into Anna's life as a musher, the bond she shares with her sled dogs, and the obstacles she faces on and off the trail while highlighting the supportive community that rallies behind her and the impact of her story on others. Apayauq is a powerful film that sheds light on the struggles and triumphs of the LGBTQ+ community in Alaska and celebrates the courage of individuals who defy societal norms to pursue their dreams.

Apayauq

This is a film about Atlanta-based artist Michi Meko, whose life is expressed in multiple layers of mystical meaning. It’s a film experience about journeys, navigation, cartography, and way-finding into the unknown and the uncharted. It’s a narrative about the buoyancy of our souls and survival, keeping our heavy heads filled with heavy thoughts above water. It’s about his struggle to become orientated in the pitch black and discover his metaphysical balance. It is about his decision and the journey to become an artist. Michi Meko is a postmodern cartographer and artist who lives within the parallels and meridians of two distinct worlds . . . the Urban world and the Rural world. Michi is highly influenced by his surrounding urbanization and the disposability of humanity, culture, injustice, and waste. He’s influenced by nature and wilderness and its ability to heal and inspire. His art attempts to answer the question – What is his place in this unfamiliar world of nature and wilderness, and how does his art define and exhibit a newly fused relationship between his past and a radically new and radiant expression? – Michi found his place and voice in nature as a fly fisherman and outdoor enthusiast. Michi Meko’s journey inspires a new mindset and possibilities for everyone, especially African Americans. Michi's journey comes to life in a complex topographical language of his art that leverages icons and objects of the past while inventing a new iconographic language for the future.
 
Being Black in the wilderness is an idea I’ve been trying to chase down or play with for a long time. I wrote a field notes book, took photographs, and made drawings. A lot of it was trying to hear my voice and understand what that meant—to listen to one’s voice in wild spaces. What does a Black man sound like in the wilderness versus the voice of John Muir or Ernest Hemingway? 

Inward

In 2022, as several states across the country passed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, trans trail runner Perry Cohen refused to sit idly by. By forming a trail-running team of trans men to compete in states passing hateful legislation, Perry and his team express the freedom to be themselves on and off the trail.

Miles to Go

For conservationist and angler Jr Rodriguez to become “like the pictures he saw in magazines,” he had to leave behind what he loved the most. By juxtaposing Jr’s origins in Houston, Texas, and his current home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, we share his journey of learning to love the outdoors and what it can be like to participate in outdoor sports in Western mountain towns as a person of color.

Wading for Change

This short film shows the Highline crossing between two air balloons, performed at the end of 2021 in the city of Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil, by athlete Rafael Bridi, achieving the highest Highline record in the world by the Guinness Book.

Walking on Clouds

In October 2022, a group of para cyclists/adaptive athletes will attempt to ride the White Rim Trail in a day in the hope of raising awareness of people with disabilities and growing a more inclusive cycling community. Join Josie Fouts, Steven Wilke, Roger Withers, and Annijke Wade (who was raised in Sonoma Valley) on their journey of acceptance, defiance, and discovery through the heart of Canyonlands National Park.

Tread Setters

Fueled by an unwavering love and responsibility for the land, Hän Gwich’in, 20-year-old Quannah Chasinghorse, and her mother, Jody Potts-Joseph, are taking a stand to defend their sacred homelands, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Walking Two Worlds

Who said that change can't start with a run? Peyton Thomas created the
Equitable Action Run Toward Health to give a voice to the community of
Gloster, Mississippi, in a grassroots fight against the wood pellet biomass industry. Breath of Gloster illustrates this industry's dangers to human health and tells the story of a race about more than just miles.

The Defender Service Awards | 2023

Watch Next

Apayauq

17min

Inward

21min

Miles to Go

9min

Wading for Change

12min

Walking on Clouds

7min

Tread Setters

36min

Walking Two Worlds

29min

Breath of Gloster

8min