Wood Hood Premieres at the Mountainfilm Festival
Photo credit: @bashjelen
WOOD HOOD, a documentary short film about—and produced by—Camping to Connect premiered on May 27, 2022, at the 44th Annual Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, CO to inspired audiences and rave reviews. One of America's longest-running film festivals, Mountainfilm “uses the power of film, art, and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world.”
The film features DeVaughn, a 15-year-old kid from New York City who loves skateboarding and craves a "quiet place" to escape the chaos of his home, the city, and kids that steal from him. The film follows DeVaughn on a weekend-long group camping trip with Camping to Connect.
Camping to Connect is a transformative mentorship program that fosters leadership, brotherhood, and inclusion in the outdoors. One trip leader states: "These kinds of conversations are rare for men that look like us," and as the film weaves between the city and the woods, a place that is unfamiliar and historically inaccessible to these kids, we witness the joy and growth that is possible when kids have an opportunity to find that "quiet place.”
Photo credit: @bashjelen
Our team was also invited to speak about diversity and inclusion on a panel put together by The North Face, which included some of their top athletes of color. Growing up without regular exposure to nature has ripple effects that persist into adulthood. Recent research finds a strong relationship between growing up away from the natural world and mental health in adulthood. Through Wood Hood, Camping to Connect is elevating the narrative that the outdoors belong to everybody.
Please visit campingtoconnect.com to learn more. You can click here to support this amazing program.
Watch the trailer:
Wood Hood was made possible by an Environmental Media Grant from Patagonia.
About Camping to Connect
Camping to Connect is a Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) lead immersive, experiential, mentorship program that uses nature-based outdoor recreation to address the diverse issues faced by young men of traditionally underserved (BIPOC) communities. Offered at no cost to participants, Camping to Connect is a program of the Young Masterminds Initiative, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by a collective of progressive men of color who believe in inspiring change by nurturing camaraderie, fostering accountability, and cultivating trust, leadership, and support.
