A vast park is created to re-wild iconic animals. Patagonia Park is a portrait of labor driving the world’s most ambitious contemporary public park project.
On former ranch lands in Patagonia, Chile, a vast private park is established by billionaire conservationists and tended by people whose herds previously grazed its valleys and hunted its pumas. Through the eyes of a determined Chilean conservation team –– a wildlife director, puma tracker, and endangered birds caretaker –– PATAGONIA PARK follows the tireless process of conservation “by hand” in a remote and unforgiving landscape. With its focus on the people whose deliberate, solitary labor jumpstarts the process of rewilding and healing the landscape from former harms, the film examines the deep care and at times violent interventions that come with the conservation work at the center of one of the most ambitious public parks projects in the world.
Status
In production
About the Filmmakers
Director
Stephanie Spray
Stephanie Spray is a nonfiction filmmaker and anthropologist who draws upon ethnographic fieldwork methodologies to create critical works for film festival and art exhibition contexts. Her work has screened the New York Film Festival, TIFF, Locarno International Film Festival, Art of the Real, Vancouver International Film Festival, the Viennale, CPH:DOX, Rotterdam, AFI Fest, DocLisboa, DocAviv, Hamburg, Courtisane, BOZAR, Buenas Aires Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, True/False, Maryland Film Festival, the Harvard Film Archive, Northwest Film Forum, Ann Arbor, DocPoint, Sehsüchte International Film Festival, and GegenKino, among others. It has also been exhibited and screened in museums such as the Whitney Biennial, MoMA, the National Gallery, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. Her film MANAKAMANA (co-directed with Pacho Velez) won numerous awards, including a Golden Leopard at Locarno, and had a long theatrical run in the US. This film is now in the permanent collection at MoMA. Stephanie’s ethnographic fieldwork and filmmaking has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants, such as The Princess Grace Foundation’s Special Grant Project Award (2013–2014), The Princess Grace Graduate Film Scholarship (2012–2013), a Climber-Scientist Small Grant Award from USAID (2013), Fulbright-Hays DDRA (2011), SSRC-IDRF (2010), Fulbright-IIE (2001–2002), and Film Study Center Fellowships at Harvard University (2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008), where she completed her PhD in Social Anthropology with Media in 2016. She is currently a professor of Critical Media Practices at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Producer
Sara Archambault
Sara Archambault is a Creative Producer dedicated to the craft of artful nonfiction. She is Program Director at the LEF Foundation, and the Founder and Curator of the award-winning film series The DocYard. Past credits include Associate Producer on Emmy-nominated Traces of the Trade, Producer on Christopher Lydon's Radio Open Source, Producer on Sundance-supported Street Fighting Men, and Producer on the award-winning short film Community Patrol. Sara's work has received support from Hot Docs International Pitch Forum, Catapult Film Fund, Tribeca Film Institute, SFFilm, Film Independent, Stella Artois/Women in Film and the Sundance Documentary Fund. She was a 2013 Sundance Creative Producers Lab Fellow and sited among "Ten to Watch" by The Independent.
Executive Producer
Ryan Krivoshey
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Ryan Krivoshey is the Founder and President of Grasshopper Film, a distribution company dedicated to the release of acclaimed and award-winning independent cinema. A veteran of the independent film scene, Ryan has acquired, released and marketed countless celebrated films, including Academy Award winners and nominees as well as prize winners from major festivals, introducing audiences to new directors (Damien Chazelle, Terence Nance, Andrew Bujalski), noted filmmakers (Steve James, Agnes Varda, Claire Denis, Asghar Farhadi, Jia Zhang-ke, Bela Tarr) and groundbreaking documentaries (Last Men in Aleppo, Leviathan, The Interrupters, Marwencol, Sweetgrass, Los Angeles Plays Itself). Prior to starting Grasshopper, Ryan led the Cinema Guild as its Director of Distribution for 13 years. He is a partner in Grasshopper Global and co-founder of Grasshopper + Marks Productions. Ryan is a frequent participant on distribution panels, grant and foundation juries, and mentorship programs.
Executive Producer
Beata Gutman
Beata Gutman Krivoshey is a sought after expert on international development, global risk management, corporate citizenship and sustainability. She has initiated and led award winning global campaigns and complex programs for Fortune 100 companies, multilateral agencies, nonprofit organizations, family foundations and governments. She began her career at Eurasia Group, where was the director of international relations leading research, dialogue and foreign direct investment in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Beata was a senior associate at Ruder Finn where she counseled NGOs and United Nations agencies including UNIFEM, UNDP and the Department of Public Information on global media relations. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President at Edelman where she helped found, lead and direct a team of 25 focused on global public affairs, CSR, philanthropy and environmental sustainability. She is the Founder and President of Grasshopper Global and a partner in Grasshopper Film and Grasshopper+Marks Productions.
Executive Producer
Andy Marks
Andy Marks is an entertainment and marketing industry pioneer,investor, and entrepreneur, and a recognized leader in brandedentertainment and content marketing, with nearly two decades helping marketers and content creators find the common ground that leads to great brand storytelling. He is co-founder and Executive Producer of Grasshopper + Marks Productions, a production company focused on issue-based, artistic storytelling supported by brands, nonprofits, and foundations, directed by a roster of award winning filmmakers, and distributed worldwide. He is also President of Marks Entertainment + Media, a strategic consultancy through which he advises clients on a range of issues, and makes strategic investments in companies at the intersection of branding, entertainment, media and technology. Clients and investments include CBS EcoMedia, ICF Olson, Velocidi, Carii, Inc., BRaVe Ventures, Epic Magazine, Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video Entertainment, Above Average, and Turner Networks.