Documentaries

Documentary Films

We’ve worked on a wide variety of documentary film projects, for clients including PBS and the National Geographic Society. However, one of our favorites remains the first feature documentary we created. The Rider and The Wolf tells the story of Mike Rust, the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame cyclist who went missing without a trace in Colorado. This film highlighted the birth of mountain biking as a sport in Colorado, but more importantly it generated a great deal of media attention around the mystery surrounding Rust’s disappearance. The film was covered by nearly every bicycle and adventure magazine, including Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Bike, Adventure Cyclist and many more. It premiered at Telluride Mountainfilm and screened at dozens of film festivals around the world. The Rider and The Wolf won a number of awards, including Judge’s Choice at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival in the UK and Best Documentary at the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival.

Most importantly, the film helped solve the mystery around Rust’s disappearance. After screening the film in the tiny remote towns near where Rust disappeared, an anonymous call to the local sheriff’s office led to the discovery of Rust’s body and the eventual conviction of his killer. It remains a testament to the power of documentary film.

We’ve also created short form documentaries for television, nonprofit organizations, commercial clients, and mountain and environmental film festivals.

Services Grit and Thistle Film offers to documentary film projects: Director of Photography (Sony, Canon, Red, Panasonic camera systems), Editing, Field Producing, Location Scouting, 2nd Camera, Professional and Creative Writing.

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