ShAFF 2021: Made in Sheffield

The Wanderlust Women 8 minutes

This short documentary showcases two Asian female adventurers: Amira (28) and her mother, Aysha (50), as they embark on a hike up Rivington Pike in Lancaster, UK. The film follows them on their beautiful hike, as they discuss their highs and lows of being South Asian women in the outdoors and how they connect with their religion when adventuring outside. Amira is one of only a few British Muslim women who hike whilst wearing their hijab, and she has hiked all over the world from Switzerland to Turkey. Aysha discovered hiking in her 40s, and was the only Asian woman in her local hiking and rambling groups. She broke down barriers within her own community, as well as in general society, to show that middle-aged Asian women could venture into the mountains. The film unearths their backstories of loss and how Aysha encouraged Amira to head into the hills together to heal their grief. Their first hike was up Rivington Pike, and at first, Amira struggled. But she persisted, and in this film, we see Amira’s confidence as she hikes this trail again with ease. Together, and with nature, they replaced their feelings of loss with renewed confidence, love and a deeper bond with their religion. They also discuss their experiences of microaggressions and the impact of underrepresentation within the outdoors and adventure industries, whilst unravelling the obstacles that can prevent Asian women from venturing into the outdoors. This Mother-Daughter film adds diversity to the narrative and visuals of adventure films, whilst also building upon age-old concepts of familial love and connection with nature.

Gritstone 3 minutes

BD Ambassador Chris Schulte recently made a pilgrimage to explore “god’s own stone,” otherwise known as England’s famed and notorious gritstone. In his own words, everything you’ve heard about the “grit” is true … “except when it’s not.”

Lock Down Rock Up Film 11 minutes

Jerome Mowat takes us through the challenges he faced as a front-line paramedic during the global pandemic and how he used climbing as an escape.

The Last English Poacher 16 minutes

Brian Tovey may be the last traditional poacher in England, the closest thing the country might have to an indigenous person living off the land. An antihero of conservation and nature, Brian’s outlook is anti-establishment and his way of life is almost off-grid, tucked away in a village on the edge of the English Cotswolds. He roams his surrounding fields and woods illegally hunting for game on private estates belonging to the big land-owners - Earls, Lords, Duchesses and farmers, an almost ethereal existence that clings to the age-old conflict between common and forest Law. ‘The Last English Poacher' is an elegy to England's changing rural communities, and our diminishing connection to the land. What can we learn from an outcast? A man who doesn’t love the animals he kills for food, but respects them and knows them better than most. This unconventional way of life is slipping away, and with it an intimate knowledge and perspective on a wilder way of living.
Directed by Emma Crome and Peter Emery, 'The Last English Poacher' sprang from research into characters for a long-form documentary about the state of nature in the UK. It quickly became obvious that Brian's way of life was an intriguing representation of a lesser-known part of our rural history, a far-cry from our picture postcard, bucolic views of our green and pleasant land. Emma's story of how she came to meet Brian can be heard on The Adventure Podcast, and you can learn more about Brian's story in the book by John F MacDonald - 'The Last English Poachers.'

Brave Enough 40 minutes

Jo Moseley is a 55 year old stand up paddleboarder, and single mother of two. In 2016, she came up with the idea to SUP 162 miles from Liverpool to Goole on the Leeds Liverpool Canal and Aire & Calder Navigation. Her adventure idea was met with less than enthusiastic responses, namely that it might be difficult for someone “of [her] age”. So she put the dream away. In 2019, Jo revisited the idea whist recovering from two frozen shoulders, and decided that she would show herself that she was Brave Enough. The filmmaker, Frit Tam of Passion Fruit Pictures, met Jo at the Women In Adventure Expo in 2018 and upon hearing about Jo's coast-to-coast adventure, knew instantly that they wanted to be onboard. An unexpected gift from the challenge, was their intergenerational friendship that blossomed throughout Jo's trip. Learning from each other, their close bond resulted in Brave Enough capturing all the nuances of a paddleboarding adventure whilst revealing the honesty of what it means to adventure in your mid-life years.