Diverse Voices at KMF 2025
Kendal Mountain Festival (KMF) is nearly here! From 20th - 23rd November, this annual event is a celebration of all things adventure, bringing the outdoors community together for 4 days of films, interviews, panels, awards and sessions.
There are a range of sessions related to diversity in the outdoors and we are excited to see many of our community members participating in talks and featuring in films. We’ve put together this short guide featuring sessions related to diversity and representation across the festival. As always, this list is not exhaustive: if we’re missing something that highlights diversity in the outdoors then let us know by emailing hello@alltheelements.co
All The Elements at Kendal Mountain Festival
Frankie and Soraya from our team will be attending the festival - if you see them, make sure to say hi! We have some zines and stickers to give out!
You can find them at the Patagonia Stand on Friday morning from 10:30-12:30, running an informal All The Elements Social on Saturday morning 10:30-11:30 and around the festival cheering on our community members who are speaking and sharing their work.
We also have an All The Elements Whatsapp Chat for those within our community who are attending the festival - if you’d like to be added please drop an email to hello@alltheelements.co
Diverse Voices at Kendal Mountain Festival 2025
Thursday 20th November
9:00 Outdoor Connections, Forging New Perspectives - KMF’s B2B summit, a full-day gathering designed for industry leaders, creatives, brand managers, marketeers and storytellers. Includes the panel ‘Brands in the Community. Facilitation Not Exploitation’, which is hosted by Phil Young, TCO/OUTO, with Dora Atim, Ultra Black Running and Sam Haddad, writer, Huck / Guardian and Jonathan Weaver, Business Strategist, Db CMO and ex Nike Exec.
17:15 Feature Film: Everest Dark - An exploration of the impact that the increased footfall on Everest has on local Nepalese people. Following one of Nepal’s most legendary climbers as he leads an elite team of Sherpas on a life-threatening mission to retrieve fallen climbers from Everest’s Death Zone.
18:00 Film Collection: Paddle - Including ‘Canyon Chourus’ a short film about Adventurer Mikah Meyer, who once believed he couldn’t be both openly gay and fully himself outdoors.
18:00 Film Collection: Ride & Flow - Including ‘Skate Like A Lass’, a short film spotlighting skate collectives who create safe spaces where young people can express themselves freely, on and off the board.
19:30 Celebrating Junko Tabei and 50 Years of Women on Everest - A speaker event that celebrates the achievements of twenty pioneering women climbers from around the world.
19:00 The Cycling Session – presented by Brompton & Tailfin - Featuring ATE community member Ade Ola, chair of Women of Colour Cycling Collective.
20:00 Feature Film: All the Mountains Give - Filmed over six years, director Arash Rakhsha presents an intimate portrait of Hamid and Yaser, two close friends from a Kurdish village who are forced into Kolbari, a dangerous form of cross-border smuggling in which many risk injury or death at the hands of security forces.
Friday 21st November
8:00 Arc'teryx Introduction to Wild Swimming with Gilly McArthur
9:00 Feature Film: Climbing into Life - Dierdre Wolownick is the oldest woman to climb El Capitan in Yosemite. Never an athlete, Dierdre's story proves that we are never too old to try something new.
9:00 Film Collection: Bike Blue - Including ‘Goochie’, a short film about adaptive mountain biking.
9:30 Film Collection: Parent & Baby - Including ‘Swim Sistas’, a short film about generations of Black women reclaiming their place in the water. A celebration of connection, resilience, and hope.
9:45 BMC Women in Adventure Film Screening and Awards - This session will include a screening of the winning films, a live Q&A with the filmmakers, and a prize ceremony.
10:30 Film Collection: Mountain Blue - Including ‘The Bride of Mont Blanc’, a short film featuring community member Elise Wortley, who retraces the forgotten journeys of 19th-century female explorers. This film was made by an entirely female crew - the director, the mountain guides through to all post-production.
10:30 - 12:30 All The Elements x Patagonia at Kendal Mountain Festival (Basecamp) - We’re doing a takeover of the Patagonia stand - if you’d like to learn more about our community, meet some of our members, or just say “hi”, we’d love to see you there!
11:15 Film Collection: Outside Arts - Where art and the natural world intertwine in unexpected ways. From beach drawings erased by the tide to ballet danced in the rain, these films reveal how creativity flourishes outdoors, across landscapes and generations.
11:45 Film Collection: Parent & Baby - Including ‘Swim Sistas’, a short film about generations of Black women reclaiming their place in the water. A celebration of connection, resilience, and hope.
11:45 Film Collection: Bike Red - Includes the short film ‘Best Day Ever’, which follows adaptive mountain bikers Greg Durso and Allie Bianchi - together they build a blueprint for inclusive trails that dismantle ableism and celebrate freedom on wheels.
12:00 BMC Women in Adventure Film Workshop
13:00 Feature Film: Off Course with Stephanie Case and Sophie Grant - Stephanie Case and Sophie Grant are world-class ultrarunners, celebrated for pushing their bodies to the edge in some of the most unforgiving races on Earth. Yet no finish line could prepare them for the most relentless and unpredictable challenge of all: the road to motherhood.
14:00 Film Collection: Snow Blue - Includes short film ‘The Beginning’, 24-year-old Alenka Mali pauses her competitive career to pursue a new dream: becoming the first woman to complete and document a successful snowboard BASE jump.
14:00 Film Collection: Climb Blue - Including ‘Fierce’, a short film about 5’2” Tina Breslin, who invents new methods to top high ball climbs, often becoming the first woman or shortest climber to complete each climb.
14:30 Redefining Impossible with Darren Edwards: From Paralysed to the South Pole - More than a tale of adventure, this session is an inspiring reflection on overcoming adversity, embracing vulnerability, and discovering what it truly means to achieve the impossible.
16:00 Shared Stories - Why We Need Narratives to Grow Together with Sandra Mastopietro - Stories connect us, they shape how we see ourselves and how we relate to others. This talk will explore how shared narratives create belonging, build resilience and inspire collective strength.
16:15 Film Collection: Hidden Gems - Including short film “The Birdwatchers”, which is about four women who share their passion for birdwatching and challenge the stereotypes that surround it.
17:30 Feature Film: ‘Steps’ with Deo Kato - Deo Kato is a Ugandan-British ultra-endurance runner, orator, and advocate for social justice. In 2024, he made history as the first person to run from Cape Town to London, a journey that shone a global spotlight on the realities of human migration. More than an athlete, Deo is redefining what it means to be an endurance runner by using his platform to challenge the systemic barriers that exclude global majority communities from the sport, both in the UK and around the world.
18:30 Film Collection: Mountain Red - Including ‘Women and Blades’, a short film about ice climber Nathalie, who through women’s ice-climbing clinics is carving out a safer, more inclusive space for the next generation.
20:00 Kendal Pride - Queer Connections - This is a safe and welcoming space for the queer community to meet and make connections during Kendal Mountain Festival.
20:30 The Right To Roam Social - Come ready to sing, listen, laugh, connect and collaborate, to remember why we love this land and to reimagine our shared place in it.
20:45 Feature Film: Girl Climber - To cement her legacy in the male dominated world, professional climber Emily Harrington sets her sights on a career-defining 24-hour ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan. Caught between the pursuit of personal ambition and the ticking biological clock of life, Girl Climber isn’t just about breaking records, it’s about breaking barriers.
21:00 Feature Film: All the Mountains Give - Filmed over six years, director Arash Rakhsha presents an intimate portrait of Hamid and Yaser, two close friends from a Kurdish village who are forced into Kolbari, a dangerous form of cross-border smuggling in which many risk injury or death at the hands of security forces.
Saturday 22nd November
9:30 Film Collection: Parent & Baby - Including ‘Swim Sistas’, a short film about generations of Black women reclaiming their place in the water. A celebration of connection, resilience, and hope.
9:30 Champions of the Golden Valley - After narrowly missing his chance to become Afghanistan's first Olympic skier, Alishah Farhang returns to the remote snow-capped mountains of his homeland to inspire a vibrant new ski culture.
9:30 Film Collection: Bike Red - Includes the short film ‘Best Day Ever’, which follows adaptive mountain bikers Greg Durso and Allie Bianchi - together they build a blueprint for inclusive trails that dismantle ableism and celebrate freedom on wheels.
9:30 Film Collection: Water - Includes ‘Black Godfather of Scuba’, a short film about Dr Albert José “Doc” Jones, co-founder of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers. After exploring the wreck of the Henrietta Marie - the first lost slave ship ever recovered - he has dedicated his life to honouring those lost to history and ensuring their stories endure.
10:00 Merrell Hike Club x Wonderful Wild Women: Tour of Kendal - Led by Thi Thao Do from Wonderful Wild Women, the walk will be approximately 7-8km, on a mostly flat route with some steps, gentle hills and narrow sections of path.This is a beginner level walk exploring the surrounding sights of Kendal.
10:30 - 11:30 All The Elements Social - More information will be shared through our KMF WhatsApp Chat - If you’d like to be added please drop an email to hello@alltheelements.co
10:00 Creative Access: Finding a Radical Edge for your Filmmaking - A workshop facilitated by Danielle Sellwood and Poppy Levison to increase filmmakers’ knowledge about creating accessible content for deaf and blind audiences too.
11:00 Anjana Khatwa - Whispers of Rock - Anjana Khatwa, celebrated earth scientist and storyteller of the land, has spent her life tracing the deep memory of rocks. In language as rich as the earth itself, she unveils how rock has been shaped by the slow hand of time and how, in turn, it has shaped us.
11:30 The Thru-Hiking Session – presented by Danner - This brand new session invites you to dive into the world of long-distance hiking with those who’ve experienced every blister, sunrise, and moment of trail magic. Community member Janire, from Ray of Sun, is on this panel.
11:30 Film Collection: Parent & Baby - Including ‘Swim Sistas’, a short film about generations of Black women reclaiming their place in the water. A celebration of connection, resilience, and hope.
11:30 Film Collection: Mountain Red - Including ‘Women and Blades’, a short film about ice climber Nathalie, who through women’s ice-climbing clinics is carving out a safer, more inclusive space for the next generation.
11:45 Film Collection: Hidden Gems - Including short film “The Birdwatchers”, which is about four women who share their passion for birdwatching and challenge the stereotypes that surround it.
12:30 The Outdoor Swimming Session - Speaker and Film event featuring the world premiere of short documentary Swim Sistas, which tells the stories of four Black British women and girls from different generations who are finding freedom, healing, and community in the water.
14:00 Film Collection: Snow Blue - Includes short film ‘The Beginning’, 24-year-old Alenka Mali pauses her competitive career to pursue a new dream: becoming the first woman to complete and document a successful snowboard BASE jump.
14:00 Film Collection: Climb Blue - including ‘Fierce’, a short film about 5’2” Tina Breslin, who invents new methods to top high ball climbs, often becoming the first woman or shortest climber to complete each climb.
14:00 Film Collection: Human Spirit - Courage, resilience, and hope shine through in these stories of people who confront fear, grief, and hardship to realise dreams in the outdoors.
14:30 Adidas TERREX Guided Trail Run with Deo Kato - Join Deo Kato, the first person to run from South Africa to London, on a relaxed 8k guided trail run around Kendal.
15:00 Joycelyn Longdon – Natural Connection: Ancestral Wisdom and the Future of Our Planet - Join award-winning environmental justice researcher, educator and ATE community member Joycelyn Longdon for an insightful discussion on how indigenous wisdom and marginalised communities are reshaping the future of environmental action.
15:30 Feature Film: Climbing into Life - Dierdre Wolownick is the oldest woman to climb El Capitan in Yosemite. Never an athlete, Dierdre's story proves that we are never too old to try something new.
16:00 The Running Session - Hosted by Black Trail Runners co-founder, ultra runner and ATE Community member Sabrina Pace-Humphreys, alongside local teacher and fell runner Dan Duxbur.
16:00 Beautifully Brutal - SheUltra is the world’s biggest all-women ultra marathon. But it’s more than an event, it’s a movement. A global rebellion of women reclaiming their bodies, voices, and strength through cancer, menopause, trauma, and life. This documentary captures the power of community, the resilience of women, and the beautifully brutal truth behind every step.
16:15 Film Collection: Ride & Flow - Including ‘Skate Like A Lass’, a short film spotlighting skate collectives who create safe spaces where young people can express themselves freely, on and off the board.
16:45 Emily Zobel Marshall - Other Wild - Speaker event, poem collection; in this remarkable second collection, readers are invited into the lives of unruly women and untamed creatures who resist prescribed paths, moving instead through the liminal, boundary-crossing wilds of both land and heart.
18:15 From The Mountain’s Edge - After a life-changing neck injury left him paralysed, Ed Jackson defied the odds to walk again. Determined to push his limits, he set out to climb Nepal’s 7,126-metre Himlung Himal, only to find the adventure turning into a fight for survival.
18:30 Film Collection: Mountain Blue - Including ‘The Bride of Mont Blanc’, a short film featuring community member Elise Wortley, who retraces the forgotten journeys of 19th-century female explorers. This film was made by an entire female crew from the director, mountain guides through to all post-production.
19:00 Feature Film: Girl Climber - To cement her legacy in the male dominated world, professional climber Emily Harrington sets her sights on a career-defining 24-hour ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan. Caught between the pursuit of personal ambition and the ticking biological clock of life, Girl Climber isn’t just about breaking records, it’s about breaking barriers.
19:30 Women in Adventure - presented by Acr’terxy - Featuring awe-inspiring films, insightful conversations, and the remarkable stories of women who are blazing new trails in the outdoor world. ATE community member, Vedangi Kulkarni, who recently finished her second circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle will be sharing her ambitious goals and logistical challenges, and life-affirming experiences in different countries and cultures.
20:45 Film Collection: Bike Blue - Including ‘Goochie’, a short film about adaptive mountain biking.
Sunday 23rd November
9:30 Feature Film: Snow Leopard Sisters - UK Premiere - This film follows local snow leopard conservationist Tshiring Lhamu Lama as she mentors 17-year-old Tenzin Bhuti Gurung, who is desperate to escape a forced marriage.
9:30 Film Collection: Family Adventure Films
9:30 Breaking Trails Without Breaking Bones - Bringing together two extraordinary athletes who face risk in radically different ways; Jesse Dufton, a blind climber redefining what’s possible on rock and ice and Maud Vanpoulle, a mountaineer with a PhD in mountain risk management.
9:45 Feature Film: All the Mountains Give - Filmed over six years, director Arash Rakhsha presents an intimate portrait of Hamid and Yaser, two close friends from a Kurdish village who are forced into Kolbari, a dangerous form of cross-border smuggling in which many risk injury or death at the hands of security forces.
10:00 Emma Simpson - Breaking Waves - Emma discovered wild swimming after a period of immense pain. Lost in grief, disillusioned with life, and feeling increasingly untethered from the world, she instinctively felt the pull of the water. There she found an unexpected source of hope and strength, a profound sense of connection, and a glorious sisterhood of women.
10:00 Not Just the Catch: A Catch Up with The Captains of "We are Blackfish" - Step into the world of We Are Blackfish - a boundary-pushing crew centering Black, queer joy in fishing. Join the captains as they share unfiltered stories, challenge conventions, and reveal how they’re redefining the spirit of the sea.
11:00 Together in Nature - presented by Camp Wild and Vango - Hosted by BBC’s Survivor UK star and adventure presenter Tinuke Oyediran, alongside barefoot ultra-runner Ian Wood.
11:45 Accessible Kendal - This specially curated selection featuring the very best of the 2025 Kendal films, are presented with Closed Captions (CC) and Audio Description (AD).
12:30 Feature Film: Our Land - Blending history with an eye on the future, Our Land charts the conflict, exploring the complex issues of access, custodianship and conservation.
13:00 Deo Kato - Steps, presented by Adidas TERREX - Deo Kato is a Ugandan-British ultra-endurance runner, orator, and advocate for social justice. In 2024, he made history as the first person to run from Cape Town to London, a journey that shone a global spotlight on the realities of human migration. More than an athlete, Deo is redefining what it means to be an endurance runner by using his platform to challenge the systemic barriers that exclude global majority communities from the sport, both in the UK and around the world. This will be followed by a Q&A with Deo himself.
13:30 The Bike Packing Session - presented by komoot & Tailfin - Speaker and film event including ATE community member Vedangi Kulkarni, who recently finished her second circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle.
14:00 Film Collection: Paddle - Including ‘Canyon Chourus’ a short film about Adventurer Mikah Meyer, who once believed he couldn’t be both openly gay and fully himself outdoors. This film shares a profound story of friendship, reflection, and acceptance.
14:00 Film Collection: Water - Includes ‘Black Godfather of Scuba’, a short film about Dr Albert José “Doc” Jones, co-founder of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers. After exploring the wreck of the Henrietta Marie - the first lost slave ship ever recovered - he dedicated his life to honouring those lost to history and ensuring their stories endure.
17:00 Feature Film: Climbing into Life - Dierdre Wolownick is the oldest woman to climb El Capitan in Yosemite. Never an athlete, Dierdre's story proves that we are never too old to try something new.
Base Camp Talks
Kendal Mountain Festival Base Camp is free to enter. There is always a lot going on, with over 70 free talks taking place this year.
You can view more events on the Kendal Mountain Festival website. If you can’t make it to the festival in person, there are online options too!
