26 Sep Mountainfilm: Announcing 2022 Emerging Filmmaker Winner!
Mountainfilm, based in Telluride, is proud to announce Fisayo Olajide as its 2022 Emerging Filmmaker.
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“Without film, we have no festival. Filmmakers provide our content and are the roots of Mountainfilm. This fellowship is our way of supporting the next generation of talent.”– Suzan Beraza, Festival Director.
Fisayo Olajide grew up in the UK and is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker making award-winning films independently and for global brands. Equal parts cinematic and vérité, her work is informed by a love of still photography, always striving to preserve the emotion of a lived encounter. As the recipient of the Emerging Filmmaker Fellowship for her first feature-length documentary, Olajide has access to a year-long mentorship, festival networking and development assistance.
The purpose of the fellowship is to give rising filmmakers a boost early in their careers. In addition to yearlong support, Olajide will have the opportunity to travel to Telluride for the 2022 festival over Memorial Day weekend.
“The Emerging Filmmaker Fellowship is Mountainfilm’s way of giving a leg up to the next generation of filmmakers,” said Mountainfilm Program Manager Lucy Lerner. “The fellowship committee was drawn to Fisayo’s clear vision, which focuses on social justice, adventure and indomitable spirit, all of which resonate with the ethos of Mountainfilm.”
Olajide’s most recent film, “Underground Railroad Ride,” tells the story of five Black and Latinx cyclists who embark on a bike tour inspired by the Underground Railroad – a route that offered shelter and aid to escaped enslaved people from the South in the early to mid-1800s. During the ride, unforeseen circumstances and encounters threaten its completion, and the cyclists must ultimately decide if they can push through and make it to the finish line.
“When I began the project, I was pulling together disparate strands of an untold saga into something new. I wanted to break stereotypes through moments that show the pride and quiet heroism of young Black and Latinx men. What was captured was something far more intricate and moving,” said the filmmaker.
“I have seen young Black men on both sides of the pond live a life framed by deficit statistics that messages to them their unworthiness. They do not get to imagine themselves as explorers, biologists, urban farmers, ecologists, and modern-day adventurers. This film is for them. It says you can, you are, you will, you do. It is proof, it is powerful encouragement and it is an explicit invitation.”
Mountainfilm is thrilled to be working with Olajide this year. She hopes to have “Underground Railroad Ride” completed for the 44th annual Mountainfilm festival over Memorial Day weekend, May 26-30, 2022.
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