News

Mountain Partnership members produce mountain documentary

27.04.2020

Mountain Partnership members from Panama and the United States of America have formed an alliance to advance sustainable mountain development through video storytelling.

Master’s students from Western Colorado University’s Center for Mountain Transitions have teamed up with Fundación CoMunidad in Panama to create a documentary to connect the mountains of Colorado with the mountains of Panama.

The documentary, called “Tierra Alta”, Spanish for “highlands”, is a short film about the connections between soil health, climate change and mountain agriculture. The film focuses on two very different mountain areas: the Rocky Mountains of Utah and Colorado in the United States of America, and the fertile highlands of the Tierras Altas in Panama. This film explores how compost maintains agricultural productivity and may be a way to store more carbon in soil.

This international collaboration was borne out of Western Colorado University’s Mountain Resilience Panel, held in April 2019, at which Alberto Pascual - Director of Fundación CoMunidad - was a key speaker. The relationship between the two Mountain Partnership members developed following this event, and the Center for Mountain Transitions jumped on board Pascual’s idea of producing a documentary about these two mountain areas. They launched straight into pre-production, spending the first part of 2019 in strategic planning through digital meetings.

The film is directed by Sam Liebl, a Western Colorado University student obtaining his master’s degree in environmental management with a focus on public lands management. Western Colorado University student Jake Burchmore also participated in the project, shooting video footage and drone shots on location in Panama. The documentary is produced by Sam Liebl and Alberto Pascual. The key project partners in Panama are Drindod Studios, a film production company, and the Municipality of Tierra Altas in the Province of Chiriquí.

The film is still in production. The full length documentary will be released in early May. 

Watch a teaser of the film

News and photo from Alberto Pascual