My Film Screening with Patagonia!

Presenting My Ski Film

This was a pretty exciting opportunity for me so I figured I’d post about it. Obviously, Patagonia is a gold standard on companies to work with for most adventure filmmakers and photographers. Patagonia is known for their ethical and environmental approach to apparel and generally serves as a leading example on how to conduct a sustainability minded brand. So, when the opportunity came to collaborate with Patagonia to create a ski film night for one of my projects I was incredibly stoked.  

All photos in this blog post from the event were taken by Alex Rubenstein

The ski film that we showed was about Kevin Wilson, a disabled skier who after 31 years is able to live out his dream as a ski bum teaching others with disabilities how to ski through the nonprofit Ignite Adaptive Sports. I created the short film last winter and I’ve seen a lot of fun professional development opportunities after this film has been released. An ad agency in Denver saw the film and hired me to direct two commercials for a bank that resulted in my first experience watching my own video on TV during a commercial break. The film has also been selected for a handful of film festivals which have led to great networking opportunities and was also featured last spring on Outside Magazine. I never anticipated this film to be so well received but I’m happy to hear that Kevin’s story is inspiring all sorts of people to go out and explore the outdoors for themselves.

When we were creating the event for the ski film night with Patagonia we didn’t want to just show the film and talk about it, partially because the film is only eight minutes long and couldn’t quite fill an hour and a half event window. So we decided to have people bring along their skis and snowboards to the Patagonia store where we planned to have people wax their ski and snowboards for the upcoming season.

We held the event on November 3, right at the start of ski season in Colorado. The ski film screening even coincided with the first snowfall of the season in Boulder so people were amped to watch and talk about skiing. I am definitely a people person so connecting with other skiers and riders in my community was super fun and some great conversations came from it. I have had a handful of experiences being up on stage, or in front of people, presenting my film or talking through a project or expedition that I completed so while this wasn’t necessarily a totally new experience, it’s still exciting to be given the opportunity to speak in public about a topic that can help inspire and motivate others. 

If you weren’t able to make it to the event, it’s all good because you can watch the film for free below! 

There are a few film festivals it’s being shown at this winter and early next spring so subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date on when that will be happening as well in case you’re able to tune into an event/screening yourself!

Alright, honesty time now…

I wrote this journal entry right after the event and I feel like it’s important for me to have documented in addition to the section written above…

Having my film shown at Patagonia tonight was a huge career milestone for me. Ever since I started filmmaking I’ve dreamed of working with them and having over 120 people show up in their store and listen to me talk about my film and career was incredible. We got to really hype up Ignite and showcase all the amazing work they’re doing which even resulted in a couple people signing up to volunteer with them which meant a lot that I could help facilitate that connection.

Although the event was awesome - I came home feeling kind of weird. At risk of sounding insanely arrogant, it felt kind of uncomfortable being such a hot shot. My business has grown way bigger than I could’ve imagined this year and while I really try to humbly accept the accolades and recognize the work I’ve put in over the past few years, sometimes I feel like all this just happened so fast. After the Q&A was done a whole group lined up to talk to me, I received dozens of DMs (including two girls asking me out for a date), multiple business cards and an overwhelming amount of texts that felt great in the moment but made me feel a little empty because I really just want to be a different version of Roo right now. This success and milestone was really cool to reach but I feel a little overwhelmed these days. My last month was too much. I was overworked and got burnt out. I was so often introduced because of my achievements and not who I was as a person. I just want to known for something other than my skills behind a camera. I want to be introduced as Roo, the guy learning to mountain bike. Uncle Roo. Boyfriend Roo. My friend Roo who I go to the climbing gym with. Or Roo that goofy dude from church. I don’t want to be known as Roo who works with Netflix, Outside, Patagonia, La Sportiva, Canyon, etc.

All I ever wanted was to make a film that Patagonia cared about, a story they shared alongside me. And tonight I did that - so now what?

As Rob Machado says, “We dream of the perfect wave, the perfect job, the perfect house. When we get there, we dream of something else.”

I’m hoping to take a bit of a hiatus from Roo the filmmaker so I can dream again. I’m not quitting filmmaking but I am going to take a calculated step back to figure out what’s next for me.

First, I need to be a friend to all those around me who showed up tonight and texted me about how they wanted to come because that meant the world. Second, I need to go be with family and be uncle Roo to my one year old niece and nephew. Third, I need to figure out what I’m going to do next because I’m burnt out on filmmaking right now and something needs to change. Like I said, I’m not quitting my job and career but I will be taking steps back to slow the pace a bit to focus on athletics, friends, family and other hobbies.

Did you enjoy the event or want to learn more about collaborating? Hit me up!

Roo is a commercial/documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Boulder, Colorado but travels all around the world for his filmmaking career. He has produced films for Outside Magazine in Ireland, camera operated for Netflix in the Rocky Mountain West, photographed among indigenous communities in Peru and Ecuador, directed videos with professional climbers in Mexico and has received notable recognition in his hometown of Orcas Island in Washington State for his work telling uplifting stories in the outdoor space.