Get Outside: Movies

Explore June's theme of Get Outside with these movies!

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Follow adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia. Footage captures the amazing and beautiful mountain ranges and coastline along the west coast of North America, from California to deep Patagonia.
Also available streaming on Kanopy

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The account of the day-to-day explorations and activities of Dick Proenneke as he built a cabin in the remote wilderness of the Twin Lakes Region of Alaska.

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Follow the bestselling author (How to Be Black), podcaster (How to Citizen with Baratunde), and outdoor enthusiast on his journey to explore the country's diverse landscapes and discover how they shape our outdoor lives. Wherever we live, we share a love for the wild, but in a country as big and diverse as America we have vastly different ways to find and experience nature.
Also available streaming on Kanopy

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Adapted from the beloved literary classic, this film is the story of Buck, a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life is turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Alaskan Yukon during the Gold Rush of the 1890s. As the newest rookie on a mail delivery dog sled team, and later its leader, Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime, ultimately finding his true place in the world and becoming his own master.

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After FedEx systems engineer Chuck Noland is ripped out of his hasty life-by-the-clock in a plane crash, he finds himself alone on the shores of a tropical island. First, frustration gets to him and then he realizes how small his chances are to ever get back to civilization. Four years later, Chuck has learned very well how to survive on his own: minding his dental health, catching fish with a spear, predicting the weather with a selfmade calendar. A photograph of his girlfriend Kelly has kept his hopes alive all these years. Finally, Chuck takes the opportunity to take off for home as he sets off on a wooden raft with a sail that has washed ashore.

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In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth's changing climate. Chasing Ice is the story of one man's mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. 

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The Eagle Huntress follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been typically been handed down from father to son for centuries.

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Elemental takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. We follow the harrowing escape from Paradise as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire's start. We visit fire labs where researchers torch entire houses to learn why some homes burn and others survive. We learn from Native Americans as they employ fire to benefit nature and increase community safety as they have for thousands of years. We follow researchers who work to understand the effects of climate on forests and the crucial role that natural forests play in storing vast amounts of carbon. Along the way we listen to people who have survived the deadliest fires to underscore the importance of this quest.  Also available streaming on Kanopy

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Despite attempts by his friends, loved ones and his new girlfriend to dissuade him from this dangerous feat, Alex Honnold, the worlds most accomplished free soloist climber, prepares mentally and physically for his most daring adventure to date: scaling the 3200-foot El Capitan in Yosemite without a rope or safety gear. If he succeeds, it will mark the largest wall he, or anyone else, for that matter, has ascended without any kind of equipment.

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Plants live secret, unseen lives. They are capable of forming mutually beneficial relationships with animals. But they can also be as aggressive, competitive, and dramatic as any living thing on our planet. Using specialist cameras, this spectacular series allows us to travel beyond the power of the human eye, to look closer at their interconnected world. Each episode introduces a set of plants, reveals the battles they face, and the ingenious ways they've found to survive.

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A stunning documentary about the life of indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga. Deep in the wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit the small village of Bakhtia at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost: by helicopter or boat. There's no telephone, running water or medical aid. The locals, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, live according to their own values and cultural traditions.
 Also available streaming on Kanopy

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Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. When an unruly family moves in next door, what at first seems like a balm for her solitude becomes a source of tension as they, too, want to practice beekeeping, while disregarding her advice.

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Will and his teenage daughter, Tom, have lived off the grid for years in the forests of Portland, Oregon. When their idyllic life is shattered, both are put into social services. After clashing with their new surroundings, Will and Tom set off on a harrowing journey back to their wild homeland.
Also available streaming on Kanopy

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A tender and sweeping story that follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, this film shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

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On an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, two twelve-year-olds fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore, and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.

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Based on a true-life story, The Motorcycle Diaries is an inspiring and thrilling adventure that traces the youthful origins of a revolutionary spirit. The film follows two daring friends, Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Alberto Granado, who hop on the back of a beat-up motorcycle for a breathtaking and exciting road trip across Latin America. 

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Martin Dohrn, a veteran wildlife cameraman and bee enthusiast, embarked on a special challenge during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020: to film all the bees he could find in his tiny urban garden in Bristol, England. By the end of the summer, he became bee obsessed and developed relationships with some individuals.

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Patrick Dykstra is a man who has dedicated his life to his great passion - diving with and filming whales. Over the years, Patrick has learned how whales communicate, how they perceive other creatures in the water, and how they behave in his immediate presence.

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An adventure story set in the world of a modern Mark Twain that begins when Zak, a young man with Down syndrome, runs away from a nursing home where he lives to chase his dream of becoming a professional wrestler and attending the wrestling school of the Salt Water Redneck. Through circumstances beyond their control, Tyler, a small-time outlaw on the run, becomes Zak's unlikely coach and ally.

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This feature length documentary that follows three distinct groups of commercial mushroom pickers as they travel on the 'mushroom circuit,' a year-round migration that can take them anywhere from Alaska to California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, to harvest wild mushrooms from public forests. 

Summaries provided by DPL's catalog unless otherwise noted. Click on each title to view more information.