Let's Do This

We ran a crowdfunder, and raised enough to pay for (almost) 2 of 4 key shoots. All that remains is 3-4 days of shooting trail running, hiking, and potentially volcano snow sliding in the PNW this spring. We'll capture more than our subjects outside, though: we'll also film key character scenes that will help us understand the journey each subject goes through--and why it matters to the rest of us.

About the Project

FILM: Documentary, Adventure

COMMON gives voice to those who believe that connection blossoms from interdependence. Inviting viewers into the dreamlike space where natural phenomena illustrate the complex human experience, COMMON teaches us to navigate our humanity in a totally new way: together.

Mission Statement

COMMON reframes how women—particularly women of color—are portrayed in action sports media. COMMON builds community, ignites connection, and sparks hope. While its visuals and stories seek to inspire, it also poses questions, challenging us to reframe our relationship with each other and the Earth.

The Story

Together, we summit.

When women’s voices rise together, the fate of our communities changes.

In this story, we follow athlete-scientist Nina Aragon, athlete-community builder Vanessa Chavarriaga Posada, and athlete-filmmaker Dani Reyes-Acosta as they embark on a three-part snow adventure.

We’ll see the cast’s relationships with the mountains, each other, and themselves evolve and grow. We’ll get an inside look at the women’s personal lives including the balance of family life, motherhood and mental health, and the pressures of life and sport as a professional in the white, male-dominated snow industry. We’ll witness the personal sacrifices they have to make to reach new heights.

Yet their sisterhood grounds them through it all. Their love of snow, cultural connection, and community-oriented values create the camaraderie that guides their exploration of self and the world. These women are the boundary breakers on the horizon.

Film Subjects & Athletes

Nina Aragon

As a climate scientist leader, snowboarder, and new mother, Nina Aragon asks herself: can she have it all? How will she approach new motherhood, pursuing her PhD and balancing it with her love of the sport?

Vanessa Chavarriaga Posada

Vanessa is an activist and snow athlete who faces the realities of being a woman of color in the white, male-dominated ski industry. How will she confront the pressures of being a sponsored skier who doesn’t fit in the typical ‘box’?

Dani Reyes-Acosta

As a filmmaker and athlete, Dani faces the challenges of being a trailblazer whose family values center caretaking, self-sacrifice, and the normalized American Dream. But when a potentially terminal illness in her family again rears its ugly head, and she gives up a winter of epic proportions, what will she have to sacrifice?

The Journey

As these women face their own personal crossroads, they find that Mother Nature mirrors their own experiences, threatening to shatter their spirits as they push toward their dreams.

These women’s stories—told directly to the camera and while traveling through majestic snowy mountains of North America—are a roller coaster of emotions that provide lessons on tenacity, joy, and solidarity, even when it feels like the world is crumbling.

OUTLIER: COMMON explores critical social issues, tackling themes like women’s rights, justice, and climate change.

(And YOU are reading this because you believe at least one of these items is incredibly important!)

Amplify Women’s Voices

Behind the camera, only 20 percent of directors are women. Only 3 percent of crew members are Latina. And only 24% of all news stories about sports are written by women in the U.S.

Women are an untapped force of nature. With a Latina-Filipina Director and all-Latina cast, COMMON will be groundbreaking.

Support Representation

Representation can motivate us to try new things, connect with others, challenge negative stereotypes, and live authentically.

But film and entertainment have an underrepresentation (and misrepresentation) problem, even though media that feature Latino and Hispanic leads have outperformed other productions: for example, “Encanto, about a young Latina who has to find her own identity within her magical family, was the most streamed film in 2022.” (Forbes)

There’s a mismatch in representation, too: Even though nearly 20 percent of the US population is Hispanic/Latino (and 26 percent of those under 18 are Latinx) only 5 percent of main cast members in TV and film are Latino. And, nearly one-quarter of Latino leads are portrayed in a negative light (i.e. as drug cartel leaders, impoverished maids, and undocumented farm laborers).

Given that Hispanic purchasing power is $2.6 trillion, and Latinos are also the largest movie-going demographic, it’s time for more representation of Latinos in front of—and behind—the camera.

Connect with Mother Nature

Weather patterns are becoming more unpredictable: extreme swings in precipitation type, flooding, wildfire, extreme heat, and vector-borne illnesses will affect more than half the American population. For many outdoor lovers, this often means challenges to their daily recreation plans, but the challenges go much deeper. Shorter winters means more than disappearing glaciers or less snow: they also translate to rising food and insurance costs, increased travel danger, and weather-related job loss.

COMMON shows our interdependent relationship with nature: what happens “out there” often happens to us, too (at least metaphorically). Yet for too long, nature has been portrayed as a playground from which to extract experiences, memories, and Instagram likes. COMMON challenges this narrative with a strong message of interconnection. With 3 Latina leads at the helm of this story, this is a story of rematriation and connection to self, kin, and land.

Why? Simple: the outdoors that host our connection to nature do more than serve as a purpose for joy.

In a world of threatened women’s rights, rising hatred, and a dying home planet, this inspirational story offers hope for tomorrow.

An Afuera Productions film, COMMON is the second episode of the OUTLIER series—which questions the role identity, community, and belonging have in our survival as a species.

The OUTLIER Backstory

From Director Dani Reyes-Acosta:

Growing up in Los Angeles and later moving to Fresno, California, I never saw women like me—Latina, Asian, or mixed—in action sports media.

Now, as a professional mountain athlete and filmmaker, my goal is to show girls—and everyone else who’s ever felt caught in-between—that being an OUTLIER can be a joyous journey of self-love, connection to others, and reconnection to the Earth herself.

About OUTLIER

OUTLIER is an episodic documentary series that explores the role of identity, community, and belonging in our survival as a species.

OUTLIER: TRUST (2022) asks us who we want to be.

In this 16-minute short, two women face down the biggest of enemies in the mountains—themselves—as they discover who they are (and who they want to be) on a rugged backcountry ski trip to SE Utah.

Shown at 13 film festivals around the world and 3 tours, TRUST will become available to the public in Spring 2024.

Episode 2 of 3, OUTLIER: COMMON (2024) follows three Latina snow athletes as they navigate life in remote mountains alongside the unpredictable forces of Mother Nature.

Episode 3 of 3, OUTLIER: GOOD (2025) embodies the pursuit of good, in all its forms.

Our Team & Major Credits / Clients

Dani Reyes-Acosta: Executive Producer, Director / OUTLIER: Trust (2022) & WELL WORN LIFE (2022)
Monica Medellin: Story Consultant / SURF GIRLF HAWAI'I (2023); Nike, The Olympic Channel. McDonald’s, Disney, Red Bull, Vans, Patagonia
Corey Robinson: Creative Advisor / National Geographic, Netflix, PBS, NOVA, Red Bull
Sam Davies, Director of Photography / Subaru, Crate & Barrel, Clif Bar, and Outdoor Gear Exchange
Charlotte Percle: Cinematography / Red Bull, The North Face, Outside Online, Freeride Entertainment, Teton Gravity Research, the Freeride World Tour
Sophia Schwartz: Production Assistant / BEYOND THE SUMMIT (2022), and JACK OF ALL TRADES (2020).
Charlie (Carlos) Hernández: Sound Design / PEAK OBSESSION (2020) and BETWEEN THE LINES (2019).
Len Necefer, Cinematographer / SPIRIT OF THE PEAKS (2022); PBS, Patagonia

See the Team tab to learn more about our crew of rabble-rousers.

A Platform For Growth

COMMON is more than a film: it is a Once completed, this film will give us a platform from which we can organize community-building events that deepen cultural competence, ignite meaningful connection, and spark civic action.

In 2023/2024, we piloted impact programming with screenings, educational events, panel discussions, and on-snow learning with organizations like Latino Outdoors, Vámonos Outside, Mountain Dreamers, Oso Outdoors, SOS Outreach, Adventurus Women, the Silverton Powerhouse Collective, and more.

Funding this film will allow us to pursue future programming in a community near you.

Together, we summit.

When you support OUTLIER: COMMON, you're not just contributing to a film: you’re helping to build a movement to promote pay equity, and uplift women and marginalized voices in outdoor filmmaking. YOU are spreading a message of hope!

Other Ways to Help

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You can help bring this story to life in a few different ways:

Request a Screening

Our screenings for OUTLIER: Trust are fundraisers all by themselves—and show your community the basis of what the OUTLIER team seeks to do: demonstrate that identity, community, and belonging all play a role in the way our society evolves and how humans navigate the climate (and everyday) crisis.

If you'd like to bring OUTLIER: TRUST to your community (accompanied by an in-person or digital panel, event, or experience), please send us your details here.

WORKS CITED

Smith, Dr. Stacy L., Pieper, Dr. Katherine, and Wheeler, Sam. Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. "Inequality in 1,600 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBTQ & Disability from 2007 to 2022." (2023)

Lauzen, Martha M., Ph.D. "The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top U.S. Films of 2020." (2021)

OUTLIER: Common Close-The-Gap

By Afuera Productions

OUTLIER: Common Close-The-Gap

Team Members