PC: Grey Satterfield
In this article, writer Holly You Tung Chen captures the energy and effort that goes into sustainably developing a new bouldering area. Thanks to the AAC’s Cornerstone Grant, the Carolinas Climber’s Coalition was able to build trails and develop a parking lot for the McKinney Gap and Weaver Knob boulders. Dive in to hear about the process of discovering the boulders, sending and first ascents, and marshaling resources to responsibly open access to climbers everywhere.
Sophi Rutherford in action during the making of Dear Mother. PC: Cody Kaemmerlan.
Sophi Rutherford is the recipient of the first ever Pull Focus Grant, a grant that provides historically underserved outdoor filmmakers the opportunity to intern with a premier photo/video production studio, Louder Than Eleven, and advance their careers in this notoriously competitive space. Through this paid internship, she served as the assistant director on the upcoming film Dear Mother, a transracial adoption story, following the climber Cody Kaemmerlan as he grapples with his identity and ultimately travels to Korea to meet his birth parents. In this profile on Sophi, Holly Yu Tung Chen uncovers Sophi’s artistic philosophy, the importance of telling transracial adoption stories, and the pull to hide behind a camera. Dive in to get a glimpse at the process behind making Dear Mother, and get to know Sophi Rutherford as an emerging filmmaker.
In Dear Mother, climber and transracial Asian-American, Cody Kaemmerlen, searches for connection with his birth parents after a near-death fall leaves him shaken and grasping for answers.
Emerging Filmmaker: Sophi Rutherford
Film Subject: Cody Kaemmerlan
Writer: Holly Yu Tung Chen
