Up On the Mountain
USA
2021
99 min
Deep in the mountains of Montana, Idaho, and Oregon a diverse group of Southeast Asian refugees, Latino immigrants, and white Americans harvests wild mushrooms for the restaurants of the world. But although the harvest is sustainable, these independent workers are repeatedly denied access to public lands. A gorgeous and immersive documentary, Up On the Mountain exposes inequities in public forest policies as well as the resourcefulness of the communities who depend on them.
Original Language
English/ Spanish/ Lao
Direction
Olivier Matthon/ Michael Reis
Camera
Olivier Matthon
Editing
Olivier Matthon
Sound
Olivier Matthon
Script
Olivier Matthon
Producer
Olivier Matthon/ Michael Reis
About the filmmaker.
Olivier Matthon is a commercial mushroom picker who has a BA in Ethnography, Political Ecology, and Nonfiction Writing from the Evergreen State College. His work has been published by Pioneers Press, the UTNE Reader, and High Country News Magazine. Olivier’s photographs of mushroom pickers are included in the 2022 exhibition “L’impossible sauvage” at Musée d’Ethnographie Neuchâtel, in Switzerland. Originally from Québec, he now lives in the Pacific Northwest of the US.
Michael Reis works at a community media center as an editor, technical director, and IT coordinator specializing in documenting the unique nuances of rural life. He also works in public outreach and technical training, assisting amateur filmmakers as they embark on their own productions. Michael spends summers as a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and has worked as a commercial mushroom picker. He serves on the board of directors for an organization that addresses unhoused people’s self-determined needs.