The Backcountry Film Festival Selection Committee scours the globe and screens over 300 submissions each year to select the very best short films celebrating the power and spirit of humans in winter. Our Film Committee plays a vital role in bringing diverse perspectives and thrilling adventures to the screen. Want to serve on the committee next year? Shoot us an email!
2024-25 Committee Members
Mike Ferrell (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Co-Founder TopTop Studio, Director, Producer, Writer
Mike is the co-founder of TopTop Studio. He seeks truth and poetry in storytelling and strives to bring humanity to his work. His background in production, journalism, and marketing gives him the unique ability to connect and communicate, allowing him to develop and tell impactful stories. His innate curiosity to understand the world and passion to evolve creatively, and as a human being, who’s walked many paths, embody his work as a writer and filmmaker.
Karen Walsh (Bend, Oregon)
Executive Director, Discover Your Forest
For 14 years, Karen has lived in Central Oregon and worked at Discover Your Forest, a WWA SnowSchool site dedicated to promoting the discovery of the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests and Crooked River National Grassland. She has served in nearly every capacity possible at the organization and is now at the helm. Her respect and appreciation for our unique Forests and Grasslands come from a deep and lifelong love of the natural world. Since its inception, she has facilitated our Snowschool site in Bend, Oregon, and provided winter ecology opportunities for over 120,000 youth in her tenure. Discover Your Forest has hosted the Backcountry Film Festival for over five years. She hikes, skis, and gives back to the land consistently and with determination as an outdoor advocate.
Rich Meyer (Berkeley, California)
Alpine Guide, Co-founder of Tahoe Backcountry Alliance, WWA Ambassador, and WWA Emeritus Board Member
As a veteran professional mountain guide working in wild places like Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Alaska, Antarctica, and in his backyard Sierra Nevada and Mt. Shasta, Rich takes pride and pleasure in educating aspiring skiers and climbers, passing along skills and respect for the mountains. Promoting the human powered outdoor experience is a big part of Rich’s passion and work, both locally and nationally. He feels strongly that protecting our natural environment and educating skiers and climbers about our winter wild places has to be a priority.
Lew Peterson (Donnelly, Idaho)
Emeritus Board President, Winter Wildlands Alliance
A past WWA Board Member and President, Lew helped to found both the Backcountry Film Festival and Snowschool programs. In addition, he compiled and produced the Festival for the first 15 seasons. Lew’s professional career was spent managing and creating large corporate face-to-face events and e-learning training environments leveraging multimedia. He is active in the backcountry and ski resort communities as well as youth education programs in the Cascade, Idaho area.
Dave Sapp (Billings, Montana)
Wild Montana, Eastern Wildlands Chapter
Born in Alaska, Dave’s family moved to Billings, Montana when he was three. He spent time fishing, hunting and hiking in the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness. As an adult, Dave spent two years in forestry school at Missoula Technical Center and then working in north central Idaho for the Forest Service, which cemented his love of the great outdoors. Now retired, Dave volunteers for organizations such as Wild Montana to help preserve this great land and way of life. As a board member since December 2022, he has led Wild Montana Wilderness Walks, worked at local events, and lead the effort to bring the Backcountry Film Festival to the Billings community.
Emily Scott (Boise, Idaho)
Winter Wildlands Alliance
Emily’s life has been shaped by the awe-inspiring beauty of nature, from the snowy peaks of her childhood in Sun Valley to the rainforests of her travels in Central America. Earning a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies at Boise State University (BSU), she explored the delicate balance of ecosystems and their urgent need for protection and restoration. As an Environmental Sustainability Research Intern at BSU and a Data Entry and Analysis Intern at The Peregrine Fund, she has contributed to informed decision-making for conservation. At Winter Wildlands Alliance, she supports our team from every angle and directly manages our national Backcountry Film Festival tour. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, camping, yoga, river swimming, dancing, and cuddling with her beloved cat, Milo. Her commitment to conservation and the fight against climate change guides her every step.
Marla Bailey (Steamboat, Colorado)
Winter Wildlands Alliance Director, Head of Business Planning at Flylow Gear
After 13+ years at Smartwool, holding numerous positions from Inventory Analyst to Head of Strategic Planning, she now leads all-things-business-planning for Flylow, an outerwear brand founded on skiing and now expanding into other outdoor pursuits. As an avid backcountry skier, mountain biker, river runner, backpacker, and reluctant snowmobile owner, Marla’s passions to preserve wild places and protect their awe-inspiring ecosystems run authentically deep, fueling a drive to contribute her energy towards action-based conservation organizations like Winter Wildlands Alliance. In her words, “We—businesses and individuals alike—depend on nature as much as nature depends upon us. It’s our shared responsibility: one that should, and can, unite us all in a collective cause.”
