Award-winning 'Out There' film to be screened at NMHS

NEW MILFORD, Conn. — A multi-award-winning documentary showcasing national parks will be screened at New Milford High school next week.

“Out There, A National Parks Story” will make its New Milford debut at the 388 Danbury Road (Route 7) school Thursday, May 15.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. The event will run from 6 to 9 p.m.

NMHS Assistant Principal Anthony Blake, film co-creator and producer, and his childhood friend, filmmaker Brendan Hall, will be on hand for a Q&A.

The film “highlights the human stories within [the parks] and brings the parks to life through the lens of the people who are inside them,” said Blake, who mapped out routes and arranged for interviews with individuals.

“This was such a labor of love,” said Hall who, along with Blake, grew up in Connecticut.

An environmental career and opportunities event will also be held at the screening.

Students will highlight local groups and organizations that focus on the outdoors and the environment, such as The Pratt Nature Center, Housatonic Resources Recovery Alliance, and NMHS’ environmental impact club. 

Proceeds from the screening will be used to send four NMHS teachers to an immersive five-day professional development experience at national parks through Steam in the Park, a program designed for educators who are passionate about nature and education.

The 75-minute film covers the 10,000-mile exploration of the national parks Blake and Hall made in 2016, the year of the National Park Service’s centennial.

“It took years for us to get it to the point you’re seeing now,” Blake said. The experience was “truly an awesome once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We met great people.”

Courtesy of Anthony Blake/New Milford High School Assistant Principal Anthony Blake is co-creator and producer of the independent film "Out There, National Parks Story," which will be screened at NMHS May 15.

The NMHS event will be one of the film’s first school screenings. Both Hall and Blake said they look forward to expanding its reach with schools and other organizations this year because of the film’s educational component. 

The “Out There” team is looking into creating a curriculum. It is also building an impactful grassroots distribution system through nonprofit organizations, as well as through Amazon and iTunes.

“This will be one of first big school screenings. It’s such a cool chance to honor Anthony’s community and the way he gives back,” said Hall, who has has traveled the world directing projects for global non-profits and brands including National Geographic, Google, Adobe, and The Nature Conservancy.

“He’s one of the most selfless and hardworking people I’ve ever met,” the independent filmmaker said.

Blake is unable to travel across the country for the film’s screenings at various venues due to his “commitment to his school and the students,” his lifelong friend said. He added the New Milford event is a “chance to applaud” Blake for all he does.

“The goal is to use the film to inspire some energy around the natural resources [we have] and the awesome work different community groups are doing around here,” Blake related of the film's purpose.

He and Hall hope the film will “inspire the next generation of stewards of the natural world.”

Three years prior to the road trip for filming, Blake flew out to Los Angeles to meet Hall, who was wrapping up an internship with a production company. They drove back to the East Coast together and visited national parks along the way. They were “awestruck,” Blake said.

“Doing the first road trip in the middle of college was profoundly transformational,” said Hall, who had since age 12 been making films. “I always wanted to make Hollywood films….like Spielberg….But [the trip] expanded my dream of what kind of dream I could have.”

He described the moment that changed everything, including his career course. One night the friends saw the Milky Way, lightning, and the Perseids meteor shower over the national park that is known as a worldwide geological wonder created over millions of years by the Colorado River's erosion of rock layers.

“We said, ‘This is just magic,’” Hall recalled. “For that one moment, that slice of the Grand Canyon was ours.”

The experience transformed Hall who shifted his filmmaking toward storytelling and the natural world.

“It made me realize the power these parks have,” he said. “If you can give people access to these parks, it can totally change people’s lives.”

The film was screened at more than 20 festivals. Its premier at the 2023 Florida Film Festival earned the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.

“It was indicative of what would happen with our film festival run,” said the graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Other accolades include the People’s Choice at the 2024 Wild & Scenic Film Festival; Audience Favorite Documentary Feature at the 2024 Footcandle Film Festival; Winner of Best Conservation Film at the 2023 Mystic Film Festival; Grand Prize Winner at the Safilm-San Antonio Film Festival; Jen Snyder Bryceland Award at the 2023 Lighthouse International Film Festival; Best Feature at the Denali Film Festival; the Official Selection at the 2023 Wyoming International Film Festival; Jury Award Winner at the 2023 Coronado Island Film Festival; Rising Star Award Winner at the 2023 Naples International Film Festival; honorable mention for Best Feature Film at the 2023 Nature Track Film Festival; Official Selection for the 2023 Red Rock Film Festival; Official Selection at the 2024 RiverRun International Film Festival; honorable mention at the 2024 Salem Film Fest; Official Selection at the 2023 Monadnock International Film Festival; Official Selection at the Heartland International Film Festival; Best Cinematography & Photography for the film; and finalist at the Matsalu Nature Film Festival.

Hall said he heard positive feedback about the documentary from NPS employees in recent weeks. They shared with him that “seeing the reverence in the film and the ode to stewardship helped to remind them why they wake up do what they do every day,” he said.

The title for the film comes from more than just the facts national parks are all around us. "It's not just about national parks....it's the thing outside my comfort zone....the thing you need to take a leap and go and try."

He described this project being scary and of massive scale. "It was the biggest leap out of our comfort zone. Our takeaway is we want other people to dream, whether it's 10,000-mile road trip, talking to a stranger, or exploring new career path, each of us have a version of that."

"When I screen the film and see all these memories of meeting people, it's the realization that all of this was sitting out there waiting for us."

Courtesy of Brendan Hall/Brendan Hall, who grew up in Connecticut, will attend the May 15 screening of the film he co-created with lifelong friend Anthony Blake, NMHS assistant principal.

The film’s release comes at a time when the current administration has called for a proposed budget cut of more than $1 billion to NPS. The cut includes $900 million for the operations of the parks. If enacted, it would eliminate budgets and staffing for 350 of the 433 national parks across the country.

This proposal is the largest cut in the NPS’ 109-year history.

The dismantling of the Park Service through the federal workforce reduction and other means has continued despite the increasing number of recreation visits to the parks in the system.

The NPS reported 331,863,358 recreation visits to its parks in 2024, up over four million from the number of visits reported at the end of 2019, which was the first year of Covid.

Tickets are $12.

For tickets, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/out-there-a-national-parks-story-special-screening-in-new-milford-ct-tickets-1315448926149

To view the trailer, go here.

For more information about Hall, visit https://www.brendanhall.com.