Bitterbrush

by Emelie Mahdavian • 2023 • 91’ • USA

Credits

Director/Producer: Emelie Mahdavian
Producer: Su Kim

Emelie Mahdavian’s sweeping documentary BITTERBRUSH follows Hollyn Patterson and Colie Moline, range riders who are spending their last summer herding cattle in remote Idaho. Totally off the grid with only their dogs as companions, Hollyn and Colie brave inclement weather and perilous work conditions while pondering their futures. A portrait of friendship, life transitions, and the work of two skilled young women in the isolated and beautiful landscape of the American West, BITTERBRUSH is an intimate portrayal of a way of life rarely seen on film.

Awards & Festivals

Amelia de Eccher Award – For Women Active in Film & Mountains
— Trento Film Festival 2023

Telluride Film Festival
MoMa screening series
Visions du Réel
Sydney Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
Milwaukee Film Festival
Berkshires Film Festival
ShorTS International Film Festival
Almeria Western Film Festival
HER Docs Initiative 2023
International Book and Film Festival Etonnants Voyageurs 2023
Bergwelten Film Festival 2023
Der Neue Heimatfilm 2023
La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival 2023
Ulju Mountain Film Festival 2023
Contemporanea International Film Festival 2023

Filmmaker’s Biography

Emelie Mahdavian is an Emmy, Peabody, and Sundance Award-winning filmmaker who was selected for DOCNYC’s 2020 “40 Under 40” list. Her nonfiction feature BITTERBRUSH screened at Telluride Film Festival, Doc Fortnight at the MoMA, and was released theatrically by Magnolia Pictures in June 2022. She produced, wrote, and edited MIDNIGHT TRAVELER, which won numerous international prizes and was nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Documentary. She is currently working on two documentary features: one about the creative process of Alonzo King Lines Ballet and another, titled Planet A, on a woman-led final expedition to Antarctica's "doomsday glacier."

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