Synopsis
Rooting Souls is an afrofuturist, poetic portrait about the next generation of alpinists demystifying what it takes to achieve their goals while illuminating the beautiful, idiosyncratic, and contradictory experience of being human.
Zivia is no stranger to traversing clouds and tackling epic feats. Despite growing up far from peaks in the suburbs of New Jersey, Zivia’s buoyant energy and natural tenacity for pushing limits has led them from gymnastic competition floors to the world of expedition alpine climbing. Today, Zivia is striving to grow the extremely limited collective of Black womxn alpinists. As Black womxn alpinists, Zivia and her peers face particular barriers to access as they pursue careers in the outdoor industry and technical alpine objectives. The skill sets, experience, and equipment required for alpine style rock climbing continue to be inaccessible outside of eurocentric spaces. A determination toward change takes root and solidifies as Zivia invites a team of fellow outdoor educators and mentors turned friends, Rosemary Saal and Sof Petros to pursue a historic expedition on Mt. Kenya, by attempting to summit the N. Face of Batian Peak (17,057 ft, 5.8, Grade V). The team will be self supported through the technical climbing, and challenge expectations while pushing the boundaries of Black women pursuing expedition style rock climbing. During the journey, Zivia, a Kenyan-American and their team members will also explore belonging within the African diaspora and what it means to connect with one’s roots. Through a three act structure we’ll witness the growth of an idea–from seed, to germination, and rooting while exploring the core of how a team comes together in pursuit of a shared vision.
Act I: Seeds in the Motherlands
Our story opens with an introduction to our narrators and their life as guides, organizers, educators, and storytellers. These scenes, juxtaposed with personal early archival footage will offer a glimpse into each narrator’s relationship with the outdoors and their home life. Act I offers a fresh perspective of who is pursuing a way of life that centers the outdoors along with themes this collective plans to explore: from the dichotomy of individualism and group collaboration, to black liberation and gender fluid representation.
Act II: Germination through Diaspora
Zivia’s search for meaning in climbing, leads her to explore climbing as a mode of storytelling and creativity. These shift in perspective allow Zivia to navigate their feelings in the current socio political climate of global war, unrest, and divestment in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Zivia looks to their relationships with Sof and Rosemary to create a shared experience that will enable them to come together as kin and collaborators on an expedition that feels greater than themselves. This act interweaves verite of Zivia, Sof, and Rosemary as they come together for training trips across the country, with present day archival of Kenyan and US current events.
Through this juxtaposition, we explore the significance of the Rooting Souls team’s attempt to summit the second highest peak on the African Continent and the importance of this ascent at this juncture in their lives.
Act III: Rooting on Mt. Kenya
August 2026 arrives and the Rooting Souls team travels to Kenya. Over two weeks, Zivia, Sof, and Rosemary will embark on an expedition on Mount Kenya, and connect with Zivia’s Kenyan friends and family. Here we will see the alchemy of the years of dreaming, training, and preparation–how will the journey unfold…?
As a team dedicated to imagining futures of Black liberation, we are demystifying what it takes to tackle life’s biggest summits. We invite viewers to face their own obstacles while exploring the beautiful and playful ways of enjoying life’s journey. Zivia and their “germination” training process, will navigate through a 3 act structure: seeds, germination, rooting, while navigating a non-linear verite-informed timeline. We will collage the story together utilizing archival home video, spoken and visual poetry, and nature soundscapes through use of verite and narrative-stylized scenes illustrating the at times surrealist story unfolding, all through a nature-forward lens.
History is constantly in the making–an important theme for audiences to not only witness, but ponder internally. In what ways do each of us contribute to shaping history daily? To navigate this idea we will capture outdoor climbing elements with Super 8mm film subtly referencing the legacy of early climbing films, and the historic nature of the climb and preparations for the expedition. Additionally, when paired along with a sound design of the landscape, we will be able to distinctively document nature, a character central to this narrative.
Key Personnel
CO-DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Jasmine is a queer artist-activist & communal storyteller based in Brooklyn, NY on unceded Lenape land, devoted to unearthing varied perspectives of what it is to be human and strives to center joy, liberation, healing, and a reclamation of our relationship to the land in their pursuits. Documentaries Jasmine helped produce have been distributed by Netflix, Apple TV, HBO, Disney+, and PBS; and featured at Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, DocNYC, and others. They have guest lectured at Pratt and contributed to numerous panels organizing around social and environmental justice work, and they are a founding member of the independent media group, The Irregulars Collective. Jasmine is currently pursuing their Single Pitch Instructor Certification and was a 2024 recipient of AMGA & Black Diamond’s SPI Affinity Scholarship.
CO-DIRECTOR, EXPEDITION LEADER
Zivia Berkowitz is a rock climbing, hiking, and mountaineering instructor for NOLS as well as an AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide. Currently based in Colorado, Zivia has been traveling, working, climbing in the western part of the US for the past three years. Zivia comes from a multiracial and multicultural background, Zivia’s mother immigrated from Kenya to the U.S. and Zivia’s father is Jewish American. For their undergraduate degree at Colorado College, Zivia studied Feminist and Gender Studies, drawn to the critiques of power, nuanced discussions of identity, and feminist thinker’s calls for collective liberation. Zivia is passionate about building community and storytelling amongst folks who hold identities that are underrepresented in outdoor and rock climbing spaces.
PRODUCER
Cheyenne Smith is an emerging producer and industry creative, as well as an outdoor educator and AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide. Born, raised, and living in Colorado, Cheyenne found a deep connection to the outdoors and has spent the past several years working in outdoor education and guiding. Now, she is returning to her roots in art, film, and design, blending her passion for storytelling, creativity, and the outdoors. With a degree in Strategic Design, Cheyenne brings years of experience in graphic and web design, branding, and communication. She’s worked with outdoor industry brands to offer creative direction, media production, and design services that bring bold ideas to life. Recently, her focus has shifted toward film production, where she uses her skills in project management, storytelling, and creative problem-solving to craft work that feels both authentic and impactful.
EDITOR
Alisa Selman is an editor with over ten years of professional experience in documentary, weekly news and promotional content. These productions have aired on HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Prime and PBS, as well as screened at a variety of film festivals including Sundance, Venice International, HotDocs, SXSW and Doc NYC. Alisa strives to craft stories that dig deep into the human experience and illuminate the ways in which we can collectively embody a more equitable and empowered existence. She is currently living in upstate New York with her partner and pup, exploring nature and learning how to create a permaculture food forest in her backyard.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Miya is a photographer and filmmaker with a creative focus on stories and images of adventure, lifestyle, and conservation. Whether it’s dangling off the side of El Cap to capture meaningful ascents, or running around the Eastern Sierra to help tell the story of climate change, not a moment goes by in the day when she’s not scheming up a new story she wants to tell.
