The Volunteers:

Mountain Rescue Brings Us Home (2024)

…an upcoming film co-produced and co-directed by Botstiber grant recipient Mark S. Weiner and David Ritscher of Hidden Cabinet Films.

Two mountain rescue organizations—one near Seattle, Washington, the other in Tyrol, Austria—are linked by a surprising historic connection. Take a journey with historian Mark S. Weiner from America to Austria as he considers the origins and meaning of their work. Both groups have grown from a strong sense of place—because before you can save a stranger, you first must love your home.

Mark S. Weiner: Producer, co-director, writer, and assistant editor, Mark is a former professor of constitutional law and the author of multiple award-winning books, including The Rule of the Clan: What an Ancient Form of Social Organization Reveals about the Future of Individual Freedom (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), which received the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.

David Ritsher: Co-producer, co-director, senior editor, and writer, David has produced and edited multiple investigative pieces at the Center for Investigative Reporting, two of which won national Emmy Awards and two of which won Northern California Emmys. Most recently, he was credited as the “Wizard Behind the Curtain” for the documentary “The Grab.”

Stay up-to-date on the movie at: The Volunteers: Mountain Rescue and the Call of Home (thevolunteersdoc.com)