Directed & Produced by: Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

93 min. | USA | 2022 | Documentary

Languages: English with English and Spanish subtitles

Distribution: National Geographic Documentary Films & Picturehouse

LOGLINE

A sweeping portrait of conservationists Kris and Doug Tompkins chronicling their fight to preserve one of the last truly wild places on earth.

SHORT SYNOPSIS

From Oscar®-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, WILD LIFE follows conservationist Kris Tompkins on an epic, decades-spanning love story as wild as the landscapes she dedicated her life to protecting. After falling in love in midlife, Kris and the outdoorsman and entrepreneur Doug Tompkins left behind the world of the massively successful outdoor brands they'd helped pioneer -- Patagonia, The North Face and Esprit -- and turned their attention to a visionary effort to create national parks throughout Chile and Argentina via their nonprofit Tompkins Conservation. WILD LIFE chronicles the highs and lows of their journey to affect the largest private land donation in history.

LONG SYNOPSIS

It was a chance run-in at a remote Argentinian climbing village in 1991 that changed the life of Kristin McDivitt forever. Though she’d met the infamous Doug Tompkins years prior – he had founded The North Face and Esprit while Kris worked alongside Yvon Chouinard to grow Patagonia – they shared a connection that quickly blossomed into a lifelong romance and partnership. Together, they founded Tompkins Conservation, their sights set on preserving some of the last truly wild land on the planet.

WILD LIFE is a sweeping portrait of a conservationist who never stopped evolving and of those who shaped her on a journey to become a global leader of conservation and wildlife preservation. From the epic climbing trips of Doug, Yvon Chouinard and the pioneers of a new kind of outdoor lifestyle to the heated controversy brewing in South America as two Americans purchased local land to a love story as wild as the terrain it unfolded on, the film prompts audiences to ask themselves – what makes life worth living?