Up on the Mountain

Up on the Mountain follows Southeast Asian refugees, Latino immigrants, and white rural Americans on a year-round migration to harvest wild mushrooms in the American west. Working on foot in public forests, mushroom picking is an accessible path to self-employment for people who face systemic barriers. But despite evidence of the sustainability of the harvest, the workers who supply the restaurants of the world are repeatedly denied access to public lands. In the observational documentary tradition, Up on the Mountain exposes race and class inequities in natural resources policies as well as the resourcefulness of the communities who depend on them.