Conservationists Kris and Doug Tompkins are under the spotlight in the documentary Wild Life, as they fight to preserve one of the last truly wild places on earth.
Directed by Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Wild Life premiered at 2023 SXSW Film Festival, and will debut May 25 on National Geographic and next day on Disney+ and Hulu
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?