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The Devil’s Road has been selected as a Finalist in the fifth season of jellyFEST Film Festival
Once a year, the jellyFEST celebrates original storytellers and audiences. Their biannual program includes live action, animation and documentary short and feature films showcasing emerging new voices and fresh perspectives.
Learn more at https://www.thejellyfest.com/
The Devil's Road Wins Honorable Mention in the Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival
AIMAFF has a monthly format to showcase and award more films in a shorter amount of time, leading to immediate award and selection notifications. Each month different creators submit their films. At the end of the year, the 12 monthly winners compete for the annual award of BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR.
We’re thrilled to announce that The Devil’s Road has won Best in Show, Best Documentary, and Best Director at the Chico Independent Film Festival this past weekend!
This is the fourth festival win for the the film.
The Devil’s Road is pleased to announce its being named an Official Selection of India’s Kalakari Film Festival, one of India’s premiere film festivals!
Kalakari is an exclusive film festival of India for upcoming artists and thinkers, with the most prestigious awards given for animation, visual effects, and photography across the Indian sub-continent and beyond. The event has grown significantly since its founding and has become a springboard for showcasing talent from across the globe.
Kalakari is affiliated with NGO Helping Hands, and our film submission also helped supply five food packages to poor families in India.
More details on the 2021 festival are forthcoming.
Learn more about the Kalakari Film Festival here.
AT THE VIRTUAL BIG BEAR FILM SUMMIT 2020
JUNE 12 - JULY 12
The Devil's Road: A Baja Adventure will be streaming for a limited time at the virtual Big Bear Film Festival. Passes are now on sale.
If you enjoy the film and would like to support it, please consider voting for it in the virtual festival! Audience members will get a chance to vote for their favorite films in each category.
Please feel free to share with friends and family!
Purchase Passes: https://bigbearfilmsummit2020.eventive.org/passes/buy
View Film Page: https://bigbearfilmsummit2020.eventive.org/films/the-devil-s-road-a-baja-adventure-5ebe2de7d0d86b00777f12e8
The Devil’s Road is set to screen virtually as part of the U.S. Documentary Feature Competition from June 12 to July 12, 2020.
Learn more about the festival here: https://bigbearfilmsummit.com/
The Devil’s Road is set to screen virtually, in light of coronavirus precautions. More details to follow.
Learn more about the festival here: https://bciff.mx/
We are saddened to inform you that due to the recent concerns involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival has been cancelled.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused to any travel arrangements you may have made to join us in taking part of this festival.
As we navigate through this challenge, we hope to have other opportunities to showcase the film and will keep you up to date as showings transpire.
Thank you for your continued support.
(By Kendra Sitton, Uptown News) — A family is at the heart of a new documentary about Baja California being shown at the Natural History Museum on March 10. “Devil’s Road” recreates the epic journey of two prolific naturalists: Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman. The pair spent 10 months collecting 30,000 specimens in Baja California in 1905-06 while it was still a nearly untouched wilderness punctuated by small villages. Their legacy shrank into obscurity except among their descendants, which include the Bruce family. The Bruces knew about the adventures of their conservationist great grand uncle and in 2016, decided to make a documentary about his work that would eventually become “Devil’s Road.”
Four Santa Cruz filmmakers set out to bring a historic expedition out of obscurity. The result was a feature-length historical-nature-adventure documentary called The Devil’s Road.
The Devil’s Road is a culmination of research, exploration, filming, and post-production work to revive the pivotal work of two of America’s most prolific naturalists: Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman. While these are not household names, their research laid the foundation of scientific studies in Baja and were viewed as a link between Darwin and present-day scientists.
Nelson and Goldman’s landmark expedition in 1905-1906 was unprecedented and completed in a time when the Baja Peninsula was considered one of the most remote and challenging areas in all of North America. They documented, cataloged, and obtained specimens of never-before-studied flora and fauna, all while trekking over two thousand miles on horseback. The pair made a number of significant scientific contributions to Baja’s natural history, and their expedition was the most thorough and complete studies of Baja’s ecosystems. They would later spend their careers heralded as some of the most adept naturalists of their time, with hundreds of plants, animals, and geographical features named in their honor.
It wasn’t just the early achievements of these two famed naturalists—though undeniably obscure outside of academic circles—that motivated the film crew. “It was only recently that, coincidentally enough, we learned our ‘Uncle Ed’ was the famed naturalist Edward Alphonso Goldman that worked with Edward William Nelson to explore the Baja Peninsula. I have been traveling around Baja with my family since 1990. We had no idea we had much deeper roots there,” explains Todd Bruce, the producer of The Devil’s Road, and the great grandnephew of Edward Goldman. “Baja has captivated us over the years. Nelson and Goldman’s accomplishments, coupled with our familial connection to this unique place, were driving forces behind creating the film.”
The team made a trip to the nation’s capital to pour through documents and glass plate negative photographs in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution. With latex gloves, they sifted through letters between President Theodore Roosevelt and Nelson, read field notes written over a hundred years ago by Goldman, and inspected century-old photo albums and specimens collected by the pair during their expedition. The film crew was also invited by the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco to film archived specimens of mammals and birds collected by Nelson and Goldman during their time in Baja.
The film's director, JT Bruce, and producer then set out on an expedition of their own, spending two months and covering over 5,000 miles of Baja desert and coastline to retrace Nelson and Goldman’s original expedition route on motorcycles.
The film documents their thrilling quest—by motorcycle, airplane, boat, and horseback—across the Baja Peninsula where, along the way, they observe the vibrant culture and unforgettable people, and endure the challenges of the road. The film includes interviews with biologists and conservationists that provide a reminder of how grueling the original expedition was and why Nelson and Goldman’s work was so fundamental, as well as offer insight into the precarious future of the fragile ecosystems of Baja—and beyond.
“Much like our predecessor that inspired the film, knowing Baja on a more intimate level makes it incumbent upon us to be stewards of such a unique corner of the world. By sharing it with viewers we hope to help make a case for its conservation,” says Bri Bruce, the film’s associate producer and UC Santa Cruz alumni. “Baja is truly a magical place. There’s really no other way to describe it. I think I speak for anyone that has been fortunate enough to really witness it—stand in its deserts, swim in its oceans, get to know both the animals and the people there—they’ll see it’s worth fighting for.”
“Baja is a biodiversity hotspot,” explains The Devil’s Road Scientific Advisor Greg Meyer. Meyer is an educator at California State University, Monterey Bay, and a professional naturalist who led his first trip to Baja in 1985. He has traveled extensively throughout the peninsula, working for the Oceanic Society, Lindblad Expeditions, National Geographic Expeditions, and the BBC. “The Baja Peninsula is still one of the great wildernesses on earth and this film project has allowed us to see the changes over time and to highlight why it needs protection today.”
JT Bruce, the film’s director, expands on the themes of The Devil’s Road:
“Our film is not just a historical documentary or motorcycle road movie. It's not a reprimand on the audience for some perceived failure to protect the environment. It's a chance to gain a wider perspective and view the trajectory that our planet's ecosystems are on, and to help people make their own decisions about how we should approach the future.”
The film shows a complex interplay between past and present, and weaves together themes of discovery and change while serving as an environmental call to arms that pays homage to the strange and awe-inspiring Baja California. In an exciting mix of history, nature, and exhilarating adventure, The Devil’s Road is sure to entertain, educate, and inspire.
