“I was less aware of it when I first started,” says Jimmy Chin, “but as I’ve gotten further on in my career in the climbing world, having people be like ‘I didn’t know we could do that,’ [reminded me] most of the climbing world doesn’t look like me.”
In this film, A Conversation, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and won the Young Directors award at Cannes Film Festival, Jimmy and Ugandan-born snowboarder Brolin Mawejje talk about their unlikely entries into the adventure sports world, what it has given them in their lives, and how it relates to diversity in the outdoors.
Brolin wants to represent his home country of Uganda in the Olympics, which he hopes will serve as a testament to the fact that no matter what you look like or where you come from, you should always be free to follow your dreams. It’s been a struggle with the pandemic shutting down competitions and making opportunities scarce, but Brolin is determined. “It’s not just me going to the Olympics, it’s every kid who’s an immigrant coming from poverty [realizing] ‘I can go out and access whatever activity I want to access.'”
