Barren Grounds: The Last Expedition
LOG LINE: A determined documentarian leads five young men on a 900-mile canoeing expedition through the Subarctic Canadian wilderness, but when his obsession turns fatal, the men must struggle against all odds to survive without a leader.
STORY CONCEPT SUMMARY/SYNOPSIS
DocLands Programming Strand – The Great Outdoors
The story celebrates man’s quest for adventure in an unforgiving, rarely seen, and largely uninhabited landscape full of Caribou, Arctic Wolves, Grizzly Bears, Musk Ox, and stone age artifacts. The film offers a poignant look at the sweeping changes in climate and their impact on caribou migration patterns, highlighting the Inuit people's profound reliance on these herds for their survival.
Barren Grounds is a story about ART MOFFATT (36) and five college students, FRED PESSL, JOE LANOUETTE, PETER FRANCK, BRUCE LEFAVOUR, and GEORGE GRINNELL, who embark on a 900-mile canoeing expedition across Subarctic Canada in the summer of 1955. Moffatt, a naturalist, wilderness guide, and aspiring documentarian, set out to capture the untamed beauty of these remote lands and the Inuit people who call them home, driven by a deep desire to share his findings and films with the world.
Pessl is second-in-command, Lanouette, LeFavour, and Franck are Dartmouth sophomores seeking summer adventure, and Grinnell is recently kicked out of the US Army. For months they paddle endless lakes, portage heavy wooden boxes, and shoot roiling rapids. When Moffatt’s filming agenda puts them behind schedule, the once united group begins to question his leadership, and their safety. But, for a time, it’s a wilderness utopia as they live off the land by hunting caribou, fishing, and gathering berries.
A fierce, freak blizzard rips through their camp in the middle of the night, shredding a tent, and nearly carrying off a canoe. In their haste to travel faster two canoes capsize, dumping four men into the frigid waters. An hour later Lanouette and Grinnell regain consciousness, but Moffatt succumbs to hypothermia. The river also takes their hunting rifles and emergency food stocks.
After two days of painful recovery, they lay Moffatt’s body under a canoe next to his box of film and begin their harrowing eight-day journey to the Inuit village of Baker Lake, Nunavut. Four of them catch the last plane out for the season, leaving Pessl to file a police report and assist the RCMP in locating Moffatt’s body . Weeks later, Canadian Mounties deploy a ski-equipped aircraft to recover Moffatt’s frozen body and his wooden box of film.
Sixty-eight years later, Fred and Art’s daughter Creigh travel to Baker Lake where they visit Moffatt’s grave site for the first time, we’ll see Fred wander the village, speak with the locals, and tell us of his time spent there as a much younger man.
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Matthew BoydDirectorA Boat for My Brother, Way of the Shepherd, Looking for Luke, Janet Echelman: The Space Between
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Fred PesslWriterBarren Grounds: The Story of the Tragic Moffatt Canoe Trip
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Matthew BoydProducerHazard, Way of the Shepherd, A Boat for My Brother, Looking for Luke, Janet Echelman: The Space Between
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George GrinnellKey CastDeath On the Barrens
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Fred PesslKey Cast
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Arthur MoffattKey Cast
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Robert EpsteinConsulting ProducerThe Times of Harvey Milk, Howl, The Celluloid Closet, Paragraph 175 Rob Epstein was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA as Robert P. Epstein. He is a producer and director, known for The Celluloid Closet (1995), Paragraph 175 (2000) and The Times of Harvey Milk (1984). Rob has produced films that have screened worldwide, in cinemas, on television, home video and digital platforms, at museums, and at leading film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York. Rob has received two Academy Awards®, five Emmy Awards, three Peabodys and both a Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowship.
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Matthew BoydDPHazard, Mine 9, Beautiful Something, Lake Effects, Spaceman
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Angela HsiehComposerWay of the Shepherd, Are You Still There?, Bob's Donuts. Angela is a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist (piano, violin, erhu) based in the Oakland Bay Area. Originally from Shanghai and Taipei, her love for music began early since age 4, Angela pursued a certificate in Music Composition for Film, TV, and Games from Berklee College of Music, alongside her studies in music and business at UC Berkeley. Angela has contributed to "Are You Still There?" and "Bob's Donuts," (Mill Valley Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival). She also composed and produced music for a feature documentary detailing the incredible journey of Brittany Goris, one of the pioneering women to conquer El Capitan at Yosemite National Park (The International Climber's Festival in 2024).
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Project Type:Documentary, Feature
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Genres:Nature, Adventure, Biography, Archival, War, History, Environment
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Runtime:1 hour 20 minutes
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Production Budget:220,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States, United States
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Country of Filming:United States, Canada, United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:16mm, 4K, 6K digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Matthew Boyd is an award-winning cinematographer and director based in Oakland, CA. working in feature film, short film, documentary, and television spaces. His work has been featured on Netflix, HBO Documentary Films, Showtime, theatrically, and in film festivals worldwide.
Boyd's recent feature work as cinematographer includes "Zona", a feature-length documentary about Zona Roberts, the 103 yr old disability rights activist and mother of Ed Roberts. The narrative features, "Mine 9", (Netflix, Showtime) and most recently, "Hazard", starring Sosie Bacon, Alex Roe, and Steven Ogg based on the opioid epidemic in Appalachia (World Premiere, Woodstock, 2024)
Complementing Boyd's work as a cinematographer are self-directed, shot and edited short documentary films, the award-winning shorts "Way of the Shepherd", "A Boat for My Brother", and "Janet Echelman: The Space Between Us". He is currently in production on "Barren Grounds", his feature-length directorial debut, and the short documentary "Looking for Luke".
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
From the very beginning, Barren Grounds presented itself as a worthwhile challenge, filled with topics, themes, characters and themes that I gravitated strongly toward. Much to my delight, it became clear that this was not merely a historical-biography, or a coming-of-age tale filled with outdoor adventure. As I peeled back the layers I discovered a beautifully complex story about self-discovery, survival, friendship, loss, courage, father-son relationships, war, and more.
This film delves into the profound importance of role models, exploring the relationships between Moffatt and Fred Pessl—who fondly reflects, “Moffatt was like a father to me”—and Grinnell and a young man named Omar. After losing his two sons in a tragic accident, Grinnell found a son in Omar, whose own father was murdered when he was just three. In turn, Omar discovered a father in Grinnell.
On a personal note, my own father passed away far too soon, never having the chance to meet my son. In Fred Pessl, I have found not just a friend but a role model—a man who exemplifies the virtues of integrity and the importance of passing those values on through quiet example.
In 1958 Sports Illustrated published a two-part article about the story, and Moffatt has been both vilified and revered ever since. In a way, I would be finishing a film that Moffatt never knew he wouldn't live to see, I would be tasked with preserving his legacy and discovering what compelled a man to go to such great lengths to plan, execute, and document his final and grandest expedition. The weight of this responsibility is both daunting and exhilarating, I am honored by the challenge of bringing this remarkable story to life, and I am thrilled by the opportunity to share it with the world.
Part of the attraction to make this film stems from my own love and appreciation for nature, in Moffatt I found a kindred spirit and a man whose core values I share. He was an early adopter of environmentalism and regularly wrote to government about one cause or another. He was a conscientious objector, and served in WWII in the ambulance corp., and he was an advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples, drawing inspiration for his own lifestyle from the Cree and Chipewyan communities he frequently encountered during his wilderness adventures.
This film poses a powerful question: What impact could Moffatt’s work have had on the world if he had been able to continue his films and writing? And how can this film carry that torch for the younger generations, to inspire compassion, empathy, a sense of adventure, and a connection to nature that is vital to our own health and enrichment?
ARTISTIC APPROACH
Barren Grounds will be a blend of exposition, poetic and archival in style. At its core will be Moffatt’s beautifully raw 16mm footage, painstakingly captured over the final three months of his life. This footage, combined with readings from Moffatt’s journal, will provide an intimate window into his mind—his hopes, fears, and ambitions. Additionally, voiceover excerpts from Pessl and Grinnell’s books will be brought to life by actors portraying the men in their youth.
Archival news footage will carry the story throughout Moffatt’s time serving in WWII, as well as the state of US politics and pop culture in the 50’s, additional archival footage will be sourced from ABC’s television show Bold Journeys, featuring Fred Pessl as a guest in the episode Three Canoes, which was dedicated to their extraordinary journey.
We have collected interviews from the last three living survivors of the expedition, Pessl, Grinnell, and Lanouette. We will also hear from their family members, wilderness guides, experts, authors, and the voice of today’s most intrepid young wilderness travelers setting records for their long-distance excursions, one of whom has garnered a Netflix special.
The first act will tell the remarkable story of how Moffatt’s body and his wooden box of film were collected by an RCMP search team led by Officer Clare Dent via ski-equipped aircraft. How Moffatt’s film survived freezing temps, traveled thousands of miles, was kept at Dartmouth’s special collections vault, and finally resurrected 68 years later to find its way into this documentary. We will then venture back to Moffatt’s earlier life, his time serving in WWII, and his first solo adventures by canoe that would plant the seed for his future ambitions as a speaker, guide, author, a filmmaker.
The second act will begin with the formation of the group and outline their three-month expedition leading up to Moffatt’s death and the five survivor’s harrowing eight-day trek to Baker Lake. Through interviews, animation and Moffatt’s films we will take you along on the men’s journey, from the serenity of gliding along glassy lakes, to the rush of running heart-pounding rapids. One day these unforgiving landscapes were a wilderness utopia, the next, a deadly gauntlet of trials and setbacks. They enjoyed days of sunshine and the bounty of the land by hunting caribou, fishing, and gathering berries. They also endured tortuous portages through dense forests, facing wildfires, ferocious storms, and onslaughts of black flies and mosquitoes. This part of the film will conclude with Moffatt’s death.
In the third act we find our characters, still hundreds of miles from their destination, without their leader, and short on precious supplies and food stocks that were claimed by the river. We’ll hear about Fred’s experience alone in Baker Lake and jump ahead through time to see Fred’s return to Baker Lake with Moffatt’s daughter, Creigh where they visit Moffatt’s gravesite for the first time, and take a bush plane to the site of the rapids where Moffatt died.
And finally, we will visit Fred at his home in Big Sky, Montana where he reflects on his life and the ways that Moffatt and that summer shaped the man he is today.
Painterly watercolor and wood block animation will also be used to illustrate some of the more spiritual, inner-journey experiences and scenes for which there is no archival material. The soundscape for Barren Grounds will feature three distinct fronts, a classical symphony score, music performed by Inuit artists and throat singers, and several acoustic and classical guitar pieces from other artists. The film will also feature sound design inspired by the animals, birds and the lands of this ancient wilderness.
CONNECTION, ACCESS, ACCOUNTABILITY
About two years ago, my friend Aaron told me about a book his father, Fred Pessl, had written: Barren Grounds: The Story of the Tragic Moffatt Canoe Trip. It recounted an extraordinary adventure he experienced as a young man in the summer of 1955. Intrigued, I bombarded Aaron with questions, and the very next day, he gifted me a copy.
As I devoured the book, I discovered the possibility that archival 16mm film from the expedition might still exist. I was already toying with the idea of making a film, but the potential existence of these reels changed everything—I was hooked. I had to uncover whether these reels existed, their condition, and, most importantly, what stories they held.
I contacted my friend’s father in Washington, who introduced me to Moffatt’s daughter in Vermont, and two weeks later she had granted me permission to move ahead with the project, I was thrilled. Soon she was dusting off the film canisters at her Vermont farmhouse, and personally delivering them into the trusty hands of Perry Paolantonio at Gamma Ray Digital in Newton, MA. They did a remarkable job of restoring and scanning the 68 yr. old reels to 5K HDR. I was later gifted with two additional hours of footage from Moffatt’s earlier trips on the Albany River which feature an even younger version of Moffatt, Pessl, and Peter Franck.
My connection to this story, its characters, and their families is deeply personal, and my access has been unparalleled. Over the past two years, I have spent considerable time with Creigh Moffatt, Fred Pessl, and the other two surviving members of the expedition, George Grinnell and Joe Lanouette.
Creigh, Fred and I have traveled to the farthest reaches of Canada’s Northwest Territories to visit Moffatt’s grave, Baker Lake, Nunavut, and the site of the rapids where Moffatt perished. The three of us also attended the Wilderness Canoe Symposium in Toronto, and I’ve made several trips to their homes in Washington, Vermont, and Montana.
Creigh has entrusted me with her father’s archival films—an honor I don’t take lightly. To her, these reels are treasured family heirlooms, central to her father’s legacy, and I am both humbled by her trust and energized by the challenge of bringing this story to life. I believe the broader themes within this narrative will entertain, educate, and inspire audiences far and wide.
No one else possesses the drive and determination to complete this film the way I do. My 20-year career as a cinematographer, my deep love and reverence for nature, and my ineffable connection to a kindred spirit I will never meet make me uniquely suited for this endeavor.
With my main subjects now in their early nineties, I feel a profound urgency to finish this film while they are still here to see it. I owe it to them, their families, and the legacy they’ve entrusted to me. Barren Grounds aims to honor these men, preserve their stories, and inspire younger generations while showcasing a largely unseen wilderness and the people who call it home.
I maintain regular conversations with everyone involved in the project, ensuring they are updated on its progress and know that I deeply value their input. Providing them the opportunity to give feedback is important to me, as is fostering trust in our relationships. I’ve assured all participants that they will have the chance to view a rough cut of the film. Additionally, I’ve secured signed consent forms from everyone who appears in the film, reinforcing my commitment to transparency and respect throughout the process.