Private Project

This Is Not A Story About The East Coast Trail.

Searching for challenge and adventure, childhood friends Audrey and Mavis embark on the 336-kilometer East Coast Trail in Newfoundland, Canada. Walking along the rugged coastline for days, swallowed in fog, the friends are faced with confusion, forced to reflect on what brought them there, what their true motivations are.

  • Audrey Duncan Chatelain
    Director
  • Mavis Darling
    Director
  • Audrey Duncan Chatelain
    Writer
  • Mavis Darling
    Writer
  • OffTrail Films
    Producer
  • Audrey Duncan Chatelain
    Key Cast
  • Mavis Darling
    Key Cast
  • Hannah Scott-Talib
    Music
  • Audrey Duncan Chatelain
    Music
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    28 minutes 43 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 25, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    7,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Audrey Duncan Chatelain, Mavis Darling

Audrey Duncan Chatelain and Mavis Darling are two young filmmakers who have been working in collaboration to tell their stories of adventure and to reflect on their experiences since they were nine years old. Though their youth was spent writing, directing, and executing many short video skits, their debut film To The Cabins We Call Home was released in 2021. A story of backyard adventure, it was their first step into the adventure documentary genre. Their second film, This Is Not A Story About The East Coast Trail, has continued on the themes of appreciating the outdoors and exploration while also reflecting on struggling with identity in the world of outdoor adventure. Ultimately, for Audrey and Mavis, filmmaking is a way to reflect, share, and inspire others to get outside, explore, and connect to the world around you, all at your own pace.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

“We set off on the hike with an idea of what this film would be. A story about the importance of pushing yourself, setting challenges, and accomplishing goals, all in the setting of the outdoors. Essentially, an adventure documentary like most others. However, our experience on the trail was not at all what we had anticipated. Both of us were coming out of busy summers, of a busy few years. We started the hike already tired, physically and emotionally. As we hiked, we quickly fell into a rhythm of silence, both lost in our own worlds of thought. We each had lots to reflect on, and slowly, as we started to unravel how unresolved we felt about many things in our lives, we realized that the trail was not where we needed to be. It was a realization that would have happened anywhere, the East Coast Trail was merely a setting for an inevitable period of self-growth: learning to rest, learning to not find all our value in our accomplishments, and learning to make decisions based on our needs. Though the story our film tells is not the story we set off intending to make, we think it is an important one to tell and we are proud to share it with the world.”