Really? Winner for Best Short Documentary EIFF 2025 | Trails - A Film Documentary

Tough competition Trails wins Best Doc Short at the Edinburgh Independent Film Festival 2025.

(11) Selected by several film festivals, documentary offers an insight into the often unseen volunteers behind Scotland’s mountain bike trail maintaining crews. I followed the Tayside Trail Association for 15 months and saw some unexpected things. Known for its open land access, Scotland is one of the world’s top mountain biking destinations. Many trails began as rogue creations on private land, where the stakes were high for both builders and landowners—hard earned trails built by rogue trail builders would not be kept secret for long and the legitimate concerns of landowners who were being put at risk of liability.
During COVID, the surge in mountain biking placed unprecedented pressure on existing trails, many of which fell into decay. Riders with time on their hands built new trails, prompting further frustration from landowners. A critical point was looming: a major conflict between mountain bikers and landowners seemed inevitable.
Out of this tension, some trail builders recognised the need for change and formed the first trail association. Their success inspired the emergence of more associations, each earning difficult and hard-won trust from landowners to maintain previously unsanctioned trails. The documentary follows the Tayside Trail Association, whose volunteers—when not riding—use only basic hand tools to craft sustainable trails in often remote terrain, always mindful of the environment, the landowners, and best practices for navigating storms that now frequently devastate forests.
Through their journey, we witness the passion, perseverance, and collaboration that is keeping Scotland’s trails alive, showing how volunteers are shaping the future of mountain biking while balancing thrill, safety, and sustainability.

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