Gazette Oakley Feb 10

{ By Alexandra Baird }

Oakley Anderson-Moore is in her mid-20's, fair-skinned, red-haired, and clad in thrift store threads. Behind the OC local's appearance is a filmmaker who is formally trained, technically skilled, and has the audacity to blaze her own trail. Anderson-Moore is working on a feature-length documentary titled Portrait of the American Climber.

Her eccentric parents (she was named after Annie Oakley) took her on adventures everywhere from Italy to Brazil to the Philippines. As a little girl, she was fascinated by her rock climbing dad's stories of getting stuck on top of mountains and riding freight trains. After Anderson-Moore graduated from UCSD with a degree in film, armed with skills that had helped her direct award-winning short films, she started work on her first feature, Portrait of the American Climber.

The film will tell the story of rock climbing in America, using what the website calls historical documentation and campfire storytelling. Anderson-Moore and her crew are seeking to capture on film the eccentric personalities and thrilling stories of the rock climbing world.

"In my late teens, I started tape recording my father and his friends' stories," she said. "Eventually I shifted from a personal point of view to an American pop culture point of view. I realized American rock climbing history deserved to be told and hadn't really been told by anyone in any interesting or insightful manner."

Because of Anderson-Moore's passion for storytelling, she has dedicated the past two years of her life to the project; she’s forgone a steady job and maxed out her credit cards to travel the country conducting interviews to use in the film. She’s also become accustomed to staying up late writing grants to get funds to make the film. In May and June of 2009, Anderson-Moore and her crew took a '76 Volkswagen van from New York to California and back, interviewing rock climbing legends whose stories hadn't been recorded. Her experience as a climber and her thorough knowledge of where each interview subject fit into climbing history helped her gain their trust, even if they had been hesitant at first about being interviewed on film.

Anderson-Moore said her experience at UCSD, which is not known as a big-name film school, helped her in multiple ways. Her strong education in film theory meant she learned to think philosophically about everything she does as a filmmaker, and the fact that she did not have every piece of equipment at her fingertips taught her to be resourceful. She recruited friends to be on the crew and learned to bargain and trade to rent equipment she needed, bypassing those who said she didn't have enough money to break into the expensive film industry. She explained that she didn't have the time to wait to climb the Hollywood ladder in order to pursue Portrait, especially since many of her interview subjects are older.

"One important figure in the climbing world that we interviewed was known for free soloing, which is where you climb without a rope," she said. "A month after we interviewed him, he died in an accident free soloing. This is an example of why it's necessary to work on this film now instead of waiting around for some theoretically better time to do it, when I have more money or something."

With 50 interviews on tape representing 60 years of American rock climbing history, Anderson-Moore is now raising funds to help with the costs of post-production. She hopes to finish the project by 2011, and said her goal isn't huge financial success, but simply to tell a story that's an important part of American cultural history.

"Success for me wouldn't necessarily mean being recognized by the current film making industry, it's got biases and prejudices and it's shrouded in affluence," she said. "I don't need to have a huge following of fans or billions of dollars, but a small cult following would be good [laughs]."

Check out clips from Portrait of the American Climber and read Anderson-Moore's road blog at www.rockadventuremovie.com.