Director's Works
AllTrails, Feels Spencer MacDonald
Spencer MacDonald (he/him) is a Berlin-based director, born in NYC and raised in San Francisco. Blending documentary and fiction, his work explores the strange overlap of human stories and environmental mysteries. His debut short, Scarlet Medusa—about a jellyfish that may live forever—premiered on Nowness and screened at festivals like Palm Springs International ShortFest and the Atlanta Film Festival, where it earned a jury mention. His follow-up, A Body Called Life, has played at over 35 festivals, won more than a dozen awards, and qualified for the 2025 Oscars. His films have been featured by The Atlantic, National Geographic, and Vimeo’s "Best of the Year." On the commercial side, he’s directed for Nike, Airbnb, AllTrails, VW, Rapha, Allbirds, and more.
Nothing was boarded. We had a very long, loose shot list in mind, but mostly we wanted to remain open to the spontaneous moments that we would only think of while on the trail. We spent 6 days shooting in California, Utah and Washington, casted our friends, shot almost everything on one lens, and then sorted through 15 hours (!!) of footage to create this.
