Fight or flight

15 MINUTES

Denise finds a hard-earned freedom in Colorado’s alpine skies

As a child, Denise Joi dreamt of becoming a pilot. Today, she’s the first female pilot employed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, hugging the grand curves of the Rocky Mountains in her small Cessna as she stocks fish in alpine lakes and helps track animal populations. However, as the short documentary Fight or Flight (2022) chronicles, her journey to the cockpit was hardly a straight line skywards. Pairing Joi’s story with breathtaking views from her work high above the Colorado landscape and a serene string score, the US director Lindsey Hagen crafts a powerful story of persistence, strength and healing that aims to break stigmas around seeking help.

MENTAL HEALTH TRAUMA AND PTSD WORK AND VOCATION

Director: Lindsey Hagen

Director of photography: Chris Naum

Producers: Dan Riordan, Dana Saint, Kate Woodsome

Website: gnarly bay

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Two people lying on a snowy road in winter clothing with a forested landscape in the background.

DIFFICULT EMOTIONS

Frøydis faces an impossible problem – how to grieve a father she hated and loved

Directed by Frøydis Fossli Moe

A bulldozer and excavator at a quarry with a clear blue sky in the background.

NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Scarred

The highway I’d helped build stretched before me. For the first time, I saw clearly what we had done

by JShawn Guess

Photo of a hiker with a backpack and two dogs on a mountain peak at sunset, above the cloudline and overlooking a valley.

WORK AND VOCATION

A former office worker charts his own path, herding sheep high into the Pyrenees

Directed by Jake Joynson

A Miami Beach police car with flashing lights surrounded by people and photographers at night.

TRAUMA AND PTSD

Gun world

Is it possible to feel grief and survivor’s guilt after a mass shooting that didn’t occur?

by Jess Keefe

Three people chatting at a rustic bar in a pub, with a brick interior and various decorations.

Our relationships, in five dimensions

Scientists offer a new way to compare and contrast social ties – like a ‘Big Five’ for relationships

by Matt Huston

A mountain peak with a walking path and hikers, under a clear blue sky with scattered clouds.

WONDER AND THE SUBLIME

The benefits of thinking about deep time

On a walk through the Welsh countryside, I travelled through 4.6 billion years of Earth history – and you can too

by Richard Fisher

Two scuba divers swimming underwater with sunlight filtering through the surface.

FEAR AND PHOBIA

Exposure

Wracked with unknown fear, I’d never been able to sleep through the night. Then I went scuba diving

by Lindsay Lee Wallace

Silhouette of a person next to a glowing orange lamp in a dark room.

Discarded

The end of a friendship cracked me apart, triggering hidden memories – and helping me heal old wounds

by Antonia Malchik