Meet Sophie Pegrum

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophie Pegrum.

Hi Sophie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story started in Los Angeles, directing my first feature, Dogstar, with a group of maverick filmmakers who believed you could make cinema on nerve. It centered on a boy overwhelmed by the scale of life and the cosmos. Exploring that feeling of awe and terror has been an underscore ever since.

From there, the camera took me outward. I’ve filmed and produced documentaries across Antarctica, Central Asia, the Himalaya and the American Southwest, telling stories of horses, cultures and traditions at turning points. Through all of it, the cosmos never quite let go. It resurfaced in my painting and art practice and then finally reemerged in a series of films I made in Central Asia.

As a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellow, I followed the women of the Kyrgyz Space Program. That became my hybrid documentary Cosmos Dreams, the gallery film series Envoy, a photo camp where nomadic kids turned their lenses to sky, and a short about an abandoned planetarium. That work is still going.

The most powerful thing I could do with a story wasn’t only to tell it, but to hand the tools to someone else. Today I help young people find their voices for conservation and impact. I run storytelling workshops tied to National Geographic’s Slingshot Challenge, and am working on two grants connecting youth and communities to dark skies. .

So it’s come full circle. I started with a fictional boy too afraid to stare up at the cosmos. Now I get to work with real kids asking the same questions, and help them tell their own stories.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A smooth road is anathema to art, though I wouldn’t have minded less bumpy stretches. Making ends meet as an artist is an eternal challenge, and there have been times when the road felt steep and insurmountable. Often it seemed the doors I needed simply didn’t exist. But as a maker, there’s always a way to keep doing the work. You commit to finding a path, or you build the door yourself. And you phone a friend!

I’m still surprised by some of the people and roadblocks I meet along the way. Somehow, they seem to enhance the wonder. When I’m making art or films, it still feels, above all, like a gift: to be a conduit for stories, and for reflections on this brief, incredible spark of time we’re here for.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a documentary filmmaker, camerawoman, visual anthropologist and painter, and a National Geographic Explorer. I tell stories where science, culture and wonder meet: deep time, dark skies, and the bonds between people, animals and place. I’ve followed the women of the Kyrgyz Space Program, recorded beekeepers’ oral histories for the Library of Congress, and filmed at the edges of the map, from Antarctica to the Himalaya.

More and more, my work is about passing the camera on. I run storytelling workshops and engage youth in experiences to expand and amplify their voices, whether that is impact documentary leaning, or fictional feature making.
What I’m most proud of is the moment a young person realizes their story matters, and that they feel empowered to tell it themselves.

What people are often surprised to learn is that I’m usually the one behind the camera. People often picture a big crew, but most of my films are shot by me, often in remote places with a very small team or on my own. That closeness and time is everything. I come to filmmaking as a sensoral act, so I’m less interested in capturing people than in collaborating with them and breathing in ideas and visions.

What are your plans for the future?
Two paths are calling me, and I think they meet in the middle.

One leads back to the studio. Painting has always been where I go to think without a camera, and a big part of me is ready to spend more time there, letting the ideas from years in the field settle into new series of work.

The other leads outdoors, with young people. I’d love to run photography workshops built around what we call artivism: communication with a purpose. That might mean raising awareness, shifting a perspective, starting a conversation or influencing a decision. Above all, it’s a way to connect with the natural world. Before you can tell a story about a marsh, a night sky or a bee, you have to slow down and really look at it. That act of looking and sensing is where all of this begins.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sophiepegrum.com
• Instagram: @sophiediapegrum
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-dia-pegrum/

Image Credits
Photo of Sophie – Zhamal Akmatova
All other photos by Sophie Dia Pegrum