The Cambria Film Festival, running February 5-9, has given SLO Review the opportunity to preview many of the more than 80 full-length and short films that make up its 2025 program schedule. All-access passes, live screening only passes, and passes to view films virtually after the festival are available now.


A Visually Spectacular Documentary

Maji—the word for water in Swahili—sweeps us up into the vision of its driving force, Leo Gripari.

This visually spectacular documentary delivers beyond expectations on several levels: as an introduction to a handful of stunning landscapes around the world, each different, each compelling; as a redemption story for the narrator and principal—Gripari—who began running years ago to turn around destructive patterns from an earlier time in his life; as an awareness raiser regarding the water scarcity crisis around the world seen through the filter of local experts; in conveying the importance of having access to clean and available water for health and safety; and as a chronicle of four preliminary training challenges and a culminating ultramarathon run in Uganda, all aiming to provide funding for covered wells in villages in the Kisoro area.

Maji helps us understand how the covered wells reduce illnesses resulting from more distant, contaminated open sources and allow children to attend school instead of transporting water. As a father of three, Gripari eloquently expresses wanting the legacy he leaves to his children to be an improving one—rather than a more degraded version—whether in Ugandan villages or in modern cities.

Using his social media platform to successfully obtain sponsorships and donations, Gripari sets up four challenges in addition to a grand finale:

  • A 100-km (62-mile) hike down into the Grand Canyon, along the river, and back
  • A marathon (26 miles) in Iceland where locals bemoan our lost connection to nature
  • An altitude run in Nepal where locals are more effective than their government
  • A desert marathon (26 miles) in Jordan where reintroduced native brush retains water
  • An ultramarathon around Lake Mutanda, situated near protected mountain gorillas, which proves the most challenging at 50 km (31 miles) but also the most encouraging with local residents joining the runners along the way

If you want to be uplifted and informed rather than preached to, I highly recommend you make Maji one of your choices at the Cambria Film Festival. There’s so much more to this wonderful 70-minute documentary than I could possibly include, but I assure you that it will expand your heart and your mind while also putting a big smile on your face.

In addition to its primary cast member, Maji is brought to life by writer and director Charli Doherty and producer Tom Neish, with encouragement and support from Mugisha “Sam” Samuel in Uganda.


Screenings of Maji (run time 70 minutes), sponsored by Tom Alexander & Tanya Hildebrand, are at 10 a.m. Friday, February 7 and at 1 p.m. Saturday, February 8.

By Ingrid Pires

Ingrid Pires, the only child of Norwegian-born parents, grew up in sunny California. Her rich, bicultural childhood included significant time spent in Norway's beautiful nature and healthy lifestyle, all life-affirming. She didn't set out to be an expert on grief and loss, yet grief had its own agenda when, at 31, she lost her toddler Ian to meningitis. In finding her way back to joy, Pires learned to talk comfortably about death, dying, grief, and resilience, earning a master's degree in psychology and providing grief support in several hospice settings. She likes to envision grief as an adventure, an opportunity to get to know ourselves on a deeper level and explore options for growth and for rediscovering joy. A recipient of the Isabel P. Ruiz Humanitarian Award in 2015 for the impact of her work in SLO County, she has helped thousands to negotiate devastating loss and find renewed happiness in their lives. She has recently turned a talent for writing into musings on social media and has begun writing two books: one about grief from her own perspective.