2026 Pathfinder Prize Pitch Event

Hidden Compass is proud to present our fourth annual Pathfinder Prize Pitch Event! The 2026 Pathfinder Prize finalist teams will pitch their projects live for a chance to receive an $18,000 grant to fund a team of curious modern explorers and filmmakers on a cinematic expedition. Our Pathfinders are multimedia storytellers who bring our community behind the scenes in digital dispatches, and share their expedition through magazine features and a short documentary film that will premiere in a movie theater in California in late 2026.

Keep reading to learn more about the finalists, and take note: While the event is free, registration is required.

“When the River Stopped Singing” is an investigative expedition to the Himalayas to ask the following questions: How do renewable energy projects, designed to power a modern world, collide with communities whose relationship with their landscape spans millennia? What do we sacrifice in pursuit of progress? Nepali journalist and filmmaker Tulsi Rauniyar leads the expedition to go where roads cannot reach. There, she and the film’s director join members of the Indigenous Bhote Singsa — one of the world’s least documented peoples — to profile a river and community threatened by hydropower and corruption.

“Stories We Tell” is a filmmaking expedition to flip the script by asking the following question: What if the most powerful stories are those communities tell about themselves? In Hluvukani, South Africa, Co-expedition Leader Nkateko Letti Mzimba — a filmmaker and a member of the Black Mambas, Africa’s first all-female anti-poaching unit — teams up with acclaimed producer and director Beki Henderson to create the first documentary about Hluvukani made by a member of that community. Nkateko’s lens reveals a future where conservation and community are inseparable.

Immediately following the event, voting for the Pathfinder Prize will open. Hidden Compass Allies will have until October 31 at noon PT to cast their votes. The winning team will be announced at this year’s Ethos of Exploration event on December 6, 2025, at the New Parkway Theater in Oakland, California — following the global premiere of “The Rebel Reef.”

Your Potential Expedition Leaders

Tulsi Rauniyar would be the expedition leader, storyteller, and filmmaker for “When the River Stopped Singing.”

Beki Henderson would be the expedition co-leader for “Stories We Tell.”

Nkateko Letti Mzimba would be the expedition co-leader and filmmaker for “Stories We Tell.”