The Story
When filmmaker Maria Petros breaks her ankle alone on her first solo trip to Mammoth, a group of complete strangers refuses to let her face it by herself. They help get her out of the emergency room, return the next morning to pack her car, and drive her and her car home to Los Angeles. She had gone to the mountain alone, yet when she needed help, people she barely knew showed up for her.
The experience leaves Maria wondering what draws people to the mountain, what keeps them coming back, and what makes strangers become a community. She begins asking her fellow riders a simple question: Why do you ride?
Pick Your Line follows Maria through a winter season as she prepares to take on Hole in the Wall, a challenging backcountry descent at Mammoth, while looking back at the experiences that brought her there. She began losing her hair at seven and was diagnosed with alopecia at sixteen. Her childhood and adolescence were shaped by bullying and the growing fear of being seen, as wigs, extensions, hats, and headbands became part of how she moved through the world. A gifted athlete who found identity in basketball, Maria eventually struggled to play freely as hiding became harder to maintain, followed by a devastating mental health crisis.
Through family interviews, journals, archival photographs and home videos, Maria traces the years that followed—therapy, medication, animals, and the slow process of rebuilding a life. Then, at thirty-four, she discovers snowboarding. What begins as a new sport becomes something much larger: on the mountain, Maria can stop thinking about how she looks and simply be an athlete again. She falls, gets back up, pushes herself, makes friends, and finds a community that keeps expanding around her.
As the question “Why do you ride?” turns inward, Maria begins to ask something more personal: What was it about the mountains that made her feel so free? Her answer takes shape through the people she loves, the life she has built, and the challenge she has been working toward all season.
At its heart, Pick Your Line is about freedom, connection, and the realization that we don’t have to have everything figured out—or be fearless or perfect—to live fully and let ourselves be seen.
Our Fundraising Goals
Every contribution helps bring Maria's story to the screen and spark meaningful conversations about mental health, identity, and belonging. Pick Your Line is fiscally sponsored through From the Heart Productions making all donations tax deductible.
Production
Funding the second phase of production, including remaining interviews, mountain filming, and essential vérité sequences needed to complete the film's narrative and emotional arc.
Post-Production
Providing the resources necessary to complete post-production, including editing, sound design, color correction, music licensing, archival finishing, graphics, and final delivery, ensuring the film reaches audiences with the highest creative and technical quality.
If a traditional donation method is your preference, you can mail physical checks as well.
Make checks out to our Fiscal Sponsor:
From the Heart Productions, Inc.
(on the memo line, please include the name of the film, Pick Your Line)
Mail to:
From the Heart Productions, Inc.
1013 Harbor Blvd #53
Oxnard, CA 93035
Every donor, at any level, will receive a Special Thanks credit in the film as a sincere thank you for helping bring Pick Your Line to life. Additional gifts and an Associate Producer credit will be offered at higher contribution levels.
Direct Email
info@pickyourlinemovie.com
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