Film on Bismarck Native Shannon Galpin Wins Award - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

A Bismarck native hits the big screen.

Shannon Galpin is featured for her work as an activist for women's rights.

The film won an award earlier this month at a Colorado Film Festival.

Galpin hopes it inspires others to become engaged in their communities and in the world.

In 2006, Shannon Galpin founded Mountain2Mountain, an organization that gives voice to women's rights in conflict regions.

Three years ago, in an effort to challenge gender barriers, Galpin became the first woman to mountain bike in Afghanistan.

Filmmaker Alexandria Bombach took notice.

"She does these short films and she wanted to tell my story of my fight for women's rights in Afghanistan and she doesn't really talk about the work, she talks about the motivations and the purpose of the film series is to inspire others to put their drop in the bucket to become engaged in their community or outside of their community in the global sphere," says Mountain2Mountain Founder Shannon Galpin.

Last week the film won an award for best film in adventure through activism.

"The motivation behind doing this with Allie was to serve as an example that I'm a woman in my mid 30's that grew up in North Dakota that came from a very average middle-class background with no particular skill set in human rights advocacy or humanitarian work and I started this because I believed and I took the first step," says Galpin.

Galpin says if everyone adds their drop to the bucket, the world does change. She says she's seen it firsthand in Afghanistan.

"I've been fortunate enough to witness are Afghan rock musicians and artists and young women that are literally marching in the streets to protest against sexual harassment and fight for women's rights, things that would not have been possible ten years ago and maybe not even five years ago," says Galpin.

So far "Shannon Galpin, A Moveshake Story," has shown only at the Boulder Theatre. She says there are plans to show it outside of Colorado, and it will be on television on Outside TV in mid-November.

Galpin says she would like to bring the film to Bismarck in the future.

You can learn more about Shannon at mountain2mountain.org and find a link to her film.

She is returning to Afghanistan later this fall, where she hopes to ride mountain bike for a fourth consecutive year in a country that does not allow other women to do the same.