Pocket.watch has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Reef to Ridge, a feature documentary from wildlife filmmaker Mark Vins, following its world premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film takes audiences on a ten-day expedition across the Galápagos Islands, travelling from 132 feet beneath the ocean surface to the 5,600-foot summit of an active volcano. Documenting wildlife surviving the 2022 Wolf Volcano eruption, including the critically endangered pink iguana, the documentary combines an ambitious filming expedition with a conservation story. Pocket.watch is now seeking a premium streaming home for the project, marking a further expansion of its presence in creator-led feature films.
The expedition brought Mark Vins and the Brave Wilderness crew into some of the most heavily protected areas of the Galápagos. One of the production’s significant achievements was securing permission to film on active Wolf Volcano. The team became only the second film crew in history to receive authorisation to shoot there. Reaching the volcano’s 5,600-foot summit gave the filmmakers access to an environment rarely captured on camera, adding an unusual dimension to the documentary’s visual scope.
Rather than focusing on a single location, Reef to Ridge follows the changing landscapes of the islands, beginning deep underwater before moving towards the volcanic peaks. Across the ten-day journey, the crew documents wildlife continuing to survive in the aftermath of the 2022 eruption. A major focus is the pink iguana, a critically endangered species found on Wolf Volcano. Its restricted habitat makes its survival particularly vulnerable, giving the expedition a conservation purpose beyond documenting the region’s wildlife and landscapes.
Interestingly, the project was not originally conceived as a feature-length documentary. After obtaining rare filming permits, Vins and his team reviewed approximately four hours of footage captured during the expedition. Three extraordinary wildlife encounters, together with the scale of the landscapes and the material gathered across the islands, convinced the team that they had a larger story to tell. What began as an expedition to document wildlife gradually developed into a feature film with a broader cinematic narrative.
The documentary made its world premiere at TIFF as a headline presentation in the inaugural Variety x YouTube Creator Festival programme. The programme marked the festival’s first dedicated initiative celebrating creators and their work, providing Vins with an opportunity to introduce his feature-length filmmaking to an audience beyond the digital platform where his wildlife content has established a substantial following.
That existing audience is among the film’s most significant assets. Vins’ Brave Wilderness channel has accumulated more than 21.6 million YouTube subscribers and over six billion lifetime views. Known for bringing viewers close to wildlife through field adventures and encounters, the brand has built a considerable digital following. Reef to Ridge represents an opportunity to extend that storytelling into feature-length filmmaking and reach audiences through a different distribution model.
For Pocket.watch, the agreement also signals a move beyond its established creator-focused programming into feature-film distribution. The company is working with the Brave Wilderness brand to take the documentary to international audiences. Although the film will also be available on YouTube, Pocket.watch is specifically seeking a premium subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform for its worldwide release. The objective is to secure a home for the documentary on a major streaming service while drawing on the considerable audience Vins has already built online.
Pocket.watch founder and CEO Chris M. Williams sees an opportunity to translate the connection between digital creators and their audiences into feature-film storytelling. The company has also indicated that further creator-led film projects are in development, suggesting that Reef to Ridge could be an early step in a broader expansion into this area.
For Vins, the documentary brings together years of wildlife storytelling with an expedition that provided access to places few filmmakers have been permitted to capture. Its journey from the ocean floor to an active volcanic summit gives the film its visual identity, while its focus on the endangered pink iguana provides a clear conservation dimension.
Following its TIFF premiere, Reef to Ridge now enters the next stage of its distribution journey, with Pocket.watch seeking a premium streaming partner to bring the Galápagos expedition to viewers around the world. The project also offers an example of how established digital creators can take their existing storytelling formats into feature-length productions, potentially opening new distribution opportunities for creator-led documentaries.
