Sonic Forest showcases the inspiring journey of Simón Mejía, founder of Latin music sensation Bomba Estéreo, deep into the jungles of the Colombian Pacific to discover the richness of Earth’s most megadiverse places through its local music and its people: indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities who work every day to preserve their territories.

During his journey, Simón, along with a Colombian crew and co-directors Josh Thome and Simón Hernández, visited two of eight leading rainforest protection projects hosted by Stand For Trees in Colombia’s Pacific Forest Communities network. By keeping these forests safe, the Pacific Communities are preventing 70 million tonnes of carbon emissions and improving the lives of 60,000 people.

You can check out more details and support the project here.

To capture the power of the Sonic Forest experience, Simón Mejía used his talents to express himself as he does best: through music. He served up an original soundtrack for the film that weaves together the sounds from nature and local communities recorded during his journey.

The theme song, Déjame Respirar (Let Me Breathe), features the pure folklore of Colombia’s Pacific coast, with inspiring vocals by Li Saumet of Bomba Estéreo and renowned singer Nidia Góngora, who has brought her native Timbiquí to the world for over 20 years.

This concept was set in motion by asking ourselves one simple question: how can we inspire action and build a movement? It’s a question that we continuously ask, and something that we’re deeply passionate about here at Stand For Trees.

That’s why we’re hoping that Sonic Forest will be the first in a series of four Stand For Trees productions inspiring people to take action to protect forests around the world. We can’t wait to show you what else we have in store!

We’re proud of our small but mighty team that poured their incredible talents into this project. Special thanks to USAID for their support.

In partnership with Skio music, Stand For Trees launched a remix contest for the soundtrack to the film’s teaser trailer. The contest was a great success, with 298 entries and over 14,000 listens. Congratulations to Bastian Velasco, whose track is in the official teaser!

Congratulations to 2nd and 3rd place winners Savage Project and Zisko as well. You can see and hear all the contest entries here.