Bravery, Big Mountain, and Best Friends- The Story of Novia Productions
By Adrienne Markey, University of Colorado 2025 Graduate
Growing up, I spent weekends skiing in Winter Park, Colorado. My love for the sport eventually led me to the Competition Center, where I first heard of Ellie Huff, the big-mountain skier with beautiful doodles on her Kinco mittens. I knew of Ellie as a talented skier and artist, and discovered her project, Novia, through our mutual ski buddies.
Later, at CU, I started working with Shredder Ski School, an indoor ski school where I coached kiddos ranging from 1 to 11 years old. At Shredder, I got to work with nervous little girls in princess dresses, and Ellie Huff’s ski film Novia became one of my favorite tools—a way to inspire bravery and passion within young girls stepping into a male-dominated sport.
Boulder Built Her
Ellie Huff grew up in Boulder County and graduated from Silver Creek High School in 2021. Growing up in Boulder shaped her deeply; she describes her hometown as a city of opportunity… “There is a HUGE playground in our backyard. Boulder allowed me to become an outdoor enthusiast and even allowed me to weave the outdoors into my career.” Carrying that Colorado inspiration with her, Ellie went to Montana State University to study Integrated Lens-Based Media. There, she lived the “Bozeman Dream,” created yearly ski movies, and slowly began launching her film career. Today, she’s living in New Zealand, creating and “exploring the other side of the world.”
Growing up, Ellie spent her free time in Winter Park. She skied with the Winter Park Devo program, and when she was 13, she joined the Big Mountain Team. For years, she watched her godbrother compete in Big Mountain competitions, and eventually she knew she wanted to be part of that world too. Through her time with the WP Big Mountain Team, she found a lifelong community—on the hill and beyond.
While competing, Ellie noticed there really weren’t many girls in the Big Mountain scene. She told me that one year, IFSA (the International Freeskiers & Snowboarders Association) began hosting post-comp meet-and-greets to help the girls connect. “Little did I know,” Ellie reflected, “how much this one meeting in Taos years ago would change my life. In that room were a bunch of girls who would eventually become my best friends and the idea of ‘Novia’ would come alive. A ski film to encourage younger girls to get into the sport.”
In high school, as part of the Silver Creek Leadership program, Ellie was required to complete a final project. Inspired by a friend working in Tahoe, she decided she wanted to create a ski film:
“I was 16, and needed all the help I could get to make this possible. So first, I started with a name. ‘Novia’ means girlfriend in Spanish. Then I reached out to all the girls who were in that meeting at Taos to see if they were interested in making this project with me. Everyone was in—the crew was from all over Colorado and Utah. We got funding from IFSA, we got the Flyin’ Ryan Scholarship, and we were off. We funded a trip to Utah for all the girls, filmed all season, and the final product was created. A few of us ended up going to MSU together, and in the fall of freshman year, we did a film tour all over the Nation. Our first film premiere was in Bozeman. We didn’t expect people to show up—but we ended up selling out the show…”
Through competing and involvement within the Big Mountain world, Ellie knew she needed to bring more girls into Big Mountain and male-dominated sports in general. Novia became a call to young girls around the world: a spark of possibility, a reminder that girls can do anything boys can do… even if that means sending a cliff at top speed.
After freshman year at MSU, with steady support from her Bozeman community, Ellie and her friends filmed for over two years to create their next project: Unwritten. The film, and the themes explored, grew alongside the young women behind it, reflecting their own evolution. In Unwritten, many of Ellie’s male friends were featured as the team realized that achieving 50/50 in the industry would require everyone (including boys) to be a part of the movement.
Novia Productions: The Next Line
Today, Novia (now Novia Productions) has expanded beyond a single year-long film into short pieces highlighting a variety of outdoor sport communities. The goal is to showcase women and friends in the outdoors, amplifying the many different people and communities creating, competing, adventuring, and doing cool stuff year-round. In Bozeman, Novia gained nonprofit status, hosted premieres, rail jams, and film events, and encouraged more women to join them. Now, Novia is evolving into a brand, a source of inspiration that connects its audience to the outdoors, to bold stories, to friendship, and to community. Ellie hopes to continue using Novia Productions to grow her film career, collaborating with commercial organizations while staying rooted in the communities that shaped her.
Looking back on all the work, joy, and memories that Novia sparked, Ellie credits her team—especially the drive and determination she gained from Lucy Hall, her right-hand “wo-MAN” throughout the entire process.
“There was one week that was really hard to find the courage to keep going on the project. We were all swamped with work, school, and everything else. I came home the next day, and Lucy had gotten me a brand new camera bag and told me I couldn’t stop. She told me we had to keep going and that we had a duty to inspire the next generation. Just that gesture alone I think finished the second film.”
And thank goodness for that. Ellie says watching her audience interact with her work, seeing girls’ faces light up and feeling how strongly people believed in the mission has been one of the most meaningful parts of her journey.
Ellie hopes that young girls, in Boulder and beyond, know that their community stands behind them. That Boulder believes in them. That Novia Productions believes in them.
“There are resources to do or become whoever you want to be… lean on each other. Inspire one another. Hold each other accountable. And at the end of the day, no matter the project or passion, it should all just be fun!”
Follow Novia Productions on Instagram @novia.film to catch their latest projects—and follow @wearedreamtank for more features like this, celebrating youth-led creativity and boldness in the mountains and beyond.
Adrienne Markey is a recent graduate (May 2025) of the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studied English and Spanish. She is now the Chief of Staff Fellow at Dream Tank, using her love letters to help mobilize youth to dream, design, and launch their futures, now.
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