October 15, 2013, New York: Today, Icarus Films announced its acquisition of all North American distribution rights to GRINGO TRAILS directed by anthropologist Pegi Vail, Associate Director of the Center of Media, Culture and History at New York University. The deal was signed by Jonathan Miller, president of Icarus Films for North American rights including non-theatrical, theatrical, home video and digital markets.

The film is a strong addition to Icarus Films' extensive collections of documentaries on Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology, Environmental Studies, Globalization, Sustainability, and Urban Studies. It is currently available for engagements including film festivals and theatrical and non-theatrical/educational bookings.

GRINGO TRAILS will premiere this Saturday, October 19 at 8:30 p.m. at the American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Film Festival. The screening is sold out, however limited tickets are available for covering journalists and film programmers.  

GRINGO TRAILS is a feature­‐length documentary that raises urgent questions about one of the most powerful globalizing forces of our time: tourism. The film follows stories along the well-worn western travelers' route--the 'gringo trail', through South America and beyond to Africa and Asia, revealing the complex relationships between colliding cultures: host countries hungry for financial security and the tourists who provide it in their quest for authentic experiences. "We travel, initially, to lose ourselves," says travel writer Pico Iyer; "and we travel, next, to find ourselves." We travel for escape and for encounter, to challenge our assumptions and our limits, and to expand our visions of the possible. As dramatically as travelers are altered by new landscapes, values and belief systems, they also unavoidably alter the people and places they visit. Are tourists destroying the planet--or saving it? How do travelers change the remote places they visit, and how are they changed? From the Bolivian jungle to the party beaches of Thailand, and from the deserts of Timbuktu, Mali to the breathtaking beauty of Bhutan, GRINGO TRAILS shows the dramatic long-­‐term impact of tourism on cultures, economies, and the environment, tracing some stories over 30 years.