Patty Mooney

Filmmaker, producer, writer, mountain biker and songwriter

The grandmother of extreme sports videos.

For more than forty years Patty Mooney has told stories on film and on the trail, from the world’s first Mt. Everest Mountain Bike Rally to award-winning documentaries that give voice to women, veterans and people who go unseen.

Watch her films See her firsts

Photo 1: Patty racing at Big Bear Lake, 1988 Patty Mooney racing to victory at Big Bear Lake, 1988

Pioneer in Sports & EntertainmentSan Diego Magazine People’s Choice Award

1982Producing video in San Diego since

15+Film festival and industry awards

9Countries ridden for Full Cycle: A World Odyssey

2×Honored as a Top 100 Producer

A career of firsts.

Patty helped invent the special-interest home video, then rode straight into the extreme-sports genre she would help define.

1985

Instructional videos that started new genres

Massage For Relaxation and Common Sense Self Defense for Women, award-winning titles that were the first of their kind.

1987

The Great Mountain Biking Video

Made with Mark Schulze a year after they discovered the sport in Canada.

1987

First Women’s Mountain Bike Dual Slalom

Raced in the inaugural event at Mammoth Mountain, California.

1988

Race winner at Big Bear Lake

A San Diego mountain bike champion, later featured on KUSI News.

1993

The world’s first Mt. Everest Mountain Bike Rally

One of the first riders ever in the rally, and co-producer, writer and on-screen rider of Full Cycle: A World Odyssey.

1st

First female underwater mountain biker

Rode the sea floor off Costa Rica. No coral was harmed.

1st

First woman to ride inside the Turrialba Volcano

Mountain biked into the crater of Costa Rica’s Turrialba Volcano.

From the trail

Patty Mooney and riders leaving the start line of the Mt. Everest Mountain Bike Rally in Manebhanjyang, India, 1993 — Starting line of the Mt. Everest Mountain Bike Rally, Manebhanjyang, 1993

Patty Mooney receiving a white khata scarf blessing before the Everest rally, 1993 — A blessing before the rally, 1993

Patty Mooney with her mountain bike beside an elephant statue in Delhi, India, 1993 — Delhi, filming *Full Cycle*, 1993

Patty Mooney and crew on a boat off Costa Rica with snorkel gear and the underwater mountain bike — The underwater biking crew, Costa Rica

Riders on the Turrialba Volcano trail in Costa Rica, 1994 — Turrialba Volcano trail, Costa Rica, 1994

Honors and recognition.

An internationally award-winning filmmaker, recognized for both her craft and her trailblazing.

Pioneer in Sports & Entertainment

San Diego Magazine, People’s Choice Award (2023)

Silver Hugo

Chicago International Film & Video Festival, for Full Cycle (1995)

Top 100 Producer, twice

Named among the nation’s leading video producers

Top San Diego production company

Clutch honors Crystal Pyramid Productions (2025)

Full Cycle: A World Odyssey

Silver Hugo, Chicago International Film & Video Festival, 1995
Silver Award, Charleston International Film Festival, 1995
Award winner, New York International Festivals, 1995
Multiple awards, International Cindy Awards, 1996
Jade Crystal Communicator Award, 1998
Aegis Award winner, 1998
Classic Telly Award, 1999

The Invisible Ones

Platinum Award, Ava Awards, 2008
Award winner, Accolade Awards, 2008
Gold Award, Aurora Awards, 2009
Golden Reel Award, Media Communications Association International, 2010
Award winner, Communitas Awards, 2011
Official selection at Riverside, Buffalo Niagara, Fallbrook and Big Bear film festivals

Recent documentaries

Twelve Black Cannabis Visionaries: Award winner, New York Movie Awards, 2024
Nectarball: Official selection at Hollywood Gold Awards, Paris Film Awards, FilmHaus and New York Movie Awards, 2024
My Choice: Winner, Best Documentary Feature; Audience Award; Indie Film Award

Clients include Entertainment TonightExtraInside EditionReebokAdidasSusan G. KomenThe VA

Films with something to say.

Her documentaries center women’s voices, confront homelessness, promote peace and celebrate adventure.

Docuseries, 1993–94, nine countries

Full Cycle: A World Odyssey

A husband-and-wife search for the best singletrack on earth, from the Himalaya and Greece to Tahiti, Costa Rica and Wales.

Silver Hugo, Chicago International Film & Video Festival
Telly, Communicator and Aegis awards

Feature documentary, 82 minutes

Nectarball: The Story of Cannabis

How the world’s most misunderstood plant went from sacred medicine to public enemy, and back again.

Four official selections at 2024 film festivals

Documentary

The Invisible Ones: Homeless Combat Veterans

The quiet dignity of veterans living on the street, in their own words.

Platinum Ava, Gold Aurora and Golden Reel awards

Documentary, 2004

My Choice: March for Women’s Lives

The energy of the 2004 march in Washington, with Gloria Steinem, Sarah Weddington, Holly Near and Amy Brenneman.

Best Documentary Feature and Audience Award winner

Twelve Black Cannabis Visionaries

Documentary, award winner at the New York Movie Awards, 2024

The Great Mountain Biking Video

1987, followed by Ultimate Mountain Biking and Battle at Durango

Massage For Relaxation

1985, the first of its genre

Browse all New & Unique Videos titles

Patty Mooney running boom on a shoot with Lucy Liu in San Diego, 2002

Co-founder and VP of Crystal Pyramid Productions, San Diego’s longest-serving video production company.

Since 1982 Patty has worked on hundreds of broadcast and corporate shoots, and since 1985 she has run New & Unique Videos, the company’s special-interest label and stock-footage library.