Wyoming Filmmaker Jimmy Chin Wins Academy Award

Wherever Jimmy Chin goes, he represents the Cowboy State. Last night, the Wilson, Wyo. resident won an Oscar for Free Solo, a documentary he co-directed with his wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.

The film followed mountain climber Alex Honnold's historic ascent to the peak of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. In 2017, Honnold became the first person to ever scale the 3,000-foot granite wall without using ropes or safety equipment.

The Academy Awards marked one of the few times Chin has appeared in public without his Wyoming hat. The trucker hat depicting the state flag has become a trademark for the filmmaker in recent years.

"I guess that hat is always with me because it represents all these things to me, and it’s like bringing a bit of home with me wherever I am," Chin told Buckrail last year. "It’s almost become my signature hat since I’ve worn it so much and been in so many shoots with it on."

In true Wyoming fashion, Chin also delivered the first on-air curse word during the Oscars, dropping an s-bomb on live television while thanking his cast and crew.

Along with his Academy Award-winning documentary, Chin also works as a cinematographer for National Geographic and has directed several major automobile advertisements which were filmed in the Tetons.