Media native Andrew Nadkami is making his director debut with a short documentary, “Between Earth & Sky,” about his aunt Nalini Nadkami, an ecologist and expert tree climber, writes Rosa Cartagena for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Nadkami’s earliest memory of his aunt was when she visited his elementary school in Rose Valley and demonstrated her profession to the students by climbing a tree outside the school.

It was a small-scale version of the 200-foot vertical climbs she usually does to study canopy ecosystems worldwide.

Nalini  won awards for her pioneer research, ending up as a biology professor at the University of Utah, earning the title “Queen of the Rainforest Canopy.”

The National Geographic Society named Nalini an “Explorer at Large.”

At one point in the documentary, Nalini shares that her tree climbing was initially an escape from the sexual abuse she suffered from her father.

“I remember when I was eight or nine years old, taking this very solemn oath,” Nalini said in the film. “When I grow up, I want to do something that protects trees. Something that pays them back for the sanctuary that they gave to me as a kid.”

Find out more about Nalini Nadkami and filmmaker Andrew Nadkarni in The Philadelphia Inquirer.