Banff Film Festival World Tour (12A)
Experience an extraordinary collection of short films from the world's most prestigious mountain film festival.
Follow the expeditions of some of today's most incredible adventurers, see amazing footage of adrenaline packed action sports and be inspired by thought-provoking pieces shot from the far flung corners of the globe.
This year there are two evenings that will ignite your passion for adventure, action and travel. For double the adventure come along both nights for two entirely different film programmes.
Exciting events not to be missed with free prize giveaways! Visit www.banff-uk.com for more details
Red Film Programme (Thursday 10th March)
A Line Across the Sky
Banff Award: Best Film – Climbing
40 minutes
The Fitz Roy traverse is one of the most sought after achievements in modern alpinism. Long considered impossible, coveted by many and attempted by a few, the Fitz Traverse has fuelled the imaginations of climbers in Patagonia for decades. Tracing the iconic skyline of Cerro Fitz Roy and its six satellite peaks, it spans four miles and 13,000 feet across snow and ice-covered rock.
Seizing their chance during a rare extended weather window, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold went big. The pair completed the first ascent in a five-day push. A quest that earned them the prestigious Piolet d’Or award.
Curiosity
13 minutes
Chasing curiosity can lead us down a dangerous, challenging, and frightening path. It can also lead us to have the greatest experiences of our lives.
“Curiosity” follows the stories of ultra-marathoners Rory Bosio, Timothy Olson and Hal Koerner as they prepare for the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, one of the world’s toughest and most prestigious ultra marathons, in their pursuit of that little something extra.
Denali
8 minutes
There’s no easy way to say goodbye to your best friend. Especially if that best friend stuck by your side during the darkest time in your life — licking your feet, shadowing your footsteps and going insane with joy every time he saw you. Denali celebrates the bond between humans and dogs and highlights the incredible strength our friends can provide.
Pretty Faces
11 minutes
Celebrate women who thrive in the snow with this all female ski film. Featuring larger than life big mountain skier Rachel Burks, watch in awe as she chases her dream of skiing in Alaska for the first time, lighting the way for the next generation of female skiers.
Unbranded
Banff Award: People’s Choice Award
43 minutes
Four young Texas horseman hatch an outrageous plan to adopt, train and ride a string of wild horses 3,000 miles from the Mexican border to Canada through some of the American West’s wildest terrain. Their aim is to prove the worth of wild horses and raise awareness about their plight.
What ensues is an epic journey of self-discovery, danger, friendship and big landscapes that entails runaway horses, perilous mountain passes, debilitating injuries, and one sassy donkey.
unReal
12 minutes
Imagine a world where you ride the perfect trail perfectly, and sometime snow isn’t the only stuff that falls from the sky. When you spend all of your time at work dreaming about mountain biking, which life is real?
This film is dedicated to you: the dreamers, the rule-breakers, the ones who never grow up, the ones who know the secrets, the ones who know the way into the unReal world.
Blue Film Programme (Friday 11th March)
55 Hours in Mexico
9 minutes
Fly to Veracruz, rent a car, climb the third-highest peak in North America, ski down and return to work Monday — all over the course of a weekend. How hard could it be?
55 Hours in Mexico explores the limits of the weekend warrior and dives deep into type 2 fun with four friends who take off to Mexico for an outlandish adventure on the continent’s highest volcano, Orizaba.
Builder
9 minutes
Some people grow up and leave childish things behind. Others just take their childhood dreams and turn the dial up to 11 as they age. Building trails and tricks for your mountain bike never gets old, no matter what your age.
Builder tells the story of building and enjoying those trails through the eyes of some of the sports best riders and builders.
Chasing Niagara
Banff Award: Best Film – Mountain Sports
30 minutes
Pro kayaker Rafa Ortiz has made the daring and potentially deadly decision to paddle over the 167-foot Niagara Falls. His decision sets in motion a series of events leading his team on a remarkable two-year journey from Mexican rainforest rivers to the waterfalls of the U.S. Northwest.
Their journey concludes in Canada where the team plays a cat-and-mouse game with local police before Rafa’s mission comes to a heart-stopping climax at the iconic Falls.
Eclipse
Banff Award: Best Film – Snow Sports
31 minutes
The odds are low, the risks are high – photographer Reuben Krabbe is determined to capture an impossible photo of a skier in front of the 2015 solar eclipse in Svalbard, Norway.
Up in the high arctic though, the weather is bad and the pressure is massive. To add to the difficulty of the project, the guide is sketchy, there’s an active polar bear out there somewhere and the group of skiers that accompany him just want to ski.
Operation Moffat
Banff Award: Special Jury Mention
20 minutes
Operation Moffat takes inspiration and wit from the colorful climbing life of Britain’s first female mountain guide Gwen Moffat. Writer Claire Carter and filmmaker Jen Randall scramble, swim and barefoot climb through Gwen’s landscapes, grappling with her preference for mountains over people, adventure over security and wilderness over tick lists.
Showdown at Horseshoe Hell
Banff Award: Radical Reels People’s Choice
20 minutes
24 hours of Horseshoe Hell is the wildest event in the climbing world; a mash-up of ultramarathon and Burning Man where elite climbers and novices alike go for broke in a sun up-to-sun up orgy of lactic acid and beer.
But all fun aside, the competition is real: can the team of Nic Berry and Mason Earle stand up against the all-powerful Alex Honnold?
The Important Places
Banff Award: Best Short Mountain Film
9 minutes
Filmmaker Forest Woodward takes his 77 year old father, Doug on a Grand Canyon River trip to recapture the past.
The trip will be Doug’s first visit back to the Grand Canyon since he paddled it in a homemade kayak 43 years ago. Forest, hoping the trail will help him learn what his father was like as a young man, discovers different answers about his family, getting older, and the landscapes and “important places” that form our memories.