Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour 2017
Thursday 9th (Red Programme) & Friday 10th March (Blue Programme)
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.
Image: Senja Island, Norway © Thomas Senf
Age Guidance: 12A (TBC)
RED PROGRAMME:
Dog Power
Get a rare view into the world of dog-powered sports and the special bond that forms between dogs and their humans as they live, work and play together.
Wannabe musher Kale Casey buys an eight-week-old Siberian Husky puppy called Misty, determined to become a world champion canicross and skijor racer. It soon becomes clear that Misty has other ideas… but by this stage Kale is fascinated by the diverse group of dogs and humans who train, play and race together in the ultimate manifestation of the human/animal bond.
You will never look at your household pooch the same way again!
Duration: 25 minutes
Filmmakers: Kale Casey, Jordan Schevene
Fledglings
As longtime professional climbers who eat, sleep and live the sport, Cedar Wright and Matt Segal are used to being competent, comfortable and at the top of their game. When they take up paragliding, however, things are different.
Tree landings and sketchy moments as bumbling, gung-ho beginners become the new normal. With only six months of flying under their belts, the pair embark on an audacious objective: to climb and fly off Orizaba, the highest peak in Mexico. What ensues is a lesson in jumping into the deep end… and being forced to swim.
Duration: 26 minutes
Filmmakers: Cedar Wright
Four Mums In A Boat
When four middle-aged working British mums announced they wanted to row the Atlantic Ocean, their families thought they had lost their minds. At times, the Four Mums certainly agreed…
This is the inspirational tale of how four women from Yorkshire became the oldest all-female crew to row across any ocean, despite meeting a hurricane and losing power, water and their steering along the way…
Duration: 30 minutes
Filmmakers: Simon Tucker
Danny MacAskill’s Wee Day Out
Want to see what pro trials cyclist Danny MacAskill does on his day off? Explore the rural landscape around Edinburgh in a film that sets out to capture the simple fun of a ride in the country with moments of incredible riding and a touch of humour.
Duration: 6 minutes
Filmmakers: Stu Thomson
Max Your Days
Summer solstice on Canada’s West Coast – the possibilities are endless! Max Your Days reminds us to squeeze adventure into every last minute of the day.
Duration: 4 minutes
Filmmakers: Malcolm Sangster
Metronomic
Banff Award – Best Film: Mountain Sports
High above the Gorges du Verdon in France, a skillful blend of artists and high-level balancing athletes play a high energy symphony devoted to risk. The musicians, little accustomed to such hair-raising exposure, dive head-first into extreme situations, and the result is a hymn that melds visual performance and contemplative poetry into pure entertainment.
Duration: 5 minutes
Filmmaker: Vladimir Cellier
Young Guns
Banff Award – People’s Choice Award for Radical Reels
Meet the new faces of climbing: 15-year-old Ashima Shiraishi and 16-year-old Kai Lightner.
First up, the impressive pair tackle one of the largest caves in Europe, Hanshelleren in Norway, a sprawling granite cathedral with 260 feet of overhanging climbing capped by a 160-foot headwall.
Ashima then travels to Japan, to attempt a massive granite boulder via a fierce 30-move boulder problem called Horizons. If she succeeds she will become the first woman, and youngest person, to climb the cutting-edge grade of V15...
Pushed out of their comfort zones, Kai and Ashima learn some hard but important lessons that will carry them to even greater heights.
Duration: 27 minutes
Filmmakers: Sender Films
BLUE PROGRAMME:
Doing It Scared
Eighteen years after a catastrophic accident left him partially paralysed, climber Paul Pritchard returns to the Totem Pole in Tasmania to find out if he has recovered enough to finish the climb.
This is a film about an extraordinary man on an inspiring life journey, his continuing recovery from a crushing injury and the never waning desire for adventure. It’s a film about determination and acceptance, patience and humility, grace, and ultimately, freedom.
A reminder that disabled never means unable.
Duration: 11 minutes
Filmmakers: Catherine Pettman
DreamRide
Enter a dream world where the trail never ends. Where the promise of joy and freedom exists around each bend. Take a magical trip through beautiful landscapes and join us on this DreamRide, a mountain bike adventure unlike any other.
Duration: 5 minutes
Filmmaker: Lacy Kemp (producer), Ryan Gibb (Director)
Give Me Five
Join a madcap group of French free falling flyers as they try to perform the aerial stunt of a lifetime in the Chamonix valley. Uplifting.
Duration: 11 minutes
Filmmakers: Arnaud Longobardi
La Liste
When Swiss skier Jérémie Heitz announced that he would conquer a list of the gnarliest, steepest skiing descents in the Alps, people thought he was nuts. After all, many of these faces had only been skied once and never tackled again because the slightest mistake would have terrible consequences.
But Heitz was determined, and he went a step further. Known for his fast, fluid freeriding, he sets out to transfer this speedy approach to the unforgivable inclines.
Duration: 14 minutes
Filmmakers: Guido Perrini
Locked In
Deep in Papua New Guinea’s rainforest, a team of kayakers attempt a committing 13-day first descent in one of the most remote corners of the world.
This daunting 40km section of the Beriman River is lined with sheer limestone walls, so the only way out is to ride to the ocean…
Duration: 24 minutes
Filmmakers: Reel Water Productions
Mira
Growing up in a remote mountain village in Nepal, Mira Rai always dreamt of being a successful sportswoman, despite all the challenges that she and other Nepali girls face.
Out of money and about to abandon her dream, a last-minute decision to enter a local 50km race shows that her tough mountain village upbringing, plus a stint in the Maoist army, prepared her perfectly for the hardy sport of mountain running. Mira’s story is only just beginning…
Duration: 42 minutes
Filmmakers: Lloyd Belcher
The Super Salmon
Banff Award – Special Jury Mention
Those who plan to construct a hydroelectric mega-dam on Alaska’s Susitna River say it wouldn’t affect the salmon runs because of its location – upstream of where fish usually swim. Tell that to the Super Salmon.
This film uses the journey of one particularly determined king salmon, plus the animated and passionate narration of fisherman and activist Mike Wood, to illustrate the importance of the river to the area’s wildlife, tourism, economy and lifestyle. In a stunning setting, the story examines the potential consequences of constructing an enormous and outdated technology to meet Alaska’s need for renewable energy.
Duration: 25 minutes
Filmmakers: Ryan Peterson