We visited the Banff Mountain Film Festival Word Tour and found some hidden gems and treasures.
Last year marked the 40th Anniversary of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival which takes place in Banff, Alberta in November. Hosted over 9 days, this film festival is a celebration of all things outdoors including; rock climbing, skiing, mountain biking, horse riding and surfing to name a few. There were 75 films shown in 2015 and after the festival, the best films hit the road on a world wide, 40 country tour.
Each year this tour comes to The Whitley Bay Playhouse (just outside of Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and after thoroughly enjoying myself last year, I had to get a ticket to see this year’s’ films.
The tour consisted of 12 films split over two nights. I picked the Thursday night ‘Red Programme’ purely because it included a film about Alex Honnold, an American born free climber, who I’m a big fan of.
Here are my thoughts about my favourite films of the evening:
Unreal
Unreal is a 12 minute film that is “dedicated to the dreamers”, the people who work all day in the office dreaming about being outside Mountain Biking. Mountain Biking isn’t something I’ve ever tried or had a real interest in but I really enjoyed this short film and it was a great way to start the evening. The clip starts off with an incredible single take Mountain Bike run that just blew me away. This part is actually on youtube and is well worth a watch.
“The clip starts off with an incredible single take Mountain Bike run that just blew me away”
Curiosity
This film, as the title, suggests is about curiosity, specifically the curiosity that drives ultra-marathoners Rory Bosia, Timothy Olson and Hal Koerner to do what they do. It follows their attempt to complete the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc which is one of the world’s toughest ultra-marathons, a 100 mile run round Mont Blanc. Again, running isn’t an interest of mine, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this film. These athletes are incredible. The humour peppered throughout this film really made the difference. I particularly enjoyed Rory Bosia’s song that she sings every time she puts her Frog shower cap on.
“The humour peppered throughout this film really made the difference”
Denali
Probably my second favourite film of the night is Denali. This is a 8 minute long film about Ben Moon and it was his way of saying goodbye to man’s best friend, a dog that he rescued as a puppy. The film is narrated from the point of view of Ben’s dog and it is a real emotional rollercoaster that celebrates the bond between humans and dogs. I don’t want to say too much more about this film as thankfully it is available online for free and I urge you to stop what you’re doing, sit back and enjoy.
“I urge you to stop what you’re doing, sit back and enjoy”
A Line Across The Sky
This was the film I was looking forward to and it did not disappoint. At 40 minutes long it was one of the longer films of the evening and it documented Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell’s five day “Fitz Roy Traverse”. The Fitz Traverse is a skyline of 6 peaks spanning 4 miles and is one of the most recognisable views in Patagonia. It was once thought impossible to climb all 6 peaks in one trip but Alex and Tommy achieved the first ascent proving everybody wrong. This achievement earned them the Piolet d’Or award which is the most prestigious award in the climbing community. Even if climbing is not your idea of fun, the stunning footage, camaraderie and clever storytelling make this a very enjoyable film.
“The stunning footage, camaraderie and clever storytelling make this a very enjoyable film.”
The Banff film festival is currently touring the UK & Ireland and I encourage you to pick up a ticket to be inspired by these incredible films. I’m already looking forward to next year!
By Stephen Dryden
Header image By Sesivany from cs, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2832374
