BANFF Mountain Film Festival

Just recently attended The BANFF Mountain Film Festival. The BANFF Mountain Film Festival clebrates the spirit of adventure and mountains by hosting a festival that draws the world's best films on mountain themes. The top films from that festival go on "tour", and fortunately for me - the tour stopped into my town. Tickets for the tour were very cheap ($10). Here were the film selections:


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Entropy, 11 minutes, snowkiting

Entropy documents the most progressive season in snow-kiting so far. Join a couple of the world's best riders as they search for the ultimate snow and wind conditions. Along the way, they reinvent snow-kiting by taking a new-school approach and pushing the limit of ‘wake style’ maneuvers.

©Entropy (Festival edit). Credit: Alf Kollen. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Badgered - 7 minutes, environment

Badgered is an animated tale of the struggle between a badger who just wants to sleep and the outside world.

©Badgered. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Inner Balance - 5 minutes, unicycling

Inner Balance features top riders taking unicycling and trials riding to the next level.

©Inner Balance. Credit: Brian MacKenzie. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Searching for the Coastal Wolves - 52 minutes, environment

Gudrun Pflueger is an ex-world champion cross-country skier and long-distance runner. For the last six years, she has been studying rare wolves in the wilds of Canada, collecting evidence for use in scientific projects. In Searching for the Coast Wolves she goes in search of the elusive animals, a quest that culminates in a dramatic and powerful encounter.

©Searching for the Coast Wolves. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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King Lines: Es Pontas - 13 minutes, climbing

Filmed on location in France, California, Venezuela, Greece, Utah, and Mallorca, King Lines captures Chris Sharma's most outrageous ascents and visionary projects, and explores his fascinating lifestyle as a nomadic professional climber and global citizen.

King Lines: Es Pontas is a segment from King Lines, filmed on location in Mallorca, Spain. This spectacular segment captures Chris Sharma's challenging ascent of the Es Pontas arch. It’s deep water soloing at its best.

©King Lines. Credit: Big Up Productions/Sender Films. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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In-Flux - 17 minutes, kayaking

In-Flux is a film about the true meaning of kayaking - the perpetual need to travel the globe in search of that magic “something” found only on the river. Adrenaline-driven action and remarkable natural wonders are featured in the film.

©In-Flux. Credit: Paul Villecourt/outdoor-reporter.com. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Higher Ground: Mountain Photographer - 8 minutes, human/climbing

In Higher Ground: Mountain Photographer, Andrew Querner, a professional photographer from Canmore, Alberta, explains what drives his quest for the perfect shot. Difficulty and challenge are climbing's chief attractions, but the objective hazards the sport presents tap deep sources of fear as well. Andrew Querner's photography feeds on that, and captures many facets of the climbing experience.

©Higher Ground: Mountain Photographer. Photo by Andrew Querner. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Cross Country with Snakes - 7 minutes, Nordic

Cross-country with the Snakes, a short film about a nordic-skiing punk band, documents a tour with the Black-eyed Snakes as they ski all day and play all night. Nordic skiing, long portrayed as serene and classical, is cast in an exciting and dynamic new light through the lens of punk/blues rock and fast-action photography.

©Cross-Country with the Snakes. Photo by Hansi Johnson. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Trial & Error - 8 minutes, mountain biking

In Trial & Error, mountain biker Ryan Leech sets out to ride an incredibly challenging trail in the coastal mountains of British Columbia. During his attempts to ride the extraordinary trail, he reflects on the planned clear-cutting of the surrounding forest.

©Trial & Error. Credit: Harookz. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Ain't Got No Friends on a Powder Day - 5 minutes, skiing

Ain’t Got No Friends on a Powder Day features Loris, a "classic" freerider. Jean-Yves, however, has a more or less "accidental" style. This film draws a parallel between two styles and two approaches, which are otherwise worlds apart.

©Ain’t Got No Friends on a Powder Day. Credit: Lang-Willar. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

This was my first BANFF - and hopefully it can become a tradition to check it out every year.