by Kyle Wells [email protected] Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is back in Powell River on January 6 and 7 and is bringing with it all the snow blowing, desert crossing, peak summiting and downhill speeding viewers could possibly ask to view.
Over two nights at Max Cameron Theatre, the festival will present 16 short and feature-length films that will take audiences to the furthest corners, the highest peaks and most desolate locales on earth.
The festival is the touring version of the annual nine-day outdoor adventure book and film event that takes place in Banff, Alberta. From that event the best films are picked and then screened all over the world. And that’s no embellishment: there are two screenings in Antarctica.
In Powell River, both nights will feature finger food, beverages, socializing and movies about people doing outrageous, dangerous and potentially crazy things in the most extreme outdoor settings.
Friday night’s program features The Freedom Chair, which won the Best Film - Mountain Sports award in Banff. The film is about Josh Dueck, a risk-taking skier and coach who in 2004 hit a jump too fast and ended up paralyzed. The film looks into Dueck’s reinvention as a world-class competitive ski-sitter and his quest to get into the backcountry and reconquer its challenges.
Chasing Water is another film to look out for on Friday night. This winner of the Best Short Mountain Film award follows a father and son who attempt to follow the Colorado River from Colorado to the coast. The only problem is the river disappears. Described as a “story about the lifeblood of the American West,” Chasing Water promises to be a film of beautiful scenery and chilling relevance.
Saturday night will feature the winner of the Best Feature-Length Mountain Film titled All.I.Can. The film features stunning camera work and breathtaking skiing as it explores the role of skiers and boarders in the fight to protect the environment. Devoted skiers and boarders are seeing the effects of global warming first hand as it threatens their playgrounds throughout the world. All.I.Can follows those on the front lines to some of the best skiing spots in the world as they tackle the hills and the issues that threaten them.
Best Film-Climbing, Audio Post-Production Scholarship and the overall Grand Prize-winning film Cold will also be featured on Saturday. Cold focuses on Cory Richards, an alpinist and photographer who attempts to climb Gasherbrum II, the 13th tallest mountain on earth, located on the border between Pakistan and China, in the dead of winter.
One debate that local organizer Jim Palm is having with the festival is inclusion of local content. Up until last year presentations for local groups were allowed, but Banff has said this is no longer to happen.
Doors for both nights will open at 6:15 pm with films starting at 7 pm. Tickets for the event are going fast and are available at Taws Cycle and Sports, River City Coffee, Alpha Adventures and Thunder Bay Store. For more information, interested readers can contact Palm at 604.483.3171 or [email protected].
