For 11 years Paddy Pallin has been bringing the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour to Australia. This year there are 23 nights in 10 locations. This week (June 10th – 13th) there are four dates in Melbourne, which means it isn’t quite as crowded as previous years. If you haven’t been before, then go along to the RMIT Capitol Theatre on Swanston Street before it ends. I went on Tuesday and, though not being 100% sold out has reduced the atmosphere a little, it is still great night that left me feeling inspired and excited about the coming seasons. There are also prizes to be won each night from World Adventures, Australian Geographic, MSR, Petzl and Paddy Pallin.
Not all the films selected for the Banff Film Festival make it to the World Tour. Only the best sequences from eight of them are edited down to a program that can be shown in one night. All the movies were enjoyable and there was representation from enough mountain sports to please most people. Unlike previous years, however, most of the movies were not festival award winners. I think only one of the eight movies shown received a special award so I’m not sure how and why they have chosen the content they have. I’m not complaining about what was chosen for the program, but I wish that it was possible to see some of the winners, since these movies don’t usually get widely distributed. A list of award-winners for 2008/09 can be found at the Banff Centre.
This year the line-up is:
Under the Influence (USA, 12 minutes)
Directed and produced by Todd Jones, Steve Jones, Corey Gavitt
Skiing and snowboarding in relentless powder in Jackson Hole and incredibly steep spines in Alaska
www.tetongravity.com
Papiroflexia (USA, 3 minutes)
Directed and produced by Joaquin Baldwin
www.pixelnitrate.com
An animated tale of a man who reshapes his industrial world into an environmental wonderland using origami.
99 Days on the Ice (France, 52 minutes)
Directed by Jean-Gabriel Leynaud Produced by Patrick Villeneuve, Karsten Kjaer
www.sombreoandco.fr
A couple, who first met at the North Pole, cross the (rapidly melting) Arctic from Russia to Canada on foot.
The Red Helmet (USA, 6 minutes)
Directed by Tyler Young Produced by Dave Barlia
www.outdoorgames.org
A young boy finds a red helmet in the forest, through which he experiences kayaking, BASE jumping, climbing and other mountain adventures.
Daily Strips (France, 6 minutes)
Directed and produced by Dominique Janiszewski , Claude Adam
www.ridetheplanets.com
A mixture of animation, skiiing, snowboarding, speed riding, mountaineering and BASE jumping
The Last Frontier — Papua New Guinea (USA, 18 minutes)
Directed and produced by Trip Jennings
www.epicocity.com
Explorations through pristine forest and intact indiginous cultures to find the source of a river deep in a cave system and to kayak it back to the ocean.
Seasons (Canada, 25 minutes)
Produced by Jamie Houssian
www.thecollective.com
Some of the world’s best moutain bike riders share their training techniques, mental and physical challenges through the course of a year.
The Sharp End (USA, 17 minutes)
Directed and produced by Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen
www.senderfilms.com
A group of elite American climbers, guided by locals, experience some of the scariest climbing in the world in the mountains between Austria and the Czech republic