PREVIEW
BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL
November 1 to 3
The Banff Centre
The Banff Mountain Film Festival's awards ceremony is not your typical gathering of spangly gowns, tuxedos and red carpets. Here, the filmmakers are virtually indistinguishable from the jury and the fans, and all are united by a common desire to be roped to a rock and deprived of oxygen a few thousand feet above the treeline.
This year's festival will feature 39 films, the largest number of finalists ever but still only a small selection of the 250 entries. The films are shown in six categories: climbing, mountain culture, mountain environment, full-length mountain fiction, mountain sports and short mountain film. An international jury selects the best film from each category, as well as a Grand Prize winner, and the festival audience determines the recipient of the People's Choice Award. As usual there will be live presentations by respected mountaineers, including Gretel Ehrlich, Greg Child and Reinhold Messner.
Kicking off the festival this year is Erik Weihenmayer, a member of the elite group of climbers who have reached the highest summits on all seven continents – quite a feat for anyone, let alone a man who has been blind since he was a teenager.
This annual exhibition of mountain culture – now in its 27th year – attracts devoted mountaineers, environmentalists and climbing fans from around the globe, and their enthusiasm is overwhelming. Debra Hornsby, marketing and communications manager for mountain culture at The Banff Centre, says that the best stories at the festival are not necessarily contained in movies or presentations, but in hallway conversations.
"You could describe the festival here in Banff as a tribal gathering of the mountain community," Hornsby says. "It's one time of year when everyone gets together to share. There are stories on screen and in presentations, but then out in the lobby you're surrounded by other stories.
"And it's unlike other film festivals where you have big stars with bodyguards and you don't get to mingle with them. Here in Banff, you get to meet everyone."
Hornsby is particularly excited about this year's jury members, all of whom are as deeply involved in filmmaking as they are in climbing. The jury includes Jean Afanassieff (France), Gerhard Baur (Germany), Roger Payne (U.K.), and Valeriana Rosso (Italy). The Canadian representative is Piers Handling, an avid climber who still finds time to direct the Toronto International Film Festival.
Films will be ranked according to standard film criteria, and they will also be judged on their success in expressing the nature of a mountaineering experience. This is not an easy thing to determine, even for experienced climbers. Mountaineering is an unusual sport, says Hornsby, in that it is not as quantitative or measurable as other pursuits. Communicating a mountain experience of any kind usually requires storytelling skills, which is what makes mountaineering, film, and fiction so compatible.
"So much depends on the word of the person telling you what they've done. They say, 'I got to the top,' but they were the only ones there, so a lot of it is not as measured as in other activities."
The Mountain Film Festival is one of several festivals taking place in Banff, which will also host the Banff Mountain Book Festival (until November 3). The reputation of the festival's guests and participants attracts more visitors every year, and this year The Banff Centre expects a large crowd. With an increasing public interest in extreme landscapes and the success of books like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, mountaineering is becoming a popular pursuit whether you're crawling up the rocks or just hearing about it.
"We have loyal people who come back year after year," Hornsby explains. "Anyone can appreciate mountaineering. It's about challenging yourself and overcoming obstacles, and it's done in the most beautiful locations in the world." |
