Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour

Program A

HOW DID WE GET HERE? (TOUR EDIT) (9 min)

• The blondes, three strange animals. Who are they? What are they thinking? Are they naturally Blonde? A film hightlighting the ski crew the blondes through their friendship and adventures in skiing and in life 

SCHOOL OF FISH AWARD **BEST SHORT FILM** (19 min)

• Synopsis: Indigenous people and salmon have been intertwined for thousands of years in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The knowledge of harvesting,
  preserving, and sharing fish is as important here as any lesson in a book. Today, kids must not only learn from their elders how to fish, but also how
  to fight. For the last century, corporations have sought to extract the wealth of this rich region. Now Pebble Mine threatens to pollute the pristine
  headwaters of Bristol Bay. Can the next generation step up to defend the most prolific salmon run left on earth?
  

JOJO - A TOAD MUSICAL (9 min)

• Join JoJo Nyaribo, a young nature lover and wildlife advocate as he explores the meaning of biodiversity and stewardship in his own backyard. This story weaves together Jojo’s love for the natural world with his journey in learning about, and fighting against, a specific fungus that has been wiping out a staggering number of amphibians around the globe. What is JoJo’s role in preventing the spread of this fungus? Through small actionable tasks as simple as cleaning his own running shoes and educating his friends and family, Jojo believes we can all make a
  difference.

CHRONOCEPTION (TOUR EDIT) + INTRO (41 min)

• On the trail of nomadic peoples and the ancient Silk Roads, Thomas Delfino, accompanied by Léa Klaue and Aurélien Lardy, embark on an expedition to reach one of the most remote places on the continent. The Kokshaal-Too range is located in the Tian Shan mountain range, on the border of Kyrgyzstan and China, and harbors unexplored mountains and faces. This skilled team, accompanied by renowned guides Hélias Millerioux and Jean-Yves Fredriksen, finds themselves propelled into a space where time seems to have suddenly come to a halt.

 

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Part 2

Contest- 2 Minutes

LEAVING A TREAD (5 min)

• Mountain Biker Israel Carrillo shows us his hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico, and the difficulties and differences of being a mountain biker in Mexico.
  

STILL ALIVE (27 min)

• Synopsis: Doctors gave him until age twenty-five to live and now 10 years after his expiration date, he is still climbing. Klaas Willems is a Rock Climber who, due to his Cystic Fibrosis, has dedicated his life to climbing in clean air. He has bolted hundreds of routes in non-polluted areas like
  Sardinia, Italy and found great success and peace in the process. His journey takes on a new dimension when he is also diagnosed with cancer.
  

WELL WORN LIFE WITH DANI REYES-ACOSTA (6 min)

• Synopsis: Meet Dani Reyes-Acosta: a mountain athlete, land cultivator, and storyteller whose path consistently seeks the limits of her possibility. Ticking off climbs and splitboard lines across South America, cultivating her role as a legacy Coloradoan, and setting the course for the future of outdoor access in remote communities, Dani is a visceral example of how self-care and selfdetermination can harmonize via the outdoors.

PIONEERS: TANDEM XC SKIING (TOUR EDIT) (20 min)

• After winning the American Birkebeiner - the largest cross country ski race in North America - Joe Dubay was disqualified for wearing the wrong bib. Now, 11 years later, Joe and his former roommate who lent him the bib -Chris - document their return to the Birkebeiner to pioneer a new sport: tandem cross country skiing.

 

Program B

DESERT WINGS (4 min)

• Synopsis: Paramotoring is a niche, largely undocumented, and little-known flying sport. This piece brings it to light in a rightfully epic way. Shot over 6 days, with multiple paramotor pilots, Desert Wings highlights some of the most dramatic desert landscapes in the American Southwest.

MUSTAFA CEYLAN (12 min)

• This is the story of a young Turkish immigrant, destined to play football and take over his parents’ kebab restaurant. But one day, fate put a pair of skis in his way.
  

REEL ROCK: DNA (23 min)

• 29-year-old French sport climber Seb Bouin has been quietly working his way through the elite grades, culminating in his attempt to establish a long pitch through an overhanging cave in the Verdon Gorge of France. His proposed line is so futuristic, the moves so improbable, that if Seb can put it all together it may be the most difficult route ever climbed.

TO BE FRANK (12 min )

• Frank Paine is a 73-year-old South Bay icon and humble local legend whose life orbits around a two-block stretch of beach. His unforgettable mustache and magnetic spirit are what most first notice, but Frank’s layers expose a depth that might answer some questions that surfers continually ask themselves. Surfing, which, for some, becomes lost in isolation, is made whole again with Frank.

EARTHSIDE (33 min)

• In 2022, Hilaree Nelson, Emily Harrington, Christina Lustenberger, and Brette Harrington embarked on an expedition above the Arctic circle with a vision to climb and ski first descents on Baffin Island. What they found was a celebration of where they’ve been and of where they’re going - and the trip’s success was contingent not on what they skied but the time they had together.

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Part 2

Contest- 2 Minutes

THE ASCENSION SERIES: MORAG SKELTON (5)

• Morag, who doesn’t let being deaf limit what’s possible on the mountainside, believes that nothing should come between anyone and getting out there in nature. As a deaf climber constantly pushing the limits of possible, she lives that belief.
  

ETERNAL FLAME **BEST FILM: MOUNTAIN SPORTS** (26 min)

• After having climbed the Eternal Flame route on Nameless Tower in Pakistan (6200m), French BASE jumpers Eric Jamet and Antoine Pecher combine the ascent with one of the most beautiful BASE jumps imaginable. Following in the footsteps of pioneer jumpers from 1990, the duo of friends devour adventure and all it offers, beauty, power and anxiety all contribute to the experience.

DRIVING SWEEP (10 min)

• Few river guides ever get the chance to drive Idaho’s Iconic sweep boat. Driving Sweep follows Katie Veteto as she learns how to “drive sweep” down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. She’s learned the rapids and the river. Now she learns to drive 4,000lbs down steep rocky
  rapids.

CROSS COUNTRIES (8 min)

• From the roots of mountain biking in the USA, to the dense Canadian forests and rock slabs of British Columbia, mountain biker Kilian Bron goes on another tour, this time on some of the most beautiful North American trails. “For years now, I have based my vision of mountain biking around unusual and visually impressive places, mainly far from bike parks and trail centres. All these places fascinate me, the encounters along the way too, without forgetting the production work that runs alongside a film like this.” - Kilian Bron

 

Program C

Part 1

FUEGO (7 min)

• An ode to escape and adventure travel, Fuego is a new mountain biking masterpiece. From Guatemala to Peru via Bolivia, the team scoured the most beautiful spots for two months bring back breathtaking images. Kilian Bron rides from the foot of the Fuego volcano the day before its historic eruption, to the colourful facades of Barrio Chualluma in La Paz, through the geological formations of the Valle de las Animas to an unforgettable meeting with the Cholitas Escaladoras.

LEO & CHESTER **BEST FILM: MOUNTAIN CULTURE** (8 min)

• Leo, a sought-after rock star with a promising career, turns his back on the industry to pursue a life on the land with a herd of buffalo.

GEORGIA ASTLE: FLIP THE SWITCH (3 min)

•  If you don’t have role models to look up to, it’s harder to progress as a rider. Georgia Astle grew up chasing her older brother. “If he could do it, I could do it” she figured. She got comfortable “flipping the switch” and pushing against the clock. Watch Georgia Astle explore some of British Columbia’s most striking landscapes, on a search for terrain to push her riding, inspired by a rising tide of female freeriders around the world.

THE BLACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL **BEST FILM: SNOW SPORTS** (10 min)

• A skier contemplates his connection to skiing and the mountains. As he hurries through the streets of L.A., his path takes a turn after
  bumping into a jazz musician who helps him discover the correlation between jazz and skiing—an expression of art, skiing, and black culture.

SUBTERRANEAN (TOUR EDIT) **BEST FILM: ADVENTURE** (40 min)

• In a remarkable year, two gritty teams of hobbyist cavers are poised to break records for the longest and deepest caves in Canada. After discovering a flooded underground chamber, Katie, a daytime accountant, becomes obsessed with returning to the Bisaro Anima cave in the Rockies to
  push the caving depth record. At the same time, a passionate Vancouver Island team is attempting to link two tunnel systems to create the longest known
  cave in the country. From abyssal, muddy crawls to heart-pounding, vertical pits, and underwater squeezes, these are places where no person has been
  before.

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Part 2

Contest- 2 Minutes

SOUNDSCAPE **CREATIVE EXCELLECE AWARD** (14 min)

• Soundscape shares the sightless experience of climbing a mountain via echo location, touch and imagination. Soundscape features Erik Weihenmayer, a global adventure athlete and author who is fully blind, as he ascends a massive alpine rock face deep in the Sierra Nevada. Using expert camera work from Mikey Schaefer and emotive, novel animation from Scott Hassell and Mitch Pond to bring to life a concept by adaptive climbing pioneer Timmy O’Neill, the film is a surprising and soulful adventure.

RANGE RIDER (30 min)

• As wolves repopulate Washington State, conflict is heating up with rural ranching communities. Range rider Daniel Curry’s job is to patrol wild areas on horseback, creating a buffer between wolves and the cattle herds that graze on public lands. When these wild carnivores are
  suspected of killing livestock, the consequences for wolf packs can be fatal. As illegal poaching and state sponsored kills take their toll, can Daniel prove that coexistence between ranchers and wolves is possible?

TWO POINT FOUR (20 min)

• Not your typical family holiday, but this is not your typical family. Leo Houlding, his wife Jess, their two children Freya (9yrs) and Jackson (5yrs) climb Norway’s national mountain via a 2,000 ft big wall.

NO WAY (4 min)

• Jean-Baptiste Chandelier takes his unique low-flying, ground-skimming art combining paragliding and filmmaking to a whole new
  level.