The early winter winds are blowing across the west coast.
Along with the change in seasons comes the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour with its annual visit to the North Island.
Every year in Banff, Alberta filmmakers from around the world gather with a collection of exhilarating and provocative films that explore life in the mountains. They highlight remote cultures, intense expeditions into exotic landscapes and bring adrenaline-packed action sports into sharp focus.
The festival celebrates mountain films and literature and a juried selection heads out from Banff to communities around the world.
This year’s film show plays in Campbell River at the Tidemark Theatre on Friday, Dec. 4 and on Quadra Island at the Community Centre, on West Road, with an entirely different program the following evening Saturday, Dec. 5. Doors open for both shows at 6:30 p.m. and tickets are available from the Tidemark box office between noon and 4 p.m. 250-287-7465.
In an action-packed line up, look for A Line Across the Sky which won the Best Climbing Film category, sponsored by Alpine Club of Canada. This film by Peter Mortimer, Josh Lowell illustrates a daring climb traversing the iconic skyline of Patagonia’s Cerro Fitz Roy by Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold.
Their epic adventure spanned four miles and 13,000 feet across snow and ice-covered rock, with difficult route finding and endless rappelling. Honnold and Caldwell are world class climbers who were pushed to the limit through a five day push.
Also shortlisted for this year’s local program is Operation Moffat. This UK production by Jen Randall, Claire Carter and Alex Messenger showcases inspiration and wit from the colourful climbing life of Britain’s first female mountain guide Gwen Moffat. Writer Claire Carter and filmmaker Jen Randall scramble, swim and barefoot climb through Moffat’s landscapes, grappling with her preference for mountains over people, adventure over security and wilderness over tick lists.
Don’t miss this superb opportunity to see cutting edge adventure films in our home town. Call the Tidemark box office for tickets and stay tuned online at wildisle.ca for news of the local program as it becomes available.