The air in the auditorium at the National Geographic Center in D.C. was heavy with the tension of four hundred eager --- nay, ravenous -- visitors, each clutching a small ticket and staring at a stoic gentleman who stood behind an ominous podium reading a series of seven-digit numbers. After each was read, disappointment rippled through the audience, row upon row of shattered hopes broken only by the cry of one ecstatic individual who raced to the front of the auditorium to collect his or her prize: a Patagonia fleece.
Minutes later, however, when the goodies were gone and the lights had dimmed, it was easy to see why the audience -- fleece and sans fleece alike -- stuck around: the BANFF Mountain Film Festival.
Kicking off with a ten-day book and film festival in the Canadian rockies, the traveling group of selected mountain-themed films went on to screen 450 films in 305 cities, covering 20 countries, among them Bhutan, Brazil, Iceland, Ecuador and South Africa. Last week marked the completion of a five-day stint in D.C., each night showing a different set of short films with one feature of roughly an hour's length as the crowning piece. By the final night, the group's organizers recognized faces (and fleeces) in the crowd; in its 31 years on tour, the BANFF Film Festival, like the Banff Mountain Centre itself, has developed a strong following not only for the quality of its films, but also for the spirit of its mission.
For aspiring filmmakers and the explorers, travelers, and athletes whose stories they tell, the festival provides opportunities for exposure, any of the $2,000 prizes awarded by the festival's various sponsors (selected by an international panel of judges), and above all, a chance to share the inspiring of mountaineers, snowboarders, and everyone in-between. Stories like veteran director Michael Brown's documentary, Mountains Without Barriers, a short film chronicling the awe-inspiring climb of three experienced climbers, two of them blind, and the third, without legs. Interspersed with images of the rock-scaling intrepids are interviews with designers of the most cutting-edge technologies for amputees.
From brainwave-operated prosthetics to a knee that adapts to its user's pace and terrain, much of today's prosthetic developments are owed to a nudge towards user-friendly rather than theoretically functional products. Hugh Herr, the aforementioned double-amputee climber, and other disabled but determined outdoorsmen and women involved with his Mountains Without Barriers Foundation, are responsible for that nudge. They are joined by filmmakers like Brown who put these valuable stories into orbit. For both the BANFF Film Festival and Brown, this concept is nothing new; in 2001, Brown's film about Everest ascent of one of the blind climbers in Mountains Without Barriers raised over $600,000 for charitable organizations.
Other action films shock us with the sheer adrenaline and mind-blowing skill of their subjects: "no-boarders" (snowboarders who use a rope attached to their board in place of bindings), base jumpers, skiers, kayakers and bikers, among many others. Still other films tell the often heart-breaking stories behind their subjects' outdoors endeavors. Olivier vs. The Cobra, a short film by a newcomer to the filmmaking scene, tells the tale of Swiss climber Olivier's quest to complete the first ascent of Canada's renowned Cobra Crack, agreed among climbers to be the most challenging in the world. When he's not changing sheets for his keep or making us laugh with his thoughts on sushi, Olivier practices climbing the Cobra, his determination infecting the crowd, his sweet perseverance winning our hearts. Ultimately, a knee injury pulls Olivier from the running, and a disappointed audience watches the Cobra go to Olivier's number one rival, American climber Sonnie Trotter. By the end of the film, I wanted to scale every rock and building in sight; beforehand, I hadn't even known what crack climbing was. (It's not what you think.)
In the lobby post-show, fleeces, trenches, hoodies, and blazers mingled together peacefully over, expressing their appreciation for the vision of the filmmakers and the inspiring stories of their subjects.
The festival will make a stop in Baltimore at Loyola College on March 14 before heading back north. Check out http://www.banffmountainfestivals.ca for tickets and to watch the famous introductory video, which gives a taste of the amazing spectrum of images that these documentary and action films present.
