Banff Mountain Film Festival to be shown at The Argyros
BY DANA DUGAN
The Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center will present the annual Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour from Friday, Jan. 31, to Tuesday, Feb. 4, at the Argyros Performing Arts Center in Ketchum. This year, 26 films over three nights will feature films about mountain culture, travel, sport and human interest.
As one of less than 10 cities worldwide, there will be a fourth night of films on Tuesday, which includes a collection of the previous three nights’ lineup.
Diversity and friendship is a theme this year. Stories of bonding across boundaries, canyons and hardships are represented in various films, including “Into The Canyon” with journalists Pete McBride and Kevin Fedarko, who traverse the 750-mile journey on foot through the entire length of the Grand Canyon.
The animated film “Hors Piste” shows two experienced mountain rescue workers ready for their new mission. Trevor, the ultimate recycler in the film “Camel Finds Water,” finds an abandoned fishing boat and brings it back to life for an adventure on a voyage to British Columbia, to find remote surfing waves.
A people-pleaser of a film,“Danny’s Daycare” is by biking filmmaker Danny Macaskill, who helps with some child care the only way he knows how—by taking his charge for a wee bike ride around Scotland. Big smiles.
will be shown Saturday. Photo credit: Inigo Grasse
Not all the movies are strictly about sports and recreation. For instance, in “The Imaginary Line,” a team from Mexico and the United States comes together to find not just a middle ground, but to dissolve it by crossing the Rio Grande suspended on a highline, in an act of political solidarity.
“We are in the middle of nowhere,” a Mexican team member says. “In front of us is the United States and we’re in Mexico. And we are going to connect our two countries by rope.”
Watching the team achieve their goal is nothing short of inspirational.
In Peruvian culture, Julio Hancco is a guardian of biodiversity, critical to the survival of humanity, especially from his aerie village 14,600 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains. The film “Opening the Earth: The Potato King” celebrates the indigenous cultures of the stunning Andes Mountains, and what they can teach us in today’s modern society. It was made by Eric Ebner, and Aaron Ebner, a co-founder and executive director of The Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development.
The Banff Mountain Film Festival began in 1976 and is held annually in Banff, Alberta, Canada. In 1986, the Banff Mountain Film Festival began an outreach program to bring the festival to other communities, touring to a total of three cities across Canada. As previous attendees know, the World Tour provides a first class film experience, in a local venue for those who cannot make the annual trek to the Canadian Rockies that now tours to hundreds of cities worldwide. This year marks the 20th year that the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour has screened the films in Ketchum.
Doors open at The Argyros each night at 6 p.m., with films starting at 7 p.m. As in the past, a portion of the proceeds from the event will go to support the Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center.
For more information on the Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center, visit sawtoothavalanche.com.