Banff Mountain Film Fest comes to Jasper

Chaba Theatre patrons were whisked away to the peaks of Patagonia, Eastern Europe and the Peruvian Andes Monday night, as the 2008 Banff Mountain Film Festival came to Jasper.

A sold-out audience took in the selection of eight films from the festival, which received a total of 263 entries from 38 countries this year.

Onsite coordinator Charla Sharp Tomlinson said the festival takes place in Banff in November every year. “The films reflect a range of creative visions from film producers from around the world,” she said, in an introduction to the crowd, before encouraging everyone to cheer, laugh and “ooh and ahh” during the films.

First up was Red Helmet, directed by Tyler Young and produced by Dave Barlia. This American flick, made by Expedition Films, was short-listed in the mountain sports category. In it, a boy, who appears to be afraid to jump into a swimming hole with his friends, runs away and finds a red helmet, which brings his black and white world into colour.

The film showcases eight sports in six minutes, including kayaking, climbing, biking, and para-gliding. After seeing all the sports in action, the boy returns and leaps into the water.

The next film to play was Under the Influence, which starts off with a scene of a helicopter dropping skiers off on a peak, while background lyrics say “How’d this mountain get so high?”, and then the screen reads, “The people, places, and moments that define our riding.” Directed and produced by Todd Jones, Steve Jones, and Corey Gavitt, Under the Influence was made in the United States by Teton Gravity Research and was short-listed in the mountain sports category.

The Sharp End, shown next, was directed and produced by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen in the USA by Sender Films, and shows climbers ascending sandstone towers in Eastern Europe. Inexact translations and endearing accents provide a laugh, like when one guide says, “If you fall you can become legend.” The Sharp End was short-listed for the best film on climbing award.

Next up was Psyche: Patagonian Winter, which was directed and produced by Alastair Lee in the UK by Posing Productions, won a special jury award, and was short-listed for best film on climbing. It’s the story of a pair that makes several attempts at a popular summer climb in the winter. Attention to character development draws the viewer in, especially during a segment when the two spend four days in a snow shelter and start to act a little off-the-wall. 

If You’re Not Falling won the award for best short mountain film. It was directed by Dave Brown and produced by Paul Diffley in the UK by Hot Aches Productions. In it, Sonnie Trotter heads to Scotland to attempt another “hardest rock climb in the world.” In eight minutes, the audience sees determination as it leads to triumph. “If you’re not falling, you’re not trying,” is the tagline.

Papiroflexia, directed and produced by Joaquin Baldwin in the USA, was also shown. The hero in this animated short transforms the world back to a natural state by folding two-dimensional objects around him into origami, such as a stop sign into a butterfly and a car into a gazelle. 

The next film to play was Shikashika, which outlines the story of a Peruvian family’s regular ascent into the mountains to collect huge blocks of ice, which they would haul down to the village and sell as slushy beverages in the Sunday market. 

Then came a flick about a kayak trip to Papua New Guinea, as what seems like a shallow attempt to draw attention to challenges facing the natural environment there. As the film draws to a close, one of the men on the trip says, “I can’t help but think about how my resource use at home affects others in the rest of the world,” as he paddles into the sunset in his plastic kayak. 

The last film to show that night was called The Fine Line: A 16mm Avalanche Education Film, directed by Dave Mossop and produced by Malcolm Sangster. This visually-remarkable film, made in Canada by Rocky Mountain Sherpas Inc., uses stunning, baffling time lapse photography techniques that make the seasons seem to pass in seconds. 

Later, the scene jumps between boarders who were caught in an avalanche together, as they each recall the story, which culminates in a hard-hitting lesson about safety.

For a complete list of award winners in the 2008 Banff Mountain Film Festival, visit www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/festivals/2008/films.