The Banff Mountain Film Festival (BMFF) World Tour made its stop in Denver at the beautiful Paramount Theater on March 2nd to the excitement of outdoor enthusiasts throughout Colorado. This tour is a collaboration of films that won awards at the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival in Banff, Canada. The films showcased in the tour were the cream of the crop, selected out of over 300 entries to receive awards that ranged from People's Choice to Best Documentary. The two stand out films of the eight shown were without hesitation Teton Gravity Research's Anomaly and Olivier Higgins and Melanie Carrier's documentary Asiemut.
Crowd Waiting for the Festival to Begin
Anomaly kicked off the night and instantly had the entire theater cheering as skiers bombed down nearly vertical mountain faces. One of the first shots from the movie absolutely blew me away. Skier Ian McIntosh did a first-person shot, done with a helmet video camera, of him dropping into an extremely narrow rock chute. The footage was breath taking. The highlight of this video was watching skier Jamie Pierre drop a 245 ft. cliff and (after a few seconds of unconsciousness) ski away from it alive. The film ended with a touching tribute to skiing legend Doug Coombs who died last year in a mountain rescue attempt to save his friend.
Paramount Theater Top View
Asiemut was a gripping documentary about two cyclists embarking on their first long term expedition. Olivier Higgins and Melanie Carrier's journey took them from Mongolia to Calcutta, India. The 8,000-kilometer ride took them six months to complete. Needless to say, their adventures along the way were nothing short of incredible. From desert sandstorms to mountain passes the trials they encountered tested them to their physical limits. The entire video was shot without a film crew, which allowed it to have a painstakingly coarse feeling. The realness that the film brought to the viewers is probably what led it to receive the coveted People's Choice award.
The other eight films were equally as versatile as the first two mentioned. They consisted of kayaking, climbing, bouldering, Lego animation, mountain biking, and animal documentaries. The incredible variation of films throughout the night ensured a happy crowd by providing something of interest for every outdoor enthusiast in attendance. Many of the films were custom edits of feature length films. At the bottom of the article will be a complete list of the films shown throughout the night, as well as the websites you can go to if you want to purchase the movies and see them for yourself.
National Geographic Magazine was on hand distributing magazine subscriptions and other cool give-a-ways for those in attendance. The event also drew sponsorship from the likes of REI, Patagonia, Outdoor Research, Deuter and Polartec. The sponsors each set up their own booths complete with information packets, products and prizes for those at the festival. Each of the sponsors also contributed products for the raffle that was held after intermission.
Outdoor Research Booth
The Paramount Theater hosted the event and provided a great atmosphere for every ticket holder. The large projection screen was easy to see from both the ground floor and the balcony, while the crisp sound made the movies fun to watch regardless of where you were sitting. The Paramount is a beautiful theater with spires that travel clear up to the ceiling and 1940's art deco furnishings that give it a dusky, vintage feel. Located at 1621 Glenarm Place in Denver, right next the 16th Street Mall, the Paramount Theater ensures a variety of restaurants and pubs to continue your night at after seeing a show.
At the end of the night the festival proved to have been a great success. Eveyone left excited and inspired to go brave the elements. "It was by far the coolest thing I have gone to this year," said attendee Lindsey Lee. After the success of this years' BMFF World Tour I can hardly wait to see it come back to Denver next year.
Patagonia Booth
Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour Film List
Anomaly (custom edit) 16 min.
www.tetongravity.com
Genre: Ski/Snowboard
The Best of Joe 3 min.
Genre: Lego Animation
Asiemut 56 min.
www.asiemut.mine.nu
Genre: Adventure/Cycling
First Ascent: Thailand (custom edit) 8 min.
www.senderfilms.com
Genre: Climbing
Mission: Epicocity (custom edit) 15 min.
www.epicocity.com
Genre: Kayaking
Ride of the Mergansers 11 min.
www.rideofthemergansers.com
Genre: Environment/Animal
The Simplicity Factor 7 min.
www.fanaticalfilms.com
Genre: Climbing/Bouldering
Roam (custom edit) 18 min.
www.thecollectivefilm.com
Genre: Mountain Biking
Paramount Theater Balcony View
