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Best of Banff lineup

The Best of Banff announced

What: Best of Banff Mountain Film Festival

Where: Myrtle Phillip Community Centre

When: Nov. 30 and Dec. 1

Your movie menu has arrived for the Escape Route’s annual Best of Banff Film Festival. There’s something for everyone in the two-day line up, that features an array of films from hardcore hiking to crazy kayaking; funny anecdotes and triumphs over adversity. You’ll be taken to places you’ve never been before and see people perform feats you could never imagine possible.

The toughest hurdle for the festival’s attendees has been to decide which night to go. Escape Route owner James Retty said people have been stumped on which night to pick.

"There’s no better night, to be honest. I’ve been telling everyone to take advantage of the two-night ticket and go to both. The Banff Film Festival only happens once a year and chances are it will be a while until you get the opportunity to see these films again, so make a weekend of it."

Retty said filmgoers can expect a more fun and lively variety of films this year.

"People have told us they don’t just want to see the epic journey type of films, they want to see the funny side of mountain-life too," he said.

Each night’s presentations will run for approximately three hours, intermission included. Tickets can be bought at the Escape Route, in Marketplace, 604-938-3228.

The line-up this year is as follows:

Saturday, Nov. 30

WhiteTrax

2002 Special Jury Award

Vancouver’s Kris Holms rides moguls, steep hardpack, snowboard parks and backcountry terrain – all on his unicycle.

The Second Step — Warren Macdonald’s Epic Journey to Federation Peak

2002 Grand Prize Winner

An inspirational documentary on double leg amputee Warren Macdonald. Against all the odds, Macdonald spends 28 days hiking to and climbing Federation Peak in southwest Tasmania.

Cannibals and Crampons

2002 Best Film on Mountain Environment, 2002 People’s Choice Award

Bruce Parry and Mark Anstice set out to climb the unscaled face of Mandela, a remote mountain rising 15,400 feet above the dense tropical jungles of New Guinea. To get there they will have to travel through some of the world’s most unexplored terrain – a lost world still inhabited by cannibals.

Rescue: The Cost of Risk

2002 Best Film on Mountain Culture

This documentary places us right in the heart of an avalanche rescue in the Swiss Alps. At Zinal, an avalanche crashes down on a group of professional rescuers who are searching for a girl who is already buried. The camera is running. Two of the rescuers lose their lives. In the rescue world and in public opinion, this is truly traumatic. How far should rescue work go?

Front Range Freaks [Part 1]: Urban Ape

2002 Best Short Film

Renowned climber Timmy O’Neill turns his hometown of Boulder, Colorado, into an urban playground. He scales buildings, leaps across walls and hassles the local citizens, all in good fun.

Jehovah’s Wetness

This film travels with the world’s best kayakers as they explore three of the globe’s big waterscapes: the Mekong in Laos, the Congo, and the Orinoco in South America.

Bergsjø Action

Arnulf Refsnes is the best kite skier in the world. In this film he is kiting his heart out on Bergsjø Lake in the mountains of Norway.

Musashi

Mixed climbing takes rock and ice climbing to their illogical limits. Musashi humorously documents Will Gadd and Ben Firth’s first ascent of the world’s most difficult mixed climb, located in an icy cave in the Canadian Rockies.

Sunday, Dec. 1

A short but daring composition bringing together paragliding "acro" tricks, adrenaline and images never seen before. The Safety Acro Team, or SAT, was founded in 1999. This team of friends/pilots works together to discover paragliding aerobatics. Flying sequences shot at Orgaña (Lleida, Spain) mix with funny and simple studio images. Up in the sky, above the mountain peaks, or with both feet on the ground – it always links to discovery and fun.

MX

Four of the best mixed-ice climbers in the U.S. are showcased in Colorado. The climbing is steep and the footage spectacular on routes ranging from The Designator and Lucky M11 in Vail to ice bouldering on Cascade Creek’s overhanging drips and smears.

WhiteTrax

2002 Special Jury Award

Kris Holms rides moguls, steep hardpack, snowboard parks and backcountry terrain – all on his unicycle.

The Yenisey River Expedition

Runner-up — 2002 People’s Choice Award

Four young explorers document their five-month quest to be the first to trace the complete length of the Yenisey River unsupported. Travelling through Mongolia and Russia, this Canadian/Australian team use only kayaks, a raft and, for much of the journey, a crude wooden boat to battle their way through storms and floods. With tension and exhaustion running high, they are befriended by the local people, who make this fascinating and beautiful journey possible.

The Essence of Adolescence

2002 Best Film on Mountain Sport

This short film features the local boys of the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. From the extreme performance, to the directing and editing, this film is made by teens.

Escape over the Himalayas — Tibet’s Children on Their Journey into Exile

Tibetan parents send their children on a dangerous, often deadly march across the Himalayas to Nepal and ultimately Dharamsala, India, to provide them the chance at an education and the privilege of religious freedom. Zazie Blumencron accompanied this trek and created a film that is moving, tragic and hopeful at the same time.

Rock ’n’ Trial

For this filmmaker, the fascinating sport of bike trials is a lifestyle, pushing him to overcome extreme barriers in order to reach the edge of human ability.



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