2008 Banff Mountain Film Festival

2007/08 Banff Mountain Film Festival International Tour
Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is on the road and Paddy Pallin brings us the Banff 2008 featuring a collection of the most inspiring and thought-provoking active, environmental, and adventure mountain films.

Where and When:
Melbourne: 10 & 11 June
RMIT Capitol Theatre,113 Swanston st
Tickets for all screenings – $30.00

THIS YEAR’S FILMS:

• Balance
  Canada, 2006, 11 minutes
  Directed and produced by Paul Cotton
  Website: www.paulcottonfilms.com
  Focus: Skiing
  Rating: Parental Guidance – No advisory
  Balance profiles the rapidly growing world of new-school skiing, looking at all aspects of the sport: big mountain lines, terrain parks and half-pipes, and jibbing. This film captures the athletes’ desires to push the edge of their abilities while facing the obvious safety risks associated with high calibre skiing. With high-energy footage cut to an upbeat soundtrack, the audience is challenged to judge whether these athletes are crazy or just extremely talented, or maybe both.
• Trial and Error
  People’s Choice Award for Radical Reels
  Canada, 2006, 8 minutes
  Directed by Bjørn Enga
  Produced by Radical Films
  Website: www.radical-films.com
  Focus: Mountain Biking, environment
  Rating: General
  Mountain biker Ryan Leech sets out to ride an incredibly difficult trail in the coastal mountains of British Columbia. With the valley slated for clearcut logging, Trial & Error combines Ryan’s extraordinary riding with his thoughts about the very special location.
• Entropy
  Norway, 2006, 15 minutes
  Directed and produced by Morten Gjerstad
  Entropy follows some of the world’s best snowkiting riders as they search for the ultimate snow and wind conditions across the globe. Along the way, they reinvent snowkiting by taking a new-school approach and pushing the limit of wakestyle manoeuvres.
• Ain’t Got No Friends on a Powder Day
  Switzerland, 2007, 5 minutes
  Directed and produced by Nicolas Falquet and Loris Falquet
  Loris is a “classic” freerider. Jean-Yves, however, has a more or less “accidental” style. This film draws a parallel between two styles and two approaches to the same mountain, which are otherwise worlds apart.
• 20 Seconds of Joy
  Best Film on Mountain Sports and People’s Choice Award
  Germany, 2007, 60 minutes
  Directed by Jens Hoffmann
  Produced by Clenonice Comino
  Website: www.f24film.com
  Focus: BASE jumping, Human Narrative
  Rating: Parental Guidance – Coarse Language
  “I don’t want to die, I want to live. I’m pretty good at running away, and this is my escape!” This is how Karina Hollekim describes her dedication to BASE jumping. Documentary film maker Jens Hoffman first met the now 30-year-old Norwegian in 2002. He immediately started to film, accompanying her through many stages of her BASE-jumping career, until it comes to a sudden stop, changing all aspects of her life.
• Badgered
  UK, 2005, 7 minutes
  Directed by Sharon Colman
  Produced by Jamie Wolpert
  The tale of a badger who just wants the world to let him sleep.
• Ice Mines
  Canada, 2007, 30 minutes
  Directed and Produced by Will Gadd
  Website: www.gravsports.com
  Focus: Ice Climbing
  Rating: Parental Guidance – Course Language
  What’s an ice climber to do in the age of global warming? Go underground. Deep underground. Five years ago Will Gadd heard rumours of ice hidden in the blackness of abandoned mines in Sweden. Gadd and his friend Andreas Spak explore the mines, finding challenges, danger, and amazing ice formations.
• King Lines Es Pontas
  USA, 2007, 13 minutes
  Directed and Produced by Josh Lowell and Peter Mortimer
  Website: www.senderfilms.com, www.bigupproductions.com
  Focus: Climbing
  Rating: General
  A segment from King Lines, filmed on location in Mallorca, Spain. This spectacular segment captures Chris Sharma’s challenging ascent of the Es Pontas arch. Deep water soloing at its best.

LINKS:
[1.] Banff Mountain Film Festival 2008 [Paddy Pallin]
[2.] Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre [The Banff Centre]
[3.] Banff Mountain Film Festival 2007 [The Banff Centre]

North Side of Everest closed for this season

“Concern over heavy climbing activities, crowded climbing routes and increasing environmental pressures will cause potential safety problems in Qomalangma areas (included Mt. Cho-Oyu) in this Spring season, the limited capacity of reception in addition, we are not able to accept your expedition, so please postpone your climbing project to after 10th May.” — CTMA Notice [1]

Considering the timeline for acclimatisation and infrastructure placement for a successful summit attempt that about wraps up the climbing on the north face for this season.

“(…) Chinese officials had said previously that the north face of the mountain, which straddles the border between Tibet and Nepal, would remain open. They could now be concerned that international activists may try to use the occasion of the arrival of the Olympic torch to stage some kind of demonstration on the world’s highest mountain. Last April, four protesters at the Everest base camp on the Tibetan side unfurled a banner reading, “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008” — referring to the official games slogan. The group was deported. (…)” — Times Online [3]

(..) Chinese pressure on Nepal to close the South side of Everest was initially reported to have been rejected, but now also that option seems in jeopardy. (..) [2]

It seems like a very cynical move by the Chinese Olympic officials, and one that will probably produce more attetion to the Tibetan plight in the long run.

(…) This morning, China announced it is restricting world mountaineers from climbing Everest and Cho Oyu. Only Chinese climbers will be allowed, carrying the Olympic torch to the summit in a supposed celebration of sportsmanship and Olympic ideals. (…) [5]

Olympic ideals? “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.“. Didn’t see arrogance, intolerance and repression in there at all.

[1] Chinese closing Everest for climbing in spring 2008 – thousand or more climbers and staff affected (2008-Mar-10) [MountEverest.net]
[2] ExWeb update: 121 Million Reasons to close the South Side of Everest (2008-Mar-12) [MountEverest.net]
[3] Chinese troops use teargas to halt Tibet monks’ second day of protest (2008-Mar-12) [Times Online]
[4] Police attack peacefully protesting monks in Tibet (2008-mar-12) [BoingBoing]
[5] ExWeb editorial: Closing Everest – what China fears most (2008-Mar-10) [MountEverest.net]