The Banff Mountain Film Festival celebrates the 2024 winners

The Banff Mountain Film FestivalOfficially known as the Banff Center Mountain Film and Book Festival, is a world-famous event held annually in Banff, Canada. The festival celebrates mountain culture, adventure sports and environmental stories and shows a diverse range of films, book talks and presentations over nine days. The annual outdoor and film event recently took place, presenting a wide variety of exciting and inspiring films. A selection of the winning films will soon go on a world tour, bringing a range of outdoor adventures to a global audience. Andrew Marshall wrote one recently Article for DiscoverersWeb highlighting a selection of this year’s top finishers Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Champions of the Golden Valley inspired the film festival participants. This film is set in rural Afghanistan, against the backdrop of political struggle. The film focuses on a group of young Afghan boys and girls who learn to ski while creating a competitive, yet friendly rivalry. Outdated ski equipment and mediocre facilities cannot diminish their enthusiasm and enjoyment for the sport. The US withdrawal from the country in 2021 brought the Taliban back to the region and turned the lives of the young skiers upside down.
ExplorersWeb editor-in-chief Jerry Kobalenko said about this Champions of the Golden Valley, “This labor of love was years in the making, and the unexpected return of the Taliban added a dark edge to what started as a feel-good story about the discovery of outdoor sports in Central Asia.”

109 Below describes a tragedy and subsequent rescue attempt that occurred in 1983 on Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Mount Washington’s notoriously frigid and unstable winter weather hampers rescue efforts, and the saga remains at the heart of the community to this day. The film immediately captivates the audience with compelling twists and turns.
“Directed with empathy and gravitas, the story spans decades of moral reconciliation in just 14 minutes while opening a debate it cannot hope to resolve,” noted judge Brian Johnson.

The giants portrays a struggle to preserve Australia’s beautiful landscape led by politician and conservationist Bob Brown. Brown works tirelessly and passionately to protect giant trees from development and destruction. The film uses live-action cinematography and creative animation to bring to life Australia’s breathtaking nature and the forces that seek to marginalize it.

Big Water Theory follows Nouria Newman, the French extreme kayaker, who aims to make the first female descent of the Rondu Gorge of the Indus. Newman is a colorful and ambitious character who fills the screen with skill and adventure. “Ultimately, this is a story of little people bravely braving the vastness of nature: tiny figures in plastic kayaks amid the foaming, powerful waters of the Indus, seemingly on the brink of disaster but miraculously making it through the rapids unscathed . Is it luck or skill? Mostly the former, with just a hint of the latter.” (Jury member Masha Gordon)

The elegant film focuses on former hunter and ranger Jal Tumursukh as he tries to protect conservation efforts and traditional cultural practices across Mongolia. Juror Brian Johnson described Mongolia, Valley of the Bears as a “film of many genres. A cinematic spectacle that distills poetry from the landscape. An eco-documentary that is too complex to be doctrinaire. A character drama with a deceptive protagonist. A western about an enforcer who fights a gang of poachers by recruiting warriors from their ranks.”

The festival announced that all winning films will be available online in the US and Canada from November 6 to 13. (Related article) Other category winners: Best Climbing: Adra Best snow sports: Wild days Best feature: Ashima Best short film: The bird in my backyard Creative Excellence Award: The smoke that thunders