From climbing the highest peaks in Canada — and across the world — to skiing down the most treacherous of slopes, the Banff Mountain Film Festival has it all and it’s coming to the Fraser Valley this month.
The Banff Mountain Film Festival, an annual event that takes place each fall in Banff, Alberta, features various mountain and wilderness films. After the festival, chosen films go on a world tour, showing in cities all across the globe.
This year, 41 years after its start, the festival is once again coming to the Clarke Theatre in Mission, hosted by kinesiology professor Roger Friesen in partnership with UFV.
“It’s a long-time film festival that grew from humble beginnings,” Friesen explained. “A few people got together and spent time in the wilderness and started filming each other doing stuff. They got together, had some beers, and watched each other’s films, and in those years it slowly has grown into a global phenomenon.”
Now the festival is an annual event and has gained international attention over its four decades in existence.
Friesen initially started hosting the festival in partnership with UFV’s adventure tourism program, which he was the coordinator of at the time.
“It was through that piece of the puzzle that I got involved with the film festival,” Friesen explained. “Somebody else from UFV had been hosting it prior to me, but they weren’t that interested in it and it was a natural fit for the tourism program, so I took it on gladly and got my students involved.”
Although the adventure tourism program no longer exists at UFV, Friesen still hosts the event annually with volunteer help from students of the kinesiology student association.
Over the nearly 20 years that Friesen has hosted the festival, he’s seen an increase in interest.
“People who come for the first time will come every year for the rest of their lives,” he said. “The film festival has developed a cult following all around the world.”
With names like Red Bull, National Geographic, and Discovery Channel showing films in the festival, the lineup has grown, as well as topics included in films.
“In the old days it revolved primarily around mountain sport but over the years it has grown to wilderness sport, to environmental issues, to mountain culture,” Friesen said. “Some films are serious by nature; there are documentary style, some are fun, some are crazy. It’s a huge selection of genres that are represented in that festival.”
However, although the festival is hosted in partnership with UFV, Friesen noted that there has not been a high attendance from students in previous years.
“I wish more students would come because this film festival is geared to this demographic,” he said. “I think in our area here there’s a growing population of people who are pursuing wilderness-based recreation so I think it is growing, but also the whole industry is developing as well.”
While climbing the Canadian Rockies or backpacking northern British Columbia’s wilderness may not seem like a possibility for everybody, Friesen noted that something from the festival will appeal to any audience member, regardless of skill level.
“It’s very inspiring; it gets people going and gets people to recognize possibilities,” he said. “You may watch a film of an expedition that is world class and crazy difficult, something that most people may never even dream of doing, but even watching something that is beyond the reach of most people inspires them, even if it’s on a smaller scale.”
The Banff Film Festival is coming to the Clarke Theatre in Mission on Nov. 29 and 30. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at Wentings Cycling and Mountain Shop, Valhalla Pure, Western Canoeing and Kayaking, Lifecycles, and Mt Waddington’s Outdoors.
