Banff Mountain Film Festival - 2024 review

A bit about why I love this annual tour of outdoor short films, plus a wrap up of the 2024 films and where you can watch them.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival is an annual film festival originating in Banff, British Columbia in 1976. Each year, hundreds of outdoor films are entered into the festival, from which a selection of about 80 films are shown over the week long festival in Canada. From these films, about 7 or 8 of them are selected to be included in the Australian tour each year between April and June. The films are shown in select cinemas across Australia during a 3 hour session with an interval.

I look forward to this festival every year because I always leave feeling so uplifted about the natural world around me and what people are up to in all corners of it. This is not about wanting to do most of the things in the films (I’ll leave the BASE jumping from a 6,000m high granite rock in Pakistan for others to enjoy). It’s more about the intrinsically human stories that come through in each film - there is something relatable in all of them, regardless of subject matter.

Here’s a wrap up of the 2024 films.

FILM 1: MUSTAFA CEYLAN

LENGTH: 12 minutes

LOCATION: Switzerland

This is quite simply a film about a guy who fell in love with skiing at 15 and never looked back - despite at times not being considered technically ‘good’ at skiing. In addition to downhill skiing, the film shows Mustafa throw himself (literally) into park skiing, and there are more than a few crashes down some punishing handrails that looked extremely painful. But Mustafa continues undeterred and plans to ski for the rest of his life or as long as he’s physically able to. This is a film about throwing yourself into things and doing what you love - and remembering you don’t need to be the best at something to love it.

Watch the trailer here and the full version here.

FILM 2: SOUNDSCAPE

LENGTH: 14 minutes

LOCATION: US

Film: Soundscape

This film won the Banff Mountain Film Festival Creative Excellence Award and features Erik Weihenmayer, a blind adventurer. While it’s a tough call, this film was my favourite of the 7 - not only because of what Erik does in the film (hiking unstable and steep slopes and climbing a sheer rockface) but because of the way the film uses animation to bring Erik’s physical experience of his surroundings to life. In the film, one of Erik’s friends says that people always ask “why would he go, if he can’t see it”? But as Erik says in the film, his fear wasn’t being unable to see the world around him, but being left out of things. This film is about how he’s learnt to continue experiencing the outdoors in different ways after losing his sight.

Watch the trailer here. Erik has indicated on Instagram that the full version will “hopefully” be available to stream after the film finishes touring.

FILM 3: NO WAY!

LENGTH: 4 minutes

LOCATION: France

A super fun short paragliding film shot in France with Plastic Bertrand’s catchy tune ‘Ca Plane Pour Moi’ as the backing track. Having this upbeat little interlude between some of the heavier adventures and subject matters was perfect - the Australian tour of the Banff film festival does a great job of sequencing the films in the 3 hour session.

Watch the trailer here and the full version here.

FILM 4: SUBTERRANEAN

LENGTH: 40 minutes (tour edit)

LOCATION: Canada

Film: Subterranean

I didn’t expect to like this film as much as I did - being about caving, which isn’t an activity I’ve ever been drawn to. However, this film ended up being a close second favourite for me at this year’s festival. The film won the Banff Mountain Film Festival Best Adventure Film award and follows two groups of cavers on separate searches to find Canada’s longest and deepest caves. As the film started, I wondered why anyone would choose caving as their preferred adventure sport. Throughout the film, even the cavers wonder out loud “why are we doing this” and “what is wrong with my life” as they scramble through tight, wet and muddy crevices.

Having watched the film, I can confirm that camping underground for days to find the deepest cave still isn’t on my bucket list. However, this film did get me thinking about what drives humans to pursue goals that require continued discomfort and perseverance, especially in this case where there are literal dead ends around every corner. One of the people on the ‘longest cave’ team also talked about having to find the right balance between his family and personal interests. He confessed that he knows he can’t just work all week and then spend the entire weekend caving when he’s got two young kids at home. It’s food for thought about how difficult it can be in practice to balance time between work, family and other interests.

Watch the trailer here. At the moment, the full version is only available to stream in Canada, but the full documentary will hopefully be available in Australia once the film finishes touring.

FILM 5: DRIVING SWEEP

LENGTH: 10 minutes

LOCATION: USA

This film features river guide Katie Veteto and her role as ‘sweep’ boat driver on the Salmon River, Idaho, which is essentially the cargo boat accompanying river raft tours. These boats are huge, with a metal oar out the front and back, rather than either side. Watching Katie manoeuvre this huge boat down rapids full of gear and completely alone made me think instantly of my sister (who also works as a river guide in the Canadian Rockies), how physical the river guide job is and how much she would have had to work through to become a competent river guide.

Watch the trailer here. The full version will hopefully be available to stream in Australia once the tour finishes.

FILM 6: ETERNAL FLAME

LENGTH: 27 minutes

LOCATION: Pakistan

Film: Eternal Flame

This film follows two funny French climbers and BASE jumpers, Eric Jamet and Antoine Pecher as they climb and jump off the Trango Towers in Northern Pakistan (one of which is called Eternal Flame). These towers are huge, granite monoliths that take days to climb. At the top, Eric and Antoine find the right exit point, throw their gear off - and follow it down. The film is spliced with shots of Australian BASE jumper Glenn Singleman, who also jumped off the Trango Towers back in the early 1990s when the gear and technology was far less advanced than it is now. Similar to caving - I won’t be BASE jumping anytime soon - but the film is a great little story about two mates who love to fly!

Watch the trailer here. You can rent or buy the full version on Vimeo here.

FILM 7: PIONEERS

LENGTH: 20 minutes

LOCATION: USA

The festival closed with the perfect film - a comedy from start to finish about two friends who attempt the ‘Birkebeiner’, a 55km cross-country ski race, on tandem skis. Back in 2012, Chris Parr (the filmmaker) hadn’t been able to participate in the race and so gave his bib to his roommate, Joe Dubay. Joe unexpectedly ended up winning the race out of a pack of 10,000 skiers, but was disqualified for wearing the wrong bib (!!!) So, Chris and Joe hatch an elaborate plan to win the Birkebeiner in a new tandem division (created by them) while avoiding disqualification.

Watch the trailer here. The full video is available in two parts: part 1 here and part 2 here.

And that’s a wrap! You can still catch the 2024 festival in some states - see tickets for details. The 2024 festival trailer is here.