Mountain Film Festival brings tales of daring adventure to York

Jaw-dropping scenery and exhilarating adventure are promised at an international film festival pitching camp in York for the first time.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour arrives in York for one day only on March 8.

It will screen seven diverse short films, telling the stories of incredible climbers, madcap free fliers and remarkable mountain runners.

Tour director Nell Teasdale said the Banff tour is more than a series of exhilarating film nights.

“Each screening offers a real sense of community, bringing together people with a wide range of outdoor passions.

“And we guarantee that viewers will leave with new enthusiasm and inspiration for their own adventures too.”

York film not screened

The only disappointment is that the organisers have chosen not to show the film which features an epic York adventure.

Four Mums In A Boat is the story of the Yorkshire Rows, the four York mums who set an incredible record by becoming the oldest female crew to row across any ocean after conquering the Atlantic.

However it is included in the Mountain Film Festival’s Red programme. And York is getting the Blue programme.

A spokeswoman for the festival said:

What is on

Starring the world’s top adventurers on exciting journeys in mind-blowing destinations, the short films are selected from hundreds entered into the annual Banff Mountain Film Festival held in the Canadian Rockies.

Here’s what’s showing in York.

Doing It Scared

11 minutes

Eighteen years after a catastrophic accident left him partially paralysed, climber Paul Pritchard returns to the Totem Pole in Tasmania to find out if he has recovered enough to finish the climb.

This is a film about an extraordinary man on an inspiring life journey, his continuing recovery from a crushing injury and the never waning desire for adventure.

Dream Ride

5 minutes

Enter a dream world where the trail never ends. Where the promise of joy and freedom exists around each bend. Take a magical trip through beautiful landscapes and join the Dream Ride, a mountain bike adventure unlike any other.

Give Me Five

11 minutes

Join a madcap group of French free falling flyers as they try to perform the aerial stunt of a lifetime in the Chamonix valley.

La Liste

14 minutes

When Swiss skier Jérémie Heitz announced that he would conquer a list of the gnarliest, steepest skiing descents in the Alps, people thought he was nuts. After all, many of these faces had only been skied once and never tackled again because the slightest mistake would have terrible consequences.

But Heitz was determined, and he went a step further. Known for his fast, fluid freeriding, he sets out to transfer this speedy approach to the unforgivable inclines.

Locked In

24 minutes

Deep in Papua New Guinea’s rainforest, a team of kayakers attempt a 13-day first descent in one of the most remote corners of the world.

This daunting 40km section of the Beriman River is lined with sheer limestone walls, so the only way out is to ride to the ocean…

Mira

42 minutes

Growing up in a remote mountain village in Nepal, Mira Rai always dreamt of being a successful sportswoman, despite all the challenges that she and other Nepali girls face.

Out of money and about to abandon her dream, a last-minute decision to enter a local 50km race shows that her tough mountain village upbringing, plus a stint in the Maoist army, prepared her perfectly for the hardy sport of mountain running. Mira’s story is only just beginning…

The Super Salmon

25 minutes

Those who plan to construct a hydroelectric mega-dam on Alaska’s Susitna River say it wouldn’t affect the salmon runs because of its location – upstream of where fish usually swim. Tell that to the Super Salmon.

This film uses the journey of one particularly determined king salmon, plus the animated and passionate narration of fisherman and activist Mike Wood, to illustrate the importance of the river to the area’s wildlife, tourism, economy and lifestyle.

In a stunning setting, the story examines the potential consequences of constructing an enormous and outdated technology to meet Alaska’s need for renewable energy.