The Banff Mountain Film Festival returns to Boone for the 18th time Friday and Saturday at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts.
The two-day festival, which is already sold out, consists of numerous films of varying lengths that represent the strongest of more than 400 submissions. In addition, all films this will be displayed in high-definition.
Senior recreation management major Bailey Kinsman got a chance to attend last year’s screenings.
“I have a hard time sitting through movies usually, but Banff was really different because it really is just the coolest stuff and all the films are different lengths,” Kinsman said.
The films are intended not only to entertain, but also to educate audiences on pressing environmental issues.
“[The Banff Boone showings] are so popular because a community this small is so inspired by these adventures all over the world,” senior environmental science major Michael Cheeseman said. “There’s kind of a spirit of adventure in Boone.”
Two of this year’s featured films are “North of the Sun” and “The Last Great Climb.” Both films have won other awards at the Canadian and London 2012 surf film festivals and the 2013 Kendal Mountain Festival, respectively.
“North of the Sun” follows Norwegian filmmakers and adventurers Inge Wegge and Anne Bergseng as they spend a winter in the Arctic building a cabin out of flotsam and skiing and surfing in the Atlantic Ocean.
Alastair Lee’s “The Last Great Climb” tracks a group of mountain climbers out to conquer one of the world’s most challenging peaks in one of the most foreboding locations possible: Queen Maud Land, Antarctica.
Thea Young, Footsloggers Boone store manager, has been attending the festival since 2006, and is excited about how well it meshes with Boone culture.
“I think it parallels our mountain town quite well when you take a film festival that is surrounded in the outdoors and present it in an area that is so passionate,” Young said. “It’s going to be a huge success.”
The Banff Mountain Film Festival will be held Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in The Schaefer Center. The event is sponsored by University Recreation’s Outdoor Programs, Footsloggers and Appalachian State University’s Department of Geology.
Story by Sam Lineberger, A&E Reporter