Banff Mountain Film Festival Festival Theatre Edinburgh 16th September 2023 Review
The Banff Mountain Film Festival UK & Ireland Tour returned to its long-time screening home at The Festival Theatre Edinburgh tonight, bringing once again our chance to view vicariously the world of wonders that are out there for all of us, if only we were brave enough to follow in the footsteps of these film-makers.
As usual there were two film screening programmes today, the afternoon Blue and the evening Red programmes. This review is from the Red programme which featured a mixture of short, medium and longer running time films as below
A Baffin Vacation (12 mins)
Walking on Clouds (7 mins)
Wild Waters (45 mins)
Flow (5 mins)
Bridge Boys (28 mins)
The Nine Wheels (22 mins).
Whatever the film topic though, there are common threads that links all of the people in these films together – a love of the outdoors and the wonders of nature, often the mental strength of will to let nothing deter them from their goals and, as is often the case when pushing your body to its physical limits in sometimes hostile environments, that appreciation of just how fragile and precious human life can be (particularly your own).
There is always a mix of cinematic adventures available at this film festival but if you are involved in kayaking at any level then Wild Waters is a film not to miss, with Nouria Newman, considered by many people in the sport to be the best kayaker alive today, proving over and over that the perceived male dominance in this sport is well and truly over. When someone who plans to kayak down a 100 feet waterfall tells you that she is always scared, you have to wonder what most of us would be like in a similar situation.
For those wanting a vacation away from everything and pretty much everyone, the often hostile environment of Baffin Island in the Arctic Circle would not be on many people’s list of “go to” places, but for Eric Boomer and Sarah McNair-Landry, nowhere could be more perfect.
Flow, the shortest film in this programme, brings us via drone photography the lone figure of Sam Favret in a closed ski-resort making the most of the opportunity to have the mountains and the snow all to himself.
Bridge Boys is perhaps one of the quirkiest films here as two climbers, unable to get to anywhere during covid, look closer to home and re-invent their idea of rock climbing.
Walking on Clouds follows Rafael Bridi on his quest to find freedom by taking walking on a slackline to completely new levels literally. With the slackline suspended between two hot air balloons at a height of some 6000 feet, Rafael is perhaps fulfilling one of man’s oldest dreams, to walk amongst the clouds themselves.
Many of Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings over the years have been stories of true human spirit and adventure, but The Nine Wheels is truly different as we follow the Schneeberger family on their adventures after a life changing illness for one of them re-set what was truly important in their lives for everyone.
All of these films give us in the audience a small window on the never-ending wonders of the natural world that are still out there to enjoy at whatever level you want to participate in, but this is a fragile world and often a fragile eco-system. It is with great sadness then that I watched all too many people in tonight’s audience drinking from plastic bottles that were then picked up and put into rubbish sacks by staff throughout the evening. Sorry folks, but if you want the wonders of this world as seen on these films to be here for the next generation to enjoy and explore, then please stop using plastic of all kinds wherever possible; they are breaking down into micro particles and destroying wildlife and eco systems across the planet.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
As usual there were two film screening programmes today, the afternoon Blue and the evening Red programmes. This review is from the Red programme which featured a mixture of short, medium and longer running time films as below
A Baffin Vacation (12 mins)
Walking on Clouds (7 mins)
Wild Waters (45 mins)
Flow (5 mins)
Bridge Boys (28 mins)
The Nine Wheels (22 mins).
Whatever the film topic though, there are common threads that links all of the people in these films together – a love of the outdoors and the wonders of nature, often the mental strength of will to let nothing deter them from their goals and, as is often the case when pushing your body to its physical limits in sometimes hostile environments, that appreciation of just how fragile and precious human life can be (particularly your own).
There is always a mix of cinematic adventures available at this film festival but if you are involved in kayaking at any level then Wild Waters is a film not to miss, with Nouria Newman, considered by many people in the sport to be the best kayaker alive today, proving over and over that the perceived male dominance in this sport is well and truly over. When someone who plans to kayak down a 100 feet waterfall tells you that she is always scared, you have to wonder what most of us would be like in a similar situation.
For those wanting a vacation away from everything and pretty much everyone, the often hostile environment of Baffin Island in the Arctic Circle would not be on many people’s list of “go to” places, but for Eric Boomer and Sarah McNair-Landry, nowhere could be more perfect.
Flow, the shortest film in this programme, brings us via drone photography the lone figure of Sam Favret in a closed ski-resort making the most of the opportunity to have the mountains and the snow all to himself.
Bridge Boys is perhaps one of the quirkiest films here as two climbers, unable to get to anywhere during covid, look closer to home and re-invent their idea of rock climbing.
Walking on Clouds follows Rafael Bridi on his quest to find freedom by taking walking on a slackline to completely new levels literally. With the slackline suspended between two hot air balloons at a height of some 6000 feet, Rafael is perhaps fulfilling one of man’s oldest dreams, to walk amongst the clouds themselves.
Many of Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings over the years have been stories of true human spirit and adventure, but The Nine Wheels is truly different as we follow the Schneeberger family on their adventures after a life changing illness for one of them re-set what was truly important in their lives for everyone.
All of these films give us in the audience a small window on the never-ending wonders of the natural world that are still out there to enjoy at whatever level you want to participate in, but this is a fragile world and often a fragile eco-system. It is with great sadness then that I watched all too many people in tonight’s audience drinking from plastic bottles that were then picked up and put into rubbish sacks by staff throughout the evening. Sorry folks, but if you want the wonders of this world as seen on these films to be here for the next generation to enjoy and explore, then please stop using plastic of all kinds wherever possible; they are breaking down into micro particles and destroying wildlife and eco systems across the planet.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com