ALL.I.Can: The Short Cut

Best Feature-length Mountain Film, Sponsored by Town of Banff

Canada, 2011, 11 minutes – Banff Tour Edit.

Directed by: Dave Mossop, Eric Crossland

Produced by: Eric Crosland, Malcolm Sangster

Website: www.sherpascinema.com

Classification: General

Focus: Snow sports

Stunning time-lapse sequences, creative visuals, great skiers, and deep powder are highlights of this excerpt from the award-winning feature film that looks at snow sports and the environment.

Photocredit: From the film 'All.I.Can'

Seasons: Winter

Canada, 2011, 4 minutes

Directed and produced by: Skip Armstrong

Website: www.forgemotionpictures.com

Classification: General

Focus: kayaking

Brian Ward discovers an unexpected and new-found love for water, in its frozen and expanded form.

Photocredit: From the film 'Seasons: Winter'

Ice Revolution (Reel Rock)

USA, 2011, 13 minutes

Directed and produced by: Josh Lowell

Website: www.senderfilms.com

Classification: Parental guidance – coarse language

Focus: Ice Climbing

A revolution is taking place, led by Canadian maniac Will Gadd. After 30 years of ice climbing, Gadd has finally realized his dream of climbing radically overhanging, heinously difficult ice at British Columbia’s spectacular Helmcken Falls. Gadd and Tim Emmett dodge exploding icicle bombs and send the hardest pure ice climb in the world.

From the film 'Reel Rock: Ice Revolution' 

Spoil

The Trail Collector

Switzerland, 2010, 5 minutes

Directed and produced by: Tom Malecha

Website: www.filme-von-draussen.ch

Classification: General

Focus: Mountain Biking

People collect all kinds of things: stamps, coins, art – this is a collection of trails.

Photocredit: Tom Malecha

Ski Bums Never Die

Canada, 2011, 4 minutes

Directed by: Eric Crosland

Produced by: Mike Douglas

Website: www.switchbackentertainment.com 

Classification: General

Focus: Snow sports

What does it take to be a ski bum? An unending dedication to powder skiing? The ability to do anything in your ski boots? A lifelong quest for deep snow? Find out with this unusual and inspiring band of skiers in the Kootenay region of British Columbia.

Photocredit: Eric Crosland

The Freedom Chair

Cold

Grand Prize – Sponsored by Mountain Equipment Co-op

Best Film – Climbing, Sponsored by Alpine Club of Canada

Audio Post-production scholarship, provided by The Banff Centre

Ranked #8 in People’s Choice voting @ Banff Festival

USA, 2011, 19 minutes

Directed and produced by: Anson Fogel

Website: www.forgemotionpictures.com 

Classification: Parental guidance – coarse language

Focus: Mountaineering

Experience Gasherbrum II in the middle of a deep, dark winter as seen from the raw, honest perspective of alpinist Cory Richard’s camera. This film deftly captures the interwoven roles of pain, fear, and doubt – and reveals a harrowing descent that amplifies their isolation and exposure.

Photocredit: Cory Richards Photography, LLC 2011

Sketchy Andy – (Reel Rock)

USA, 2011, 20 minutes

Directed by: Peter Mortimer

Produced by: Nick Rosen

Website: www.senderfilms.com

Classification: Parental guidance – coarse language, nudity

Focus: Slack lining, BASE Jumping, craziness!

American climbing dirtbag Andy Lewis is taking the discipline of slacklining into the future as he solos the world’s longest high-lines and masters the hardest aerial tricks, while pushing his equipment to the limit. As Andy goes higher, harder, and faster with climbing, slack, and B.A.S.E., we all wonder how far he can go before it’ll be one step over the line.

Photocredit: From the film 'Reel Rock: Sketchy Andy'

C.A.R.C.A

Canada, 2011, 8 minutes

Directed and produced by: Adam Bailey

Website: www.carca.ca

Classification: General

Focus: Humour, avalanche rescue

One man's quest to revolutionize the world of animal avalanche rescue.

Photocredit: Adam Bailey

Solitaire

USA, 2011, 16 minutes - Banff Tour edit.

Directed by: Nick Waggoner

Produced by: Ben Sturgulewski, Zac Ramras, Michael Brown, Yuki Miyazaki

Website: www.sweetgrass-productions.com

Classification: General

Focus: Ski, snowboard

In the high desert of South America, winter takes hold, and a handful of drifters emerge from the whiteout, ready to cast their lot onto inhospitable lands and forsaken peaks. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is the inspiration for a poetic and visually stunning film that ventures beyond the frontiers of most mountain sports films.

Photocredit: Frank Shine

On Assignment: Jimmy Chin

USA, 2010, 6 minutes

Directed and produced by: Renan Ozturk

Website: www.camp4collective.com

Classification: General

Focus: photography, climbing, outdoor culture

A brief portrait of a passionate athlete who has melded climbing and photography. Jimmy Chin believes that “the most honest photos happen when both the subject and the photographer are just in the moment, and the rest of the world has just fallen away.”

Photocredit: Jimmy Chin
 

Kadoma

Best Film - Exploration and Adventure - Sponsored by Nemo

USA, 2011, 42 minutes

Directed and produced by: Ben Stookesbury

Website: www.clearh2ofilms.com

Classification: Parental guidance – coarse language

Focus: Exploration, kayaking

“Kadoma” is the nickname for Hendri Coetzee, a legendary South African kayaker who is known for exploring some of Africa’s wildest rivers. In December 2010, American pro kayakers Chris Korbulic and Ben Stookesbury followed Coetzee into the Democratic Republic of Congo for a first descent of the dangerous Lukuga River. Seven weeks into the expedition, tragedy struck.

Photocredit: From the film 'Kadoma' 

Origins – Obe & Ashima  (Reel Rock)

USA, 2011, 23 minutes

Ranked #4 in People’s Choice voting @ Banff Festival.

Directed and produced by: Josh Lowell

Website: www.senderfilms.com

Classification: Parental guidance – coarse language

Focus: Bouldering, competition

There’s a nine-year-old girl from New York City taking the bouldering world by storm, and her name is Ashima Shiraishi. Guided by her coach and former bouldering star Obe Carrion, this tiny master is crushing competitions and raising the bar for her peers. A trip to the bouldering mecca of Hueco Tanks provides a glimpse of the past for Obe and the start of amazing new adventures for Ashima.

Photocredit: From the film 'Reel Rock: Origins – Obe & Ashima'

Chasing Water

Best Short Mountain Film – Sponsored by The North Face

Ranked #5 in People’s Choice voting @ Banff Festival

USA, 2011, 18 minutes

Directed and produced by: Peter McBride

Website: www.petemcbridephotography.com

Classification: General

Focus: Environment

Pete McBride grew up on a ranch in Western Colorado, a child of the Colorado River. After a life spent visiting other countries to tell stories as a National Geographic photojournalist, in 2008 Pete decided to follow the water from his family’s ranch to see where it ends up. This is the story of Pete’s journey, and a story about the lifeblood of the American West.

Photocredit: Peter McBride

Blue Obsession

USA, 2011, 8 minutes

Ranked #9 in People’s Choice voting @ Banff Festival.

Directed by: Alan Gordon, Jordan Halland

Produced by: Alan Gordon

Website: www.blueobsessionfilm.com

Classification: General

Focus: Ice climbing

The beautiful and ever-changing icefalls of Alaskan glaciers provide a stunning setting for some unusual ice climbing adventures.

Photocredit: Kristina Williams

Zero Degrees (Vancouver only)

• Canada, 2011, 7 minutes

• Directed by: Nicolas Teichrob

• Produced by: Nicolas Teichrob

• Website: www.nicolasteichrob.com 

• Classification: General

• Focus: Culture

Fat skis, bike fenders and a surfboard – essentials for making the most of winter on Canada’s West Coast.

Towers of the Ennedi

• USA, 2011, 14 minutes

• Directed and produced by: Renan Ozturk

• Website: www.camp4collective.com

• Classification: General –coarse language

• Focus: climbing, exploration

The Ennedi Desert of Chad is a hot, sand-scoured and unfriendly place. But from its vast belly rise clusters of breathtakingly lovely spires, towers, and rock formations. Veteran climber Mark Synnott – known more for his far-flung adventures than his technical accomplishments – brings young climbing stars Alex Honnold and James Pearson to the Ennedi to explore its untouched landscapes.

Seasons: Fall

• USA, 2010, 4 minutes

• Directed and produced by: Skip Armstrong

• Website: www.forgemotionpictures.com

• Classification: General

• Focus: kayaking

Deep canyons with steep, spring-fed creeks provide Kate Wagner with a soul-session in this paddling paradise.

The Man and the Mammoth

• Canada, 2010, 6 minutes

• Directed by: Callum Peterson

• Produced by: Nathan Gillis

• Website: www.publicritual.ca

• Classification: General

• Focus: animation, skiing

A caveman discovers skiing, thanks to his new friendship with a woolly mammoth.

Deepsea Under The Pole

• France, 2010, 53 minutes

• Directed by: Thierry Robert

• Produced by: Sylvie Barbe, Jean-Marc Robert

• Website: www.deepseaunderthepolenews.com

• Classification: General

• Focus: adventure, polar exploration, diving

An intrepid crew of scientists and explorers takes the ultimate plunge – scuba-diving beneath the North Pole in temperatures so low that a special heating device is required in their diving suits. Over a two-month period, they overcome incredible obstacles to give us a rare kaleidoscopic glimpse of the ice from below, and the luminescent sea creatures they encounter.

Hanuman Airlines

• USA, 2011, 26 minutes

• Directed by: Hamilton Pevec

• Produced by: Kimberly Phinney, David Arrufat, Wildes Antoninoli

• Website: www.theultimatedescent.com/

• Classification: General

• Focus: Paragliding, climbing, exploration

Two Nepali adventurers channel the Hindu God of Wind on their mission to launch a paraglider from Mount Everest’s summit and travel to an ocean they have never seen.