2022 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival schedule and film finalists announced

BANFF, AB, September 29, 2022 – Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is thrilled to announce the 2022 Festival schedule and Banff Mountain Film Competition finalists.

The 47th annual Festival (October 29 to November 6, 2022) will be a robust Festival featuring over 60 live events in Banff and Canmore, feature films, curated mix film programs, guest speakers, free events, and the return of the Festival Marketplace. Online film screenings will once again bring on demand films to the comfort of your home.

Festival highlights include: charismatic female mentors Brette Harrington and Christina “Lusti” Lustenberger sharing stories about their remote first ski descents on Baffin Island, Paul Pritchard tells tales from his adventure book, The Mountain Path, adaptive athlete/skier Vasu Sojitra in an unscripted conversation with Greg Hill about life, the environment and inclusivity in the outdoors, and we will also welcome Himalayan specialist and Polish high altitude climber, Adam Bielecki to the Banff stage for the first time, talking about failure and success on some of the world’s most celebrated peaks.

The Banff Mountain Film Competition submissions include the world’s best adventure, environment, and adrenaline sports films – this year a total of 458 films from 45 countries were submitted, with 84 films from 16 countries selected as finalists. The Festival will screen 14 World premieres, 14 North American premieres, and 23 Canadian premieres. International jury members are: TV/film industry media professional Juliette Barthaux (France), VP of The Himalayan Club, climber, and Banff World Tour Host Divyesh Muni (India), filmmaker and director Faith Briggs (USA), professor and activist Erynne Gilpin (Canada), and sound designer and film composer Joaquin Gomez (Argentina). View the full list of 2022 Banff Mountain Film Competition finalists here.

Not to be missed films:

Ephemeral (World premiere)
(UK, 2022, 56 minutes)
Director and Producer: Alastair Lee
Filmmaker Alastair Lee follows top Scottish climbers, Guy Robertson and Greg Boswell in the depths of winter as they scratch and scrape their way up some of the most difficult mixed climbs in the Highlands.
Screenings:
Sat, Oct 29, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre 
Tue, Nov 1, 7 PM @ artsPlace Canmore

Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest (Canadian premiere)
(USA, 2022, 71 minutes)
Director: Nancy Svendsen
Producer: Christy McGill, Sharon Wood, Richard Levien
Pasang chronicles Pasang Lhamu Sherpa’s tragic and inspiring journey to become the first Nepali woman to summit Everest in 1993. As an uneducated, Indigenous woman and a Buddhist in a Hindu kingdom, Pasang’s dream to scale the legendary mountain pits her against family, foreign climbers, her own government, and nature itself. Her determined pursuit of Everest plays out within the context of her nation’s quest for democracy and the emergence of the commercial climbing industry. As told by the Nepalis who knew her, by some of the world's most notable alpinists, and by Pasang herself, her historic quest would transfix her country and uplift a new generation's belief in its possibilities.
Screenings:
Sat, Oct 29, 2 PM @ artsPlace Canmore
Thu, Nov 3, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre
Stream online (available Nov 3 - 7)

The Territory
(USA, 2022, 86 minutes)
Director: Alex Pritz
Producer: Alex Pritz, Will Miller, Sigrid Dykjær, Darren Aronofsky, Gabriel Uchida, Lizzie Gillett
When a network of Brazilian farmers seize an area of protected Indigenous territory, a young native leader and his mentor must find new ways to fight back.
Screenings:
Mon, Oct 31, 7 PM @ artsPlace Canmore
Sun, Nov 6, 9 AM @ Max Bell Auditorium, Banff Centre
Stream online (available Oct 29 – Nov 6)

Wild Waters (North American premiere)
(Switzerland, 2022, 85 minutes)
Director and Producer: David Arnaud
Adventurer, competitor, daughter, friend, pioneer, hero, and badass human are all words used to describe French kayaker, Nouria Newman. In Wild Waters, we follow Nouria as she prepares to become the first female to run a 100-foot (30 m) waterfall; we watch her grow from a young, keen Olympic hopeful to one of the greatest kayakers of all times - male or female. However, running some of the world’s hardest whitewater isn't Nouria's biggest life challenge. Realizing that the expectations placed upon her as both an athlete and as a woman weight heavily on her decisions and ambitions, she pushes back to make her own path. It is this central aspect of her life – this refusal to conform to others’ expectations – where Nouria is able to use kayaking as a way to transform into her truest self, and become a once-in-a-generation kayaker.
Screenings:
Mon, Oct 31, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre
Mon, Oct 31, 7:30 PM @ Margaret Greenham Theatre, Banff Centre
Fri, Nov 4, 7 PM and 9:30 PM @ Lux Cinema Banff
Fri, Nov 4, 7 PM @ artsPlace Canmore
Stream online (available Nov 1 – 6)

Franklin (North American premiere)
(Australia, 2022, 90 minutes)
Director: Kasimir Burgess
Producer: Chris Kamen
Eighth-generation Tasmanian and environmentalist Oliver Cassidy embarks on a life-changing solo rafting trip down the famous Franklin River, located in the remote Australian rainforest. His goal is to retrace his late father’s 14-day expedition to attend the blockade that saved the World-Heritage listed national park from being destroyed by a huge hydroelectric dam project in the early 1980s. The eight-year-long 'Franklin Campaign' is revealed as the most significant environmental protest in Australia's history; an inspiring example of the power of non-violent direct action to bring about lasting change.
Screenings:
Fri, Nov 4, 7:30 PM @ Margaret Greenham Theatre, Banff Centre
Sat, Nov 5, 2 PM @ Lux Cinema Banff
Stream online (available Oct 29 – Nov 6)

Deep in the Heart (Canadian premiere)
(USA, 2022, 100 minutes)
Director: Ben Masters
Producer: Katy Baldock, Jay Kleberg
Deep in the Heart is a visually stunning celebration of what makes Texas unique. Told through the eyes of wildlife species ranging from the mysterious blind catfish to the elusive mountain lion, the story follows our ever-changing relationship with the natural world and showcases our ability to destroy, conserve, and recover wildlife and the habitat we mutually depend on.
Screenings:
Sun, Nov 6, 2 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre
Stream online (available Oct 29 – Nov 6)

The Festival schedule is now available to view online. Tickets and passes go on sale October 4, 12 noon MT (early bird online film passes $125 CAD, available until October 15. Festival in Banff tickets $18-$50 available at Banff Centre Box Office and our partner venues at Lux Cinema Banff and artsPlace Canmore). Find out more about the 2022 Festival here.
 

If you’d like to provide media coverage of the 2022 Festival, please submit a media accreditation application form (submissions open until October 10). 

For more information or image requests, please contact:

Jess Elliott
Media and Communications
Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
T1L 1H5 
jess_elliott@banffcentre.ca 

About Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 47 years ago, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival has become the premier event of its kind in the world. The nine-day Festival hosted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada, showcases the world’s best films, books and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment and natural history, exploration and adventure, wildlife, and sport – and attracts the biggest names in mountaineering, adventure filmmaking, and explorers as presenters and speakers. An international jury will also award over $40,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s Festival competitions. banffmountainfestival.ca

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Partners: The 2022 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Presenting Partners are: Rab, Banff and Lake Louise Tourism, and BUFF®. The Festival is also sponsored by Oboz Footwear, Yeti, World Expeditions, Kicking Horse Coffee, Lake Louise Ski Resort and Summer Gondola, Lowe Alpine, Doña Paula, and Park Distillery.

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity: Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home on Treaty 7 territory in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach. banffcentre.ca