Hall for Cornwall: Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour Blue Programme

This was our first time going to a one of these film festivals.  This year there are three, with two mountain ones (a blue and a red programme) and an ocean one.  We absolutely loved it and would definitely go again.  You can view films from 2024 and 2025 online by purchasing a virtual pass for each set of films.  This enables you to watch the films on a mountain pass for 7 days and on an ocean pass for 3 days.  Each pass is currently £10 and there are five mountain collections and two ocean collections available.

Each programme has a presenter who introduces the night and then each film.  There is an intermission and following the intermission there was a prize draw for a number of items from sponsors of the film festival.  There is a grand prize of an introduction to ocean racing trip which will be drawn when the tour is over.

The first film was Flow Vision (8 minutes).  This was in French with English subtitles and was I think, my favourite.  It featured Ambroise Trauet who is a downhill skateboarder.  The idea of skateboarding down a mountain honestly fills me with terror but his skill was astounding.  He talked about entering a flow state where his body just knows what to do.  For him, this is a meditative state and one of the few times his mind is truly quiet.  It had a beautiful zen feel and the filmography was incredible

A Baffin Vacation: Love on Ice (26 minutes) followed extreme adventuring couple Sarah McNair-Landry and Eric Boomer.  Sarah is originally from Baffin Island and is an experienced polar explorer and the was the youngest person to reach both poles.  Eric is one of the most accomplished whitewater kayakers of his generation.  This film follows a vacation they took on Baffin Island where they indulged their love of extreme polar exploration.  They travel across the ice kite-skiing before downhill skiing, rock climbing, glacier crossing and whitewater kayaking off a glacier.  The island is their playground and they love what they do and it was a joy to see the things they do and the amazing landscapes.  They are such a lovely couple!

After this, things got a little emotional with Best Day Ever (46 minutes).  This film looks at the experiences of adaptive mountain bikers Greg Durso and Allie Bianchi.  Both became paralysed following accidents but continued to have the desire for extreme sports.  Greg built a community around him that assisted him in getting round mountain bike trails.  It was clear to them, that with a little more thought, there could be trails that were accessible to Greg.  Many of the bridges for instance only needed to be a few inches wider and Greg would be able to get across himself without having to be carried.  So they built the first adaptive mountain bike trail.

It would be easy to assume that this is some safe tame trail.  Nope.  This is not what these people want.  They are true adrenaline junkies, with skills, why shouldn't they get to have fun to?  The sheer joy in life of these people and their ability to overcome is incredible.  For Greg, every day is the best day ever.  This film was an absolute joy to watch.

George (29 minutes) continued the emotional toll and I did shed a tear or two.  It tells the story of Jacob Tonkin and how he started fell running.  Unfortunately, he became very ill with Crohn's and stopped running and found life extremely tough.  Enter George.  George the dog got Jacob running and enjoying life and we follow the pair as Jacob returns to fell running and completes challenges.

Cold Calls: Japan (6 minutes) was a much needed palate cleanser.  It showed footage from a skiing trip to Japan with lots of cool shots of great snow and skiing.  It didn't have much depth, but to be honest, I really needed something light...

The last film was Hive Architect (12 minutes) which I found very interesting as someone with an environmental science background.  Matt Somerville is a carpenter who spends his time creating hives for bees out of logs.  He then places them as non-intervention hives for bees to live in naturally.  There is a viewpoint that bees cannot survive in the wild without beekeepers and that such practices damage the health of bees overall.  Matt has shown that this is absurd, bees do very well with a little help in the form of a hive.  The hives replicate old tree trunks that have become perfect for bees.  In many newly planted woodlands, such hives will not be available naturally for some time, but Matt puts them there, and then the bees move in all by themselves and thrive.

I would absolutely recommend going to one of the film festivals or buying an online pass to anyone who enjoys with beautiful locations, incredible exploration, extreme sports, inspiring stories and environmental concerns.

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