Banff Film Festival: 2025 Mountain Film Programme Red

We have continued to watch the Banff Mountain Film Festival collections held online for watching the UK and Ireland.  This time, we took advantage of an offer to by a pass for both the the red and blue 2025 Mountain programmes for £16.  As you only get 7 days with the mountain film passes, you need to make sure you will have time to watch all the films!

This programme begins with the film Dolomites (33 minutes) which was a really great film.  Kilian Bron is a mountain biker known for making films.  This film differs from those short action packed visual extravaganza's in that the focus is on the process.  We get to meet the team and watch them explore the Dolomites.   We see how they set up shots, how they film the sequences.  We see their thoughts and feelings, their reactions.  Then at the end, we get to see the beautiful edited film of the trip.  I loved learning about the Dolomites, a mountain chain I have not visited.  I learnt about their formation and their World War history alongside seeing some highly skilled, fearless rider do things that really made me feel a little nauseous at times!  I would not walk in those places, let alone ride a bike...  and that cliff....  jaw droppingly beautiful and terrifying, all at the same time.

The second film was very short for one with the word longest in it's title!  Soul Flyers: The Longest Line (4 minutes) followed one flight by three wing suit flyers after they jump out above Mont Blanc.  I cannot imagine doing this but it was incredible to watch.  We listened as the group leader shouted clear, short instructions, directing the group moves decisively.  The fearlessly flew around the mountain and then did a few acrobatics before pulling the cords of their parachutes to land.  For thrill seekers, this has to be one of the ultimates...

Dropping Molly (30 minutes) was a slightly uncomfortable film for me.  Mental health is one of those topics that we should talk about and deserves to be normalised in society.  That said, I always find myself tapping in to my own anxiety when I sit and watch those who are anxious, and it's never a hole I want to go too deep in to.  This film did not go to deep but did deal with really difficult moments in Molly's life.  Molly is a rock climber, a mad genius rock climber who is absolutely fearless...  until she has an accident that makes her step back from climbing and work with her mental health.  Spoiler. she returns to climbing and conquers her fears.

Ice Waterfalls (36 minutes) is a stunning film  following kayaker Aniol Serrasolses in his dream to kayak rivers on the Antarctic ice shelf, as well as the waterfalls they create as they flow over the edge in to the sea.  I cast these films to my TV but I could also see the film on my laptop.  Watch this film on the best screen you can!  On my laptop the images were a little grey but on the TV, the ice was transformed into a pure bright white ice with the most stunning azure blue waters.  This is a landscape very few of us will ever explore but it is achingly beautiful.  I can absolutely see why it would appeal to a kayaker.  I am sure that the things they did were incredibly difficult and dangerous, I mean who kayaks off a waterfall into freezing water?  The overwhelming thing I am left with though, is just the beauty of the landscape.

The Streif is another short film at 3 minutes.  It follows a mountain biker, Fabio Wibmer, who gate crashes the preparations for the Streif ski race in Austria.  He takes the opportunity to ride the course and do stunts.  This is a fun film.

The last film is Welcome to the Pit (14 minutes) to look at an unusual skiing and snowboarding community.  Yellowknife is incredibly cold, so cold.  There is an awful lot of snow but it is also very flat.  When they built the airport they quarried gravel creating a pit which for many years was fenced off.  It was a rite of passage to climb the fence and ski or snowboard in to the Pit, the only slope around.  The community eventually took the site over and installed a ski pull to get people back up.  The old timers, the pioneers are still active but they are encouraging the new guard to spread their wings, even as they teach the youngest of children to ski and have fun in the snow.  It's a lovely heart warming film.

Another great collection of films, full of jaw dropping skill, incredible people, adversity and endurance on a backdrop of some of the most stunning landscapes.

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