Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour draws 1,000-plus to Lenox

LENOX – More than 1,000 people from throughout Berkshire County and beyond converged on Lenox Memorial Middle and High School to see numerous adventure films from the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour.

While final figures were inconclusive at press time, it’s projected that a total of $3,000 from the film showings will be given to the Lenox Education Enrichment Foundation (LEEF), according to Larry Lane, owner of the sponsoring Arcadian Shop, an outdoor specialty store, at 92 Pittsfield Lenox Rd.

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This year marks the 20th anniversary of the shop bringing the film festival to The Berkshires.

Including this year’s projected $3,000, the film showings have raised a total of $35,000 for LEEF during the past eight years, Mr. Lane said.

In addition, the Lenox Crew Team sold suppers and desserts during film nights, and money raised by the team is in addition to the projected $3,000.

This year, tickets sold out earlier than usual, Mr. Lane told a packed audience Friday night.

“We sold out both nights, which is not unusual,” he said. “What’s unusual this year is how quickly we sold out.”

News of the film showing is spread through word of mouth, a mailing list, posters in the community and on the Arcadian Shop website.

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Mr. Lane said he was thrilled with the turnout and success of this year’s film showings.

“For us, it’s a big party,” he said. “We are glad our customers and friends could participate. We appreciate the community support.”

LEEF helps Lenox students and teachers

LEEF is an endowed fund used to enhance and enrich the educational experience of students and teachers in Lenox Public Schools, according to its website.

Enthusiastic audiences filled every one of the 500 seats in the school’s Duffin Theater for two nights, as well as parking spots outside the school.

The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival has been held for nine days every fall at the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta, Canada, for 37 years. It has been billed as having “the world’s best mountain films, books and speakers.”

Films shown around the world

After the nine-day festival ends, a selection of films goes on a world tour to bring the Banff festival to 340,000 people who otherwise might be unable to see the films.

The Banff Centre is an arts, cultural and educational institution and conference facility.

Presenting partners of the festival are National Georgraphic and The North Face.

At Friday night’s showing, Nancy Hansen, an avid climber and Banff Center representative, said the film festival coming to The Berkshires is like a “little bit of peace and quiet” before going to big cities.

“We like to make happy people happier,” she said.

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Community involvement

“This is an amazing community event,” Ms. Hansen said.

Films shown on Friday night kept the audience on the edges of their seats. Many were top-notch adventure films with participants completing incredible feats.

There was ropeless rock climbing by Alex Honnold with terrifying, sheer drops from almost vertical rock surfaces in Reel Rock 7;  adventure skiing in the “powder heaven” of Japan in Unicorn Sashimi;  and Danny MacAskill, a bicyclist who performed amazing jumps and climbs in abandoned ironworks in a film titled Industrial Revolution.

In Reel Rock 7, an American film, Mr. Honnold scaled the sides of three huge walls in Yosemite National Park.  The ambitious young Mr.  Honnold (160 pounds of muscle) is said to be “obsessed with climbing.”

He appears to be “writing his own chapter in history.”

Night time climbing

One of the climbs he completed by scaling the dangerous surfaces throughout the night.

“It’s kind of sad climbing through the night,” Mr. Honnold said.

It’s lonely and there were parts of the climb with “running water and slime.”

If he had one slip, it could have been the end of his life. The mountainous wall made the climb even more arduous.

The film won as the best climbing film. It was directed and produced by Josh Lowell, Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen and Alex Lowther and was sponsored by the Alpine Club of Canada.

The 33 minutes it took to view Reel Rock 7 seemed to go by in a flash. It was intense and rivoting.

Grand prize winner

Crossing the Ice, the grand prize winner in 2012, was a film about two Australian adventurers, Justin Jones and James Castrisson. The two friends took a chilling (literally and figuratively) skiing trek across Antarctica to the South Pole and back again.

Before they began their massive adventure, they had to learn to ski.

They traveled, unassisted, a total of 2,275 kilometers, often battling blinding snow on the ice. Others had attempted the same almost impossible journey and failed.

The enthusiasm, steel determination and positive mindsets of Mr. Castrisson and Mr. Jones, however, helped them accomplish their history-making goal.

A Norwegian man, who was doing the same trip solo, is also shown in the film. The three brave and persevering men completed the journey in about three almost endless months.

Posted by Susan M. Wicker Guerrero on February 21, 2013. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Community Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry