Banff Mountain Film Fest World Tour (Saturday)

One of KHC’s most popular annual events is the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. This year we’re moving back into the comfort and intimacy of the Civic Centre with the same films screening on both Friday and Saturday evenings.

The BMFF is the largest – and certainly one of the most prestigious – mountain festivals in the world, one that runs for nine days and is juried from several hundred films. In 1986 they inaugurated an outreach program to bring a “highlights” version of their festival to other centres, and what started with just three cities across Canada has expanded to literally a world tour: about 550 communities across the globe now get to partake in this thrilling armchair adventure.

A carefully curated compendium of the year’s best short films, it is a showcase for the most awe-inspiring aspects of mountain culture, one that also functions as a window onto the world’s most pristine, beautifully remote locales. This “best of the fest” tour is dazzling and diverse: everything from intense action sequences and affecting environmental commentary to narratives of amazing adventures with exotic cultures in far-off lands.

Running just over two hours, it is an exhilarating, high-octane journey into realms that few of us are lucky enough – or maybe brave enough – to visit. “The Festival brings exciting programming to the screen, allowing everyone to experience these inspiring stories that drive us to keep exploring our world outside,” says KHC’s Artistic Director Bill Usher.

Rousing and sometimes provocative, this is an amazing way to spend a Saturday night. Grab your favourite beverage from the KICKS Café, sink back into your seat, and get ready for some serious thrills.