Movie buffs may be pleased to learn that there will be two nights of award-winning film screenings when the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour comes to Moab on Monday and Tuesday, March 9 and 10.
This is the mountain film tour’s 12th annual stop in Moab, where the event has sold out in recent years.
Event coordinator Dave Erley said he decided to add a second night of movies this year because of the strong community support from past years’ film showings.
“What I heard from people was that they wanted more films, and more in-depth,” longer features, Erley said.
For example, there’s the 53-minute “Cerro Torre – A Snowball’s Chance in Hell,” a climbing movie set amidst mountain peaks in Patagonia, of which Erley said the “scenery is outstanding.”
Another longer film – “DamNation” — is about removing a dam from a salmon-spawning river in Washington state. It’s a story about the salmon returning to the river, Erley said.
“Tashi and the Monk” is about a Buddhist monk who leaves the United States to “create a unique community in the foothills of the Himalayas where he rescues orphans and neglected children.” Tashi is a 5-year-old girl whose mother has died, and has been abandoned by her alcoholic father.
One of the films, “Sufferfest 2 – Desert Alpine,” was filmed on the Colorado Plateau – which has caused a lot of “buzz” locally, Erley said. Another film, “And then We Swam,” is about two Brits who cross the Indian Ocean in a sophisticated rowboat.
The Banff Centre, located in Alberta, Canada, commissions, supports and produces creative works of artists worldwide. Filmmakers and other artists from around the world travel to Banff each fall for the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. When the festival ends in November, a selection of best films goes on tour in the United States and internationally. The films are about exploration and adventure, culture and environment, and mountain sports.
For the Moab-hosted film tour, Erley reviews a suggested list of movies suggested by the Banff Centre, which, after more than a decade, “has got the heartbeat of the Moab crowd,” he said.
Each evening will feature a different set of films. For both nights’ shows the cost in advance is $20; or, people can go to a single show for $15. Only cash is accepted.
Proceeds from the film festival benefit two Utah nonprofits, including the Access Fund, a national climber’s advocacy nonprofit organization that protects climbing access and climbing crags. Castleton Tower, Fisher Towers and Indian Creek are among the areas that the Access Fund has been active in southeastern Utah.
The film festival also supports Second Chance Wilderness Rehabilitation, a Price-based nonprofit regional wildlife rehabilitation center that specializes in rehabilitating raptors – although the organization helps all wildlife.
“We take in wildlife that is either abandoned, orphaned, sick or injured,” and determine what the animal needs to function in the wild, Second Chance director and founder Debbie Pappas said. “We get a great deal of our patients from the Moab area. Most are birds.”
Several golden eagles have been rehabilitated and released at Dead Horse State Park, and two were released in Castle Valley last October, Pappas said. A Cooper’s hawk was also released in downtown Moab.
Rehabilitated eagles and other raptors unable to return to the wild are sometimes given to Native American tribes who care for them in aviaries on their reservations. American Indians use the feathers that drop during molting season for traditional cultural practices.
When: Monday and Tuesday, March 9 and 10, at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Where: Grand County High School Auditorium, 608 S. 400 E.
Cost: Both nights $20 in advance; Single night $15 at the door (Cash only!)
For more information visit: www.banffcentre.ca, or call 435-259-4859. Tickets available at Back of Beyond Books, Canyon Voyages Adventure Co., Pagan Mountaineering, and Poison Spider Bicycles
Monday, March 9
“The Ridge”
“Wild Women”
“Happy Winter”
“Cerro Torre – A Snowball’s Chance in Hell” (Best Climbing Film)
Intermission
“And Then We Swam” (Best Exploration and Adventure Film)
“Mending the Line” (People’s Choice Award)
“Sun Dog”
Tuesday, March 10
“Arctic Swell”
“The Wise Man”
“DamNation”
Intermission
“Tashi and the Monk” (Best Film Mountain Culture)
“Sufferfest 2 – Desert Alpine” (Radical Reels People’s Choice)
“Touch”
