Banff Mountain Film Festival Visits Bozeman

From my seat in the corner of Bozeman’s Willson Auditorium, I watched waves of light and sound wash over a captivated audience. These waves came from a selection of world-class short-films brought to Bozeman as part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. The three-day event provided a total of 28 films to sold-out crowds from Jan. 17-Jan. 19, with topics ranging from whiskey-fueled ice climbing in Kentucky to the rich history of potato farming in the Peruvian Andes.

The festival’s opening film, titled “The Flip”, was a short, intense, and artistic glance into the sport of BASE jumping. The three-minute film ended with a few final words that set the stage for the rest of the weekend: “What is life if you do not face your fears?” Despite the great diversity of topics that each film covered, they all seemed to ask this underlying question in some form or another. The ski-mountaineers Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison shared their perspectives on this question in the North Face film titled “Lhotse,” which follows their historic 2018 ski descent of the 28,000-foot Himalayan mountain that shares that name. Their articulation of how adventure, challenge, and overcoming fear creates clarity in our existence was accompanied by awe-inspiring cinematography of the most impressive mountain range in the world, making it one of the better received films of the weekend.

One of my personal favorites was the film “Opening the Earth: The Potato King.” It introduced us to Julio Hancco, a man who lives a humble life as a potato farmer high in the Andes Mountains. He describes his family’s rich culture and the fears they share of modernization and a loss of their traditional way of life. The film introduces Hancco’s son, who left their small village to live in the sprawling metropolis of Lima in search of a career and wealth, and Yenni Quispe-Surco, a young woman who shares her decision to stay in her village and carry on a traditional lifestyle. Both are faced with difficult decisions of what is right and wrong, and the documentary ultimately contests our perception of poverty and what constitutes “a good life.” These adventurous and cultural films were balanced by others that were purely comical or scientific, creating a festival that was the perfect combination of different recreational hobbies.

As inspiring and thought-provoking as the films were, I left the auditorium thinking not about them but rather about the people who attended. At several points during the festival, I looked around the room and simply considered the fact that the participants in the audience were there voluntarily. The fact that a thousand individuals will sit down in a room with total strangers to enjoy the beauty of film and to learn is remarkable. Not only were those in attendance willing to be there, they were delighted to be there. This is something truly fantastic about humanity. We are so motivated by the truth that we prioritize and find great excitement in spending time with others to further our knowledge. Maybe I am overthinking how interesting it actually is, but I will leave that for you to decide. I think it is awesome (in the truest sense of the word) that we willingly and enthusiastically come together to share and discuss ideas. Confessions of a scientific romanticist, I suppose.

Overall, the Banff Festival was an enlightening and entertaining way to spend a few hours. For a list of all 28 films the tour is showing, visit https://www.banffcentre.ca/.

9/10