A28
THE VANCOUVER COURIER T H U R SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 1 , 2 0 1 6
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL
FEBRUARY 12-20/2016 www.vimff.org
VIMFF 2016 FEATURE FILMS
Directed by Guido Perrini 2015, Switzerland, 54 minutes
A LAST STAND FOR LELU
SNOWMAN
Directed by Mike Douglas 2014, Canada, 82 minutes
SNOWMAN Sat Feb 13 @7:30pm (doors 7:00pm) The Cinematheque VANCOUVER PREMIERE Set in B.C.’s dramatic Coast Range mountains, SNOWMAN is a familiar tale of dreaming big and the barriers—both benign and catastrophic—to realizing a childhood fantasy. It’s the story of a friendship forged in the mountains, and a lifestyle where the greatest risk is not daring to dream at all.
DEGREES NORTH
Directed by Farhan Umedaly and Tamo Campos 2016, Canada, 24 minutes
THE CHANGE I WANT TO SEE Mon Feb 15 @7:30pm (doors 7:00pm) The Cinematheque WORLD PREMIERE The Lax Kw’alaams are the keepers of the Lelu Island and its connected Flora Bank, a massive sand bar that is part of the Skeena River estuary, some of the most important salmon habitat in Canada. A proposed LNG project would devastate the Skeena River, the natural wildlife and countless communities in the path of the pipeline.
TOM
UNTETHERED
HIGH IN THE ALPS Sat Feb 13 @7:30pm (doors 7:00pm) Inlet Theatre NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Even though Tom’s mother, the great British alpinist Alison Hargreaves, died descending the K2 when he was just 6 years old, he never wanted to be anything else but a climber. His whole life is dedicated to the mountains and his latest goal is to climb the Six North Faces of the Alps, solo, in a single winter season.
SLACKLIFE Tue Feb 16 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) RIO Theatre Untethered takes an immensely personal look straight into the heart of the slacklining movement in Vancouver. Spencer Seabrooke made national headlines in August with his death defying world record free-solo highline – this is the story behind Spencer’s passion and the start of Slacklife BC.
Directed by Angel Esteban 2015, Spain, 67 minutes
Directed by Levi Allen VanderKwaak 2015, Canada, 32 minutes
THE ADVENTURES OFTHE DODO Directed by Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll 2015, Belgium, 50 minutes
ROCK SOLID MATINEE Sun Feb 14 @2:00pm (doors 1:30pm) The Cinematheque NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Captain Reverend Bob Shepton calls the Wild Bunch (Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Benjamin Ditto, Olivier and Nicolas Favresse) back onto his boat for a major mission! On board of the Dodo’s Delight (a 10m sailboat) the team measures up with arctic ice, polar bears and ferocious storms, in search of the holy grail: to find unclimbed big walls and musical enlightenment.
KARUN: MISADVENTURES ALONG IRAN’S LONGEST RIVER
CHASING NIAGARA
Directed by Rush Sturges 2015, USA, 80 minutes
WHITEWATER Tues Feb 16 @7:30pm (doors 7:00pm) The Cinematheque VANCOUVER PREMIERE When pro kayaker Rafa Ortiz makes the decision to paddle over Niagara Falls, he sets in motion an incredible series of events that eventually takes on a life of its own. Enlisting a team of top kayakers, together they go on a remarkable three-year journey from the rainforest rivers of Mexico to the towering waterfalls of the U.S. Northwest.
TRANSITION
Directed by Chris Prescott and Paul Diffley 2015, UK, 45 minutes
Directed by Rhys Thwaites-Jones 2015, UK, 57 minutes
COLOSSAL JOURNEYS Sun Feb 14 @7:30pm (doors 7:00pm) The Cinematheque NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE British adventurers Tom Allen and Leon McCarron set out to follow Iran’s longest river, the Karun, by human powered means. Their aim is to go beyond the politics and explore the culture and geography of this most misunderstood of nations – but when the once-calm waters of the Karun turn nasty, they wonder if they’ve bitten off more than they can chew.
HADWIN’S JUDGEMENT
Directed by Sasha Snow 2015, Canada/UK, 87 minutes
THE GOLDEN SPRUCE Mon Feb 15 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) RIO Theatre ‘Hadwin’s Judgment’ chronicles the tormented transformation of Grant Hadwin from expert logger to environmental terrorist, a man who dared to challenge the destruction of the world’s last great temperate rainforest. Hadwin’s one man crusade culminated in a perverse and outrageous act of protest that was, in itself, a crime against nature.
WOMEN ROCK Wed Feb 17 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) Centennial Theatre NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE UK competition and sport climber Natalie Berry makes the move into traditional and winter climbing. Acting as mentor along the way is Scottish all round climber Dave MacLeod. The film follows Natalie over the course of two years as she attempts to pursue a life in the mountains.
SKI SHOW Thurs Feb 18 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) Centennial Theatre BC PREMIERE Degrees North mixes hairraising action footage of leading freeriders with a story of adventure and discovery. World-renowned freeriders Xavier De Le Rue, Samuel Anthamatten and Ralph Backstrom progress the sport of freeriding through the use new technology to scope remote areas. See ski and snowboard action in a way never seen before.
SHIFTING ICE & CHANGING TIDES Directed by KT Miller 2015, USA, 30 minutes
SKI SHOW Thurs Feb 18 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) Centennial Theatre CANADIAN PREMIERE In March of 2014 six women set sail from Isafjordur, Iceland on an adventure of a lifetime. The goal was to sail from Iceland across the Denmark Straight and up the West Coast of Greenland skiing as much as possible along the way. They encountered every type of weather condition possible, and skied some of the most beautiful and remote mountains in the world.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN TRAVERSE
Directed by Bryan Smith 2015, Canada, 52 minutes
THE ART OF FLIGHT Thurs Feb 18 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) RIO Theatre - BC PREMIERE When Will Gadd and Gavin McClurg decided they wanted to define a bold new style in paragliding, they could not have picked a more vegetated, convoluted and downright burly route to test their concept - a 700-kilometer traverse of the Canadian Rockies. They break all the typical rules of paragliding in an attempt at the longest pure paragliding flight ever.
K2 TOUCHING THE SKY
Directed by Eliza Kubarska 2015, Poland, 72 minutes
THE POLISH CLIMBING SHOW Thurs Feb 18 @7:30pm (doors 7:00pm) The Cinematheque BC PREMIERE Almost 30 years after events where 13 climbers died on K2, an international group of grown-up children set out on an expedition to reach K2 base camp. They will challenge themselves to face the past and to understand the force that once seduced their parents and eventually killed them.
PADDLE FOR THE NORTH
Directed by Simon Lucas 2015, New Zealand, 33 minutes
MEC CANADIAN ADVENTURE NIGHT Fri Feb 19 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) RIO Theatre Deep in the Canadian North, six young guys embarked on an epic adventure – to explore some of the most remote and untouched rivers in the world. A boys-own adventure turns into a mission to truly discover the secrets of the north and show the world why some places are worth preserving.
ECLIPSE
Directed by Anthony Bonello 2015, Canada, 32 minutes
ADVENTURE FILM MAKING Wed Feb 17 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) RIO Theatre It was a ridiculous idea from the start. Travel to the edge of the earth to see one of the planet’s rarest events- a total solar eclipse in the Arctic. Despite the low chance of success, the team set out on an expedition to realize photographer’s Reuben Krabbe’s grand vision to capture a single unique image - one of skiing during a solar eclipse.
CITADEL
Directed by Alastair Lee 2015, UK, 48 minutes
VIMFF FINALE Sat Feb 20 @7:30pm (doors 6:30pm) Centennial Theatre Vancouver Premiere Dubbed ‘The Mountain God’, the Citadel is a stunning 3000m peak in one of the remaining untouched corners of the Great Alaskan Range. The Citadel is beautiful but deadly, plagued by bad weather and prone to avalanches. Matt Helliker and Jon Bracey attempt to make the first ascent of the extraordinary 1200m long north-west ridge.
VISIT WWW.VIMFF.ORG FOR A FULL LIST OF FILMS