Banff Mt. Film Fest celebrates outdoors, adventure

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World tour is coming to Sandpoint’s Panida Theater for three separate nights starting Friday, Jan. 18, Saturday, Jan. 19, and Sunday, Jan. 20.

Doors open at 6 p.m. with films beginning at 7 p.m. for the Friday and Saturday night shows. Sunday, doors open at 5 p.m. with films starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are available in Sandpoint at Eichardt’s, The Alpine Shop, Burger Express and The Outdoor Experience. Tickets are also available in Bonners Ferry at the Burger Express. Online tickets can be purchased on the Panida Theater website at panida.org. Any tickets left will be sold at the door. Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 at the door.

A portion of the proceeds from the event will go to support the locally operated program, North Idaho Mountain Sports Education Fund, which gives the opportunity for 70-plus local kids to ski at Schweitzer Mountain with lessons, ski gear and lift tickets. Jeff Rouleau from NIMSEF will be on hand to handle their raffle of prizes at the Panida Theater the night of the shows that goes to help support this program. This year, 26 films over three nights will provide a full line-up of diverse mountain culture, travel, sport and human interest including “This Mountain Life: Coast Range Traverse”, one of the more popular films on the tour where a mother/daughter team set out on a six-month ski traverse in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Sharing a common goal they learn much about each other on their six-month journey, ski traversing, bush whacking and foraging rivers to keep their journey on track.

“For the Love of Mary” follows the story of 97-year-old George Etzweiler who first started running as a way of saving his own life. Overweight, out of shape and going downhill fast he vowed to turn things around and to be there for his beloved Mary whom he married in 1942. Almost 50 years after he started running he still runs and competes, now to honor his wife Mary who passed away in 2010.

“Fast Horse” is a Canadian film that follows the return of the Blackfoot bareback horseracing tradition in a new form: the Indian Relay. It is a story of struggle how Allison Red Crow works to build a team with a new jockey and second-hand horses so they can take on the best riders at the Calgary Stampede. Adrenaline fueled sports abound also like “Rogue Elements: Corbet’s Couloir”, where skis are traded for mountain bikes to leap into the icy infamous Corbet’s Couloir in Jackson Hole or the film “Skier vs Drone” where it is the classic battle of man vs machine. Olympic Bronze Medalist ski racer Victor Muffat-Jeandet is up for the challenge. It’s exciting.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival is an inspiring international film competition featuring the world’s best footage on mountain subjects. The original festival which began in 1976 is held annually on the first weekend in November in Banff, Alberta. In 1986, The Banff Mountain Film Festival began an outreach program to bring the festival to other communities, touring to a total of three cities across Canada.

As previous attendees know, the World Tour provides a first class film experience, in a local venue for those who cannot make the annual trek to the Canadian Rockies that now tours to hundreds of cities worldwide. 2018 marks the 22nd year that the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour has come to the Sandpoint area.

Information: Banff Mountain Film Festival, mountainfever.us; North Idaho Mountain Sports Education Fund, nimsef.com