Banff's World Tour making Sandpoint stop

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour continues this weekend after a successful opening night Friday at the Panida Theater.

Films will also be shown Saturday, Jan. 10, and Sunday, Jan. 21. Doors open Saturday at 6 p.m. with films starting at 7 p.m. Sunday’s show, doors will open at 5 p.m. with films beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door.

All tickets will be sold through the Panida Theater website at panida.org.

The Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival has made a yearly stop in the Sandpoint area since 1995, starting off with one night of films. While most cities will host only one or two nights of films Sandpoint audiences will have the opportunity to view 25 films this year that the Banff Centre has to offer.

As with each year, a broad variety of films encompassing mountain sport, humor and culture will take over the Panida screen.

Films this year include "Going Greenland" which tackles the challenge of what happens when you combine a renewable energy sailboat with an arctic ski expedition in Greenland for the first time. Also as a side note, Jessica Baker, executive director on the film, grew up in Sandpoint and spent plenty of time at the Panida Theater. She has made her home in Jackson Hole since 1999.

For other Idaho noteworthy films, "Driving Sweep" follows first hand Katie Veteto as she learns to “drive sweep” down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Also shown will be the Best Film: Snow Sports which for 2024 is "The Blackcountry Journal" where Mallory Duncan from Bend, Ore., decided to throw out the rulebook on standard ski movies and instead mix backcountry freeskiing with his lifelong passion for jazz. 

The World Tour immediately follows the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival in November where a selection of the top films submitted to the Festival go on a tour around the world. The World Tour reaches over 550,000 audience members through more than 1100 screenings in 500 locations in 40 countries. From its humble beginnings in Banff, Alberta, where several filmmakers got together, it truly spans the globe even including some years in Antarctica.

Saturday, Jan. 20

FUEGO (France, Advisory: None) — "An ode to escape and adventure travel, Fuego is a new mountain biking masterpiece. From Guatemala to Peru via Bolivia, the team scoured the most beautiful spots for two months bringing back breathtaking images."

THE BEST SKIER YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF (Sweden, Advisory: None) — Adrien Grabinski needed a change. After a successful ski racing career that took him from the Alberta team to the Canadian national team; as a junior, he then ventured further west. He discovered his true calling at Shames Mountain, a remote little co-op non-profit ski area near Terrace, B.C. The mountains, the snow, and the big lines first captivated him, but the local ski community truly stole his heart.

ONE DEGREE° #PERU (France, Advisory) — ONE DEGREE is kitesurfing adventure at the crossroads of outdoor sport and activism showcasing the changes our environment is currently experiencing. Embark on this journey looking for places to ride on some of the highest alpine lakes in the world in the Andes.

SUBTERRANEAN (TOUR EDIT) (Canada, Advisory: Coarse language) — In a remarkable year, two gritty teams of hobbyist cavers are poised to break records for the longest and deepest caves in Canada. After discovering a flooded underground chamber, Katie, a daytime accountant, becomes obsessed with returning to the Bisaro Anima cave in the Rockies to push the caving depth record. At the same time, a passionate Vancouver Island team is attempting to link two tunnel systems to create the longest known cave in the country. Film was voted Best Adventure Film.

MUSTAFA CEYLAN (Switzerland, Advisory: Coarse language) — This is the story of a young Turkish immigrant, destined to play football and take over his parents’ kebab restaurant. But one day, fate put a pair of skis in his way.

DRIVING SWEEP (USA, Film Advisory: Coarse language) — Few river guides ever get the chance to drive Idaho’s Iconic sweep boat. Driving Sweep follows Katie Veteto as she learns how to “drive sweep” down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. She’s learned the rapids and the river. Now she learns to drive 4,000 lbs down steep rocky rapids.

RANGE RIDER (USA, Advisory: Coarse language) — As wolves repopulate Washington State, conflict is heating up with rural ranching communities. Range rider Daniel Curry's job is to patrol wild areas on horseback, creating a buffer between wolves and the cattle herds that graze on public lands.

TWO POINT FOUR (United Kingdom, Advisory: Coarse language) — Not your typical family holiday, but this is not your typical family. Leo Houlding, his wife, Jess, their two children, Freya (9yrs) and Jackson (5yrs), climb Norway's national mountain via a 2,000 ft big wall.

Sunday, Jan. 21

DESERT WINGS (USA, Advisory: Coarse language) — Para motoring is a niche, largely undocumented, and little-known flying sport. Desert Wings highlights some of the most dramatic desert landscapes in the American Southwest.

SOUNDSCAPE (USA, Advisory: None) — Soundscape shares the sightless experience of climbing a mountain via echo location, touch, and imagination. Soundscape features Erik Weihenmayer, a global adventure athlete and author who is fully blind, as he ascends a massive alpine rock face deep in the Sierra Nevada. Film received the Creative Excellence Award.

THE BLACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL  (USA, Advisory: None) — A skier contemplates his connection to skiing and the mountains. As he hurries through the streets of L.A., his path takes a turn after bumping into a jazz musician who helps him discover the correlation between jazz and skiing — an expression of art, skiing, and black culture. Film received Best Snow Sport Film honors.

GEORGIA ASTLE: FLIP THE SWITCH (Canada, Advisory: None) — If you don’t have role models to look up to, it’s harder to progress as a rider. Georgia Astle grew up chasing her older brother. “If he could do it, I could do it” she figured. She got comfortable “flipping the switch” and pushing against the clock. Watch Georgia Astle explore some of British Columbia’s most striking landscapes, on a search for terrain to push her riding, inspired by a rising tide of female free riders around the world.

CANADA VERTICAL (TOUR EDIT) (Canada, Advisory: TBD) — After years of preparation, a team of highly motivated Quebeckers set out on one of the longest wilderness expeditions ever documented. Stage one involves skiing in relentless polar conditions from Ellesmere Island to the Northwest Passage where the challenge was reaching the mainland. Cue canoes for a 2,000 km journey across Nunavut and NWT until they reach the first dirt road available where bikes are waiting to be pedaled 4,000 km to Point Pelee in Ontario.

LEO & CHESTER (Canada, Advisory: None) — Leo, a sought-after rock star with a promising career, turns his back on the industry to pursue a life on the land with a herd of buffalo. Film received Best Mountain Culture Film honors

NEAR THE RIVER (USA, Advisory: None) — In the tourism town of Livingston, Zambia, a group of local men who make their living portaging kayaks aspire to become safety kayakers on the Zambezi River. 

EL GAVILÁN (USA, Advisory: None) — Rising out of the arid Mexican Desert lies a 900 foot ship’s prow of elegant limestone sporting a 9-pitch 5.13 established in the '90s by Jeff Jackson. A cutting-edge big wall free climb at the time, this route shut down hard men for years.