Toni Brauchle, executive director of the CanTeen, has announced that the following titles have been selected to be shown at the North Syracuse location of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, to be held 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, at North Syracuse Junior High School, 5353 West Taft Road.
Surf the Line
Three minutes
A fun and exciting short to kick off the show. For The Flying Frenchies, thinking out of the box isn’t a choice — it’s a way of life.
Why
Seven minutes
French paddlers take on big drops and big questions in Iceland. A cold, rugged and forbidding landscape where powerful rivers plunge through bedrock gorges, over massive waterfalls toward the sea. A crew of French kayakers travel here to ask the question, “Why? Why do we do this?”
Johanna
Four minutes
A beautifully made short featuring bracing scenes of cold water diving. For freediver Johanna Nordblad, diving under the ice provides a surreal, calming environment that helps heal her injuries.
Sky Migrations
Sixteen minutes
Extreme birder Charles Post chases raptors through the American west. Each fall our skies fill with the wings of migrating raptors, a migration that relies on two hemispheres worth of wild and healthy ecosystems. Join ecologist and filmmaker Charles Post as he shines a light on the network of backcountry scientists and sentinels at the front lines of raptor conservation.
Stumped
Twenty-five minutes
Funny, engaging climbing film set in Colorado. Maureen Beck has never let the fact that she is missing her lower left arm hold her back from climbing. She doesn’t want to be considered a good one-armed climber, or a good female climber … she just wants to be a plain good climber.
[Intermission and Prize Draw]
Imagination: Tom Wallisch
Five minutes
Creative urban ski film with a killer soundtrack. Have you ever been that little kid sitting in the back seat of your parents’ car, wishing you were somewhere else? So you imagine a skier on the side of the road, your fingers commanding back flips and roof drops, improbable rail slides and huge airs. Well, what if your imagination came to life?
Loved by All: The Story of Apa Sherpa
Thirteen minutes
Visually stunning film set in Nepal. Apa Sherpa has climbed Mount Everest 21 times, but he wouldn’t wish this upon anybody. Having grown up in the remote Khumbu region of Nepal, Apa was forced to leave school and work as a porter at the age of 12. For Nepal’s rural people, the income earned as a high altitude porter conflicts with the dreams made possible only through education and knowledge.
Intersection: Micayla Gatto
Four minutes
Award-winning film featuring a Canadian artist and mountain biker. Mountain biker Micayla Gatto takes the viewer into her world as a painter and as an athlete, riding through beautifully created masterpieces where colors come to life and reality blends with art.
Edges
Nine minutes
Very touching film that reminds viewers of the value of staying active throughout life. At the ripe old age of 90, Yvonne Dowlen has been ice skating for as long as she can remember. Edges is a celebration of a life lived well.
The Frozen Road
Twenty-four minutes
A young British bike packer struggles with solitude on his solo trek. Ben Page sought an adventure of perfect solitude in the Canadian Arctic. Yet the harsh truths of travelling in such a formidable environment were a long way from the romanticisms of a Jack London book. A great film to end the show with.
Tickets for the festival are $15 at the door or can be purchased on EventBrite at bit.ly/banffcanteen. For more information, visit facebook.com/syracusebanff or canteencny.com.
