Over 700 people packed the Elphinstone Secondary School gym last Friday night to watch this year's Banff Mountain Film Festival. The crowd, ranging in age from toddlers to seniors, was entertained by a slate of eight films as diverse as the audience.
The films spanned the spectrum from fantasy to ferocious reality.
At the light-hearted end of the spectrum was Solilochairliftquist, a four-minute offering of a 20-something ski bum with more time than intelligence. While the at-times sexually explicit humour appealed to many members of the audience, it wasn't on my list of favourites.
However, the other humourous offering, The Lost People of Mountain Village, was, by my standards, funny. A witty take on endangered species, the fate of the rich mountain dwellers - à la Whistler-type denizens - was well written and photographed.
The 2005 People's Choice Award went to a 50-minute film made by Canmore, Alta. filmmakers Baiba Auders Morrow and Pat Morrow. The promotion on the film describes it as an "offbeat story of educator Cynthia Hunt" and it is that and much more.
The film chronicles Hunt's efforts to get funding for women from Ladakh India. Opening frames of the documentary show a Ladakhi woman wading through an icy river in her bare feet. From there we learn about the extreme poverty of and the hardships it poses for the Ladakhi people. Graphic pictures detail the lack of basic hygiene, the bleak landscape (imagine a desert at the top of the world) and the physical hardships these people face daily.
Hunt, who has been called the Mother Teresa of northern India, has adopted the lifestyle of the people she's dedicated to helping. The founder of a non-government organization that's not affiliated with any religion, Hunt works to bring health and literacy to the Ladakhis.
If you have the opportunity to view this film, do. It should be compulsory viewing for all of us complaining Canadians.The extreme sport section of the festival was well represented this year. From the gutsy mountain bikers to the heart-stopping courage of the rock climbers, there were thrills aplenty.
The Tetrahedron Outdoor Club volunteers are to be commended for their efforts in putting on this yearly spectacular. Judging by the gasps and applause, we'll all be back next year.
