Photo: Dave Garrow, Mt. Logan © Cory Richards

The 2009 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festivals are not to be missed!

Visit our website for a detailed list of events.

Join us for the opening weekend of the festivals on October 31 and November 1. Fill your weekend with feature-length films from around the world and the Mountain Art and Craft Sale. Get your Christmas shopping done early this year – artwork, pottery, weavings, handbags, and more!

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 3 and Wednesday, November 4 for Radical Reels and The Snow Show…As us about the NEW Epic Sampler Ticket package for these two great events.

Take 2 days off work! Join us on Thursday, November 5 and Friday, November 6 and immerse yourself in the world’s best mountain and adventure travel stories. Join us for literary lunches with Steve House, author and one of the world’s best high-altitude climbers  and Royal Robbins – climber, entrepreneur, and author. Guest speakers include the King of sport climbing, Chris Sharma, Conservationist Mike Fay, National Geographic Photographer Steve Winter, and more!

On Friday evening, November 6, choose from two evening programs featuring guest speakers: Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck OR accomplished BASE jumper and extreme Skier Karina Hollekim. Both speakers will be followed by films entered into the competition. On Saturday evening, November 7, Dean Karnazes, known as the Ultramarathon Man, joins us on stage. Of course, your days will be occupied with the Daytime Film Screenings.  Purchase a full day ticket for just $45…and this gives you open access to see all films screened in a particular theatre during the day.

Consider purchasing the Cascade Book Festival Pack, the Rundle Film Weekend Pack, or one of our other ticket packages if you’re planning on attending multiple events!

Contact The Banff Centre Box Office at 1.403.762.6301 or visit our website for more information on tickets, packages, and events.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

“Our mandate now speaks to programming that fosters the development of creative solutions to global environmental and sustainability concerns”, says Cox. “Our programs promote an understanding and appreciation of the natural world through creative expression of mountain experiences and by creating opportunities for dialogue and leadership on environmental and sustainability issues. We utilize the arts, such as, writing, film, and photography to explore mankind’s relationship with the world’s mountain places.”

 ”I’m very excited about what we’ve done over the past two years in the expansion of our core programming to include more environmental initiatives while also keeping focused on our flagship events.” Flagship events include the annual Banff Mountain Book Festival and the Banff Mountain Film Festival and World Tour which reaches over 200,000 mountain enthusiasts in more than 30 countries.

Over the past two years, new programming has included an expansion in focus for the Mountain Culture and Environment Speakers’ Series – featuring adventurers, authors, scientists, as well as leading innovators and thinkers covering a broader range of issues. Speakers in 2008 and 2009 have included Canada’s premier arctic traveller Jerry Kobalenko, bestselling author of Sid Marty speaking about his recent book The Black Grizzly of Whisky Creek, and wildlife photographer Stephen Kazlowski presenting tales and images from The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World. The series has also included thought-provoking presentations by Alan Weisman author of A World Without Us, a New York Times best-seller, Doug Fine who tells his tales of trying to live green in Farewell, My Subaru, and David Hughes, a leading expert on energy and the environment, and contributing author to Carbon Shift: How the Twin Crises of Oil Depletion and Climate Change will Define the Future.

In 2008, Mountain Culture and Environment  invited 3E, an association of climate change stakeholders (Energy, Environment, and Economy) from across Canada to hold their meetings at The Banff Centre. They used a process which focuses on “dialogue”, which works well for addressing particularly complex issues “It’s similar to a conference but with fewer people, deeper dialogue, and more relationship building,” says Cox. “The facilitators at 3E were so impressed with the resources and vision at The Banff Centre, they are partnering with us on our new core environmental dialogue programming.”

Based on his background in law and Aboriginal affairs, Cox is developing the topic of Aboriginal consultation in environmental and resource decision-making as the first environmental dialogue program. Cox is working closely with the Centre’s Leadership Development and Aboriginal Leadership departments, leveraging their experience in facilitating deep reflection and developing and delivering training programs. “Most environmental decisions are actually about the impacts of development – and better consultations with Aboriginal people will lead to more equitable environmental decisions – mountains or otherwise,” says Cox.

Another new project currently underway is a pilot program which will be the first in a series of edited interviews for use by the Canada School of Public Service. “The nature of exploration and its impact on leadership is a key theme running through many of the seminars, films, and books presented at the Banff Mountain Festivals,” says Cox. Every year approximately half-a-dozen Festival speakers are interviewed in the intimate setting of the Rice Television studio at The Banff Centre. The resulting video footage is of exceptional quality, and these in-depth and thought-provoking interviews will now be edited and produced into final mastered interview programs.

Looking forward, Mountain Culture and Environment will produce a balance of informed and inspirational programming. “Through collaborating in creative ways, across The Banff Centre and globally, we will continue to incorporate best-in-class mountain culture and environmental programming which will spark debates and discussions,” says Cox. “By continuing to move forward in creating unique opportunities for creativity and innovation by leading experts in their fields – whether they be filmmakers, authors, or environmental experts – Mountain Culture and Environment is looking forward to increasing the depth and reach of our activities.”

Majka Burhardt
Photo Credit: Gabe Rogel

Climbing is what sparked Majka Burhardt’s interest in Ethiopia but it’s the coffee that’s bringing her back.

A writer, climber, and guide, Burhardt first travelled to Ethiopia to research the country’s coffee industry, where she discovered instead a climber’s paradise. This mission resulted in her first book, Vertical Ethiopia: Climbing Toward Possibility in the Horn of Africa which was entered into the Banff Mountain Book Festival competition – and subsequently led to her coming to Banff as a guest speaker for the 2008 Banff Mountain Book Festival.  She also participated in the 2008 Banff Mountain Writing Program, held during the festival.

Burhardt’s non-fiction writing combines her background in anthropology with her passion for adventure – she’s been published in Patagonia, Women’s Adventure, The Explorers’s Journal, and Climbing magazines. A certified climbing guide since 1998, Burhardt was the fourth woman in the United States to become certified by the American Mountain Guides Association.  She now specializes in guiding multi-pitch rock climbing and technical ice climbing, and has guided expeditions in Ecuador, Bolivia, Mexico, Nepal, and Alaska.

Prior to entering her book and speaking at the festival, Burhardt was not familiar with the Banff Mountain Grant program. Festivals Director, Shannon O’Donoghue mentioned the grants program, which prompted her to apply. Burhardt’s grant-winning project, entitled The Damara Sequence, will create a film and a series of articles about Namibia’s Himba tribe and the mountainous landscape they inhabit in the Damaraland region, as explored by climbers and anthropologists.

“I like to say that climbers, at their essence, like to get dirty. They get close. They connect with the land and commit to landscape in a way that is understood by people who have to do the same to create a life,” says Burhardt, of her upcoming climbing trip to Africa. “Namibia is one of the only countries in the world to have conservation mandated as part of its constitution. It also has some of the best roads in Africa, one of its most stable governments, and a geographic pre-disposition to granite. Add in the Himba-seen as the last great southern African Pastoral tribe, and you have The Damara Sequence.”

Burhardt will be departing on May 1, 2009 for the five-week expedition. About her trip, she says, “the photographer Gabe Rogel, and videographer Chris Alstrin (who happens to be a 2006 Banff Mountain Grant winner and past film festival entrant) are ecstatic about the recent heavy rains which will allow them to film some of the greenest terrain the desert country has had in over fifty years.”

Leveraging grant dollars with other sources of funding is often how recipients are able to be involved with larger projects.  “The Banff grant was the first funding support we received for our project and thus it signaled, to us, a commitment and interest from the industry, and to other potential funding groups it provided the gateway to support”, says Burhardt.” I was able to use the commitment from Banff as reason to fully pursue this project.” Other sources of funding for The Damara Sequence project include a Polartec Challenge Grant, as well as in-kind support from Patagonia, Osprey, Outdoor Research, Clif Bar, Scarpa, and Petzl.

Burhardt is not sure if The Damara Sequence will be ready in time to enter the film into the 2009 Banff Mountain Film Festival, but audiences should definitely be looking out for it in 2010.

And what’s next for Burhardt? Along with the film, she is simultaneously working on her next book Coffee: Authentic Ethiopia, a visual and narrative tale of opportunity, resources, education, and  heritage. “For me, it brings my experience in Ethiopia full circle as the first time I went to Ethiopia it was to search for a rare coffee bean-that time I ended up climbing, this time, I’m focusing on the coffee.”

For up-to-date information on Majka Burhardt’s trip to Namibia, visit her blog site:

http://www.majkaburhardt.com/liminal-line-blog/

]]> http://www.banffcentre.info/peakinside/2009/04/banff-mountain-grants-the-damara-sequence/feed/ 0 http://www.banffcentre.info/peakinside/2009/04/banff-mountain-film-festival-world-tour-did-you-know/ http://www.banffcentre.info/peakinside/2009/04/banff-mountain-film-festival-world-tour-did-you-know/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:22:21 +0000 Nicky Lynch http://www.banffcentre.info/peakinside/?p=34 Did you know?

• There will be approximately 530 screenings of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour this year.
• Of the 530 screenings, over 300 are held in North America, 190 internationally, and approximately 35 are Radical Reels screenings.
• The international tour includes approximately 70 screenings throughout Europe, 35 in Africa (all located in South Africa), 32 in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), 25 in Latin America, 22 in Asia, and 2 in Antarctica.
• Yes, that’s right, Antarctica! For the past few years we’ve had screenings at McMurdo Station and at The South Pole!
• And, who attends the South Pole Screening? Mostly scientists and researchers who are members of the United States Antarctic Program.
• So…that makes Antarctica the host of the most southerly screenings while Reykjavik, Iceland hosts the most northerly screenings.
• Our largest international World Tour audience is 1000 people in Dunedin, New Zealand, followed by 730 people in Goteborg, Sweden.
• Our first Radical Reels tour screening internationally will be in Germany later this year.

For details about the tour dates and locations, visit www.banffmountainfestivals.ca

http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/speakersseries/2009/slawinski.aspx

World-renowned Canadian climber Raphael Slawinski will shares stories and images from his summer 2009 expedition to the Hispar region of the Pakistani Karakoram. As winner of the 2009 John Lauchlan Award along with Eamonn Walsh, Ian Welsted and Dana Ruddy, Slawinski will attempt a new alpine route on the notoriously difficult 7000+m peak Pumari Chhish East. The team will encounter a 2400-metre route of continuous technical mixed climbing at high altitude and if successful will be a considered a pinnacle of international climbing achievement.