The Banff Mountain Film Festival is one of the world’s pre-eminent mountain festivals – and a co-founder of the International Alliance for Mountain Film — the Festival didn’t always enjoy international recognition. The Festival began more than 35 years ago in 1976 in the small Rocky Mountain town of Banff, Alberta. A tight-knit group of climbers and outdoor folk looked for an annual event to enter
tain them during the shoulder season between climbing and skiing. As the story goes, several late night meetings and a few beers later The Banff Festival of Mountaineering Films was born. What began as a one-day festival of climbing films, has now blossomed into a nine-day event in Banff and a year-round film tour which encompasses over 500 screenings on all continents (yes, we go to Antarctica!). Climbers, filmmakers, writers, and photographers from all over the world now recognize Banff as the key event in their mountain community; sharing stories with fellow mountaineers and armchair adventurers alike is a coveted privilege. At the very core of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival is the Film Competition. Since its inception in the late 1970’s we have accepted more than 5000 films into our coffers, an impressive film archive of climbing and mountaineering, outdoor adventure, mountain culture and environmental films. Filmmakers enter our competition with the hope that their films might win an award and be chosen for the World Tour enjoyed by an audience of more than 250,000 annually. The Banff Mountain Film Festival’s high adrenaline sibling, Radical Reels, also enjoys a widespread, younger audience of more than 30,000. Similarly, the Banff Mountain Book Competition is now in its 18th year with more than 1730 volumes gracing our mountain library shelves.
