New Zealand Mountain Film Festival

Name: New Zealand Mountain Film Festival
Address: Lake Wanaka Centre, 89 Ardmore Street, Wanaka, 9193, NZ
Telephone: +642040848775
Price range: $$

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New Zealand Mountain Film Festival

The 2026 Festival is on in Wānaka June 19 - 23, Queenstown June 25-26, & online July 1 to 31 Film finalists and the world’s best adventure movies!

NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival runs in Wanaka June 25 to 29, Cromwell June 30 & in Queenstown July 1 to 3. Scheduled activities include:

Opening night with film awards announcements and previews, and live music and socialising. NZ guest speakers
Workshops and book readings
Adventure Film School
Adventure trade show
Film maker and author talks
Art exhibition
Photography Competition

Mountain Boo

k Festival run in Wanaka June 27 to 29. Scheduled activities include:
Workshops and book readings
Adventure Writing School. Author talks
Art exhibition
Old fashioned story telling

Full programme released and tickets go on sale 1 June on mountainfilm.nz

08/06/2026

If there’s one show that ski towns know how to get behind, it’s The Snow Show ❄️🎿

A long-time NZ Mountain Film Festival favourite, this year’s lineup is packed with big mountain ambition, breathtaking lines and stories of resilience, grit and the irresistible pull of snow.

Join us in Wānaka on Monday 22 June, 7.30 pm and follow friend of the festival in Robson as she sets her sights on Mount Robson — the Canadian Rockies’ highest and most formidable peak. The session also includes Better Up There, a moving portrait of freeride champion navigating grief, loss and the relentless pull of the mountains.

🎟 Tickets at mountainfilm.nz/sessions/session-9

Proudly supported by Racers Edge Wanaka

07/06/2026

We’re proud to shine a light on the stories, filmmakers and adventures that make the NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival so special.

Join us on Opening Night in Wānaka as the festival gets underway with eight unforgettable films celebrating adventure in all its forms.

This session includes two award winners: 🏆
❄️ Hunter’s Moon — winner of Best Snow Sports Film, documenting the first ski descent of the fearsome East Face of Aoraki by Christina Lustenberger and Gee Pierrel.

🛹 Mia — winner of Best Short Film, following a determined 10-year-old skater chasing her biggest trick yet.

From families sleeping on El Capitan and cyclists skiing Iceland’s Ring Road to climbers enduring Colorado winters, Opening Night brings together stories that will inspire, move and entertain.

📍 Friday 19 June | Lake Wānaka Centre
🎟 Tickets at mountainfilm.nz

Proudly supported by Spelean Petzl New Zealand Distributor

06/06/2026

We seem to be all about speed records this year. Luckily, at the festival, your only job is to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Join us on Tuesday, 23 June to hear guest speaker explain how on earth you can summit all 50 US state high points in only 20 days. (The Kiwi way - no private jets, just your dad driving you around in a van.)

Then, watch the award-winning film The Hard Line as Swiss climber Nicolas Hojac and Austrian Philipp Brugger attempt to set a new speed record for ascending the north faces of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau in one day.

Find out more and book tickets ➡ mountainfilm.nz/sessions/session-11

With thanks to our mates at Cardrona Alpine Resort, NZ and Treble Cone Ski Area for supporting this session.

05/06/2026

Hey Queenstown — we know you love the outdoors!
If your idea of a good day involves mountains, rivers, backcountry huts or exploring somewhere new, Pure NZ is the show for you.

Proudly supported by Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand - FMC, this NZ Mountain Film Festival session brings together eight New Zealand-made films celebrating the wild places we love and the people drawn to them.

Journey deep into Fiordland with three kayakers spending 100 winter days exploring its rivers and coastline, soar across the Southern Alps with a paraglider bound for New Zealand’s most remote point, and join a determined team of packrafters on a second attempt at a first descent of the Jerry River.

These are stories of adventure, perseverance and connection to the outdoors.

📍 Queenstown Memorial Centre
📅 Friday 26 June | 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm
🎟 Tickets at mountainfilm.nz

04/06/2026

Women pushing boundaries in the mountains, bold climbs and stories that stay with you — Session 7 is shaping up to be one of the festival highlights 🏔️🎬

Our local guest speaker, Lake Hāwea-based mountain guide and ski mountaineer Petrouchka Steiner-Grierson, opens the evening with stories from a remarkable career spanning Patagonia, Arctic Norway, Yosemite and deep into Aotearoa’s Southern Alps.

The films that follow are just as compelling: 🏆 The Queen Swing (winner of Best Film on Climbing) follows two women chasing the first all-female ascent of Yosemite’s legendary Triple Crown. Elsewhere, old friends reunite for an Alaskan expedition, two alpinists prove life after 50 can still mean pushing limits, and a four-time world champion attempts one of Mont Blanc’s most iconic spires — with one hand.

An inspiring evening of climbing, adventure and big mountain storytelling.

📍 Sunday 21 June | 7.30 pm
📍 Lake Wānaka Centre
🎟 Tickets mountainfilm.nz/sessions/session-7

With thanks to Forsyth Barr for supporting this session

02/06/2026

Outdoor culture looks different depending on where you stand — and the Mountain Culture Show is your chance to see it through fresh eyes.

Journey from Icelandic sheep musters and Mongolian eagle hunting to Greenlandic ski guides, Chamonix creatives and an Angolan village forever changed by two young brothers’ climb. These films explore mountain culture in all its forms and are a good reminder that while landscapes may differ, a shared connection to wild places runs deep.

One of the must-see sessions at this year’s NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival, proudly supported by Wilderness Magazine.

📍 Saturday 20 June | 11.00 am – 2.00 pm
📍 Lake Wānaka Centre
🎟 Tickets at mountainfilm.nz

31/05/2026

Join us for a powerful lineup of films exploring conservation, climate, connection and the fragile places we call wild, at the Nature & the Environment Show on Sunday morning, 21 June.

Journey from Patagonia, where a biologist cycles in search of peace between pumas and farmers, to retreating glaciers, ocean clean-ups and the quiet art of building homes for wild bees. Along the way, meet the people paying close attention to the natural world — and asking what it will take to protect it.

📍 Sunday 21 June | 11.00 am – 2.00 pm
📍 Lake Wānaka Centre
🎟 Tickets: mountainfilm.nz/sessions/session-5

With thanks to the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council for supporting this session

29/05/2026

A complimentary glass of Maude Wines, extraordinary stories and an afternoon well spent 🍷📚

Words & Wine returns to the NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival — one of our most loved events and the perfect way to settle in for an afternoon of storytelling.

Hear from adventurers, conservationists and storytellers as they share tales spanning New Zealand’s rugged mountains and vibrant oceans — from grassroots conservation in Kahurangi and rare underwater encounters to mountaineering history and powerful personal journeys of resilience.

Sit back, sip, and enjoy stories from people who’ve truly lived the adventure.

📍 Wānaka | Sunday 21 June | 5 – 6pm

Find out more and book tickets 👉 mountainfilm.nz/sessions/session-book1

27/05/2026

PURE NZ Tahi celebrates the spirit of Kiwi adventure filmmaking — and the mountain people behind the stories.

Presented by Rab NZ, this standout session brings together filmmakers, explorers and big-screen adventures from Aotearoa’s wildest places. Many of the filmmakers will be at the festival to introduce their films, including multiple world premieres and major award winners — among them Best NZ-made Film.

From Fiordland expeditions and high-altitude mountaineering to paragliding across the Southern Alps and gravel journeys through the lower South, these are stories of grit, connection and life lived outdoors.

These sessions regularly sell out, so don’t leave booking your tickets too late.

Info and tickets 👉 mountainfilm.nz/sessions/session-3

📍 Wānaka | Saturday 20 June

26/05/2026

We’re delighted to announce the winners of the NZ Mountain Book Competition!

Mountain and Adventure Heritage Award
Caring for Kahurangi: The inspiring story of Friends of Flora by Sandy & Robin Toy

Mountain and Adventure Narrative Award
Whales, Snails and Lobster Tales by Andrew Penniket

Sandy Toy will share the inspiring legacy of Caring for Kahurangi, detailing the grassroots efforts to restore a wilderness, as part of our Words and Wine Session on Sunday 21 June at 5pm. Andrew Penniket will also be joining this session, recounting exciting adventures and rare encounters during his career as an underwater cameraman and documentary maker.

You can also catch Robin and Sandy Toy, alongside photographer Ruedi Mosimann in the Book 2 Session on Monday 22 June at 5pm.

Find out more and book tickets at mountainfilm.nz

Address

Lake Wanaka Centre, 89 Ardmore Street
Wanaka
9193

Telephone

+642040848775

Website

http://www.mountainfilm.nz/

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