BANFF Mountain Film Festival

It rained in Puerto Natales again, but I'm getting used to the strange weather patterns here. Four days of good weather followed by four days of bad--this is the bad run apparently.

After our return from Torres Del Paine, we needed a couple of lazy days. Ben was headed to Ushuaia and I was on my way to El Calafate, but we spent two rest days in Puerto Natales doing nothing in particular. We hung out with the Aussie couple and Martin (from Switzerland). Mostly we got together to eat because we were hungry all the time after nothing but camping food in the mountains for five days.

The second night it stormed violently. It was a perfect night to head to the film festival. Most of the town showed up and filled the small auditorium.

The BANFF Mountain Film festival is on their world tour. They do a series of different adventure films from around the world. The films are very well-done, even Martin was impressed (and I get the feeling he is difficult to impress). The whole audience was engaged.

The first film was about white-water kayaking, the second film was about base-jumping, the third about rock climbing, the fourth about free-climbing, and the last was about mountain biking. I think the film festival would even be appealing to people who didn´t have interests in those activities.

The best film of the night (it won an award) was the German made film that followed the life a Sweedish female base-jumper. It did a really good job in capturing the emotional side of the sport (within six years of beginning base-jumping most people will die or quit). The film also gave good insight into what made her tick and why she couldn´t walk away from the lifestyle. The ending took everyone by surprise, and the audience sat in an awed silence.  It made me rethink the lengths we go through in the name of adventure, and to reconsider the costs of such pursuits.  Highly recommended.

Chile happened to be part of the BANFF Mountain film festival´s world tour, but it is also playing on various upcoming dates in the California area. See the link above for locations and dates.