22nd Annual Banff Festival of Mountain Films\
"Best of the Festival" North American Tour
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1997
Due to difficulties with distribution of Fatal Game by The Banff Festival of Mountain Films it is not included in the program at this time. Should Fatal Game become available we will substitute it in the Saturday Evening program.
"The Lion’s King" (UK/1997/29min)
Directors/Producers: Amanda Barrett, Owen Newman
In East Africa, the lion may well be the "king of the beasts", but there is a greater force that is the power behind the throne. It is a volcanic dynasty which is over five million years old. The active volcano Lengai is the wild child, the last born in this autocratic family. Stunning animal-action sequences reveal how this elemental power creates a spectacular world.
Special Jury Award, 1997
"The Human Race" (Australia/1997/56min)
Directors: Peter Du Cane, Richard Dennison, Chris Hilton, Ulrich Krafik
Producer: Andrew Ogilvie
Three men from three distinctively different cultures are pitted against each other in a test of endurance, survival skills and tenacity as they walk more than 500 kilometres through a remote and spectacular area of northwestern Australia. Four weeks, across plateau’s, mountains, rugged watercourses and deserts, they bring their own personal style to this competitive challenge. ("This film has been shown on cable network)
People’s Choice Award, 1997
"E900" (England/1997/1min)
Director: Dennis Sisterson. Producer: Nick Philips
A free-climber tackles the toughest, highest climb in the world only to discover that it has its particular hazard!
Special Jury Award, 1997
"Alp Fiction" (Switzerland/1995/10min)
Directors/Producers: Didier Lafond, Dominique Perret.
An unsuspecting granny joins extreme skier Dominique Perret in a virtual-reality adventure featuring high speed, crevasse-jumping, serac-slicing, avalanche surfing, fall-line-flipping, in your face skiing.
Award Winner: Best film on Mountain Sports, 1997
"Kayak" (Italy/1992/8min)
Director: Didier Lafond. Producer: No Limits World
Shaun Baker is an extreme kayaker. He’s invented a way of beating rivers and waterfalls that can’t be tackled in a conventional canoe. His training ground? The rivers of Great Britain, which don’t have much water. A difficult setting. He’s developed a technique based on manoeuvres which aren’t really meant for the kayak. Shaun Baker has reinvented extreme kayaking.
"Rock Queen" (England/1997/48min)
Directors: Martin Belderson, Chris Lister. Producer: Chris Lister
French rock queen Catherine Destivelle solos the "Old Man of Hoy", a 450’ sandstone sea-stack in Scotland, and recounts highlights from her life of climbing.
22nd Annual Banff Festival of Mountain Films
"Best of the Festival" North American Tour
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1997
"E900" (England/1997/1min)
Director: Dennis Sisterson. Producer: Nick Philips.
A free-climber tackles the toughest, highest climb in the world only to discover that it has it’s own particular hazard!
Special Jury Award, 1997
"Cascate De Ghiaccio (Icefalls)" (Italy/1994/12min)
Director: Michele Radici. Producer: No Limits World
This film follows the adventure of Giorgio Passino, one of Italy’s leading ice climbers. Climbing frozen waterfalls is always a race against the sun, and what was supposed to be a practise climb turns into a near tragedy as the sun begins to melt the ice into a mortal trap. Italian with English subtitles
"Puma - Lion of the Andes" (USA/1996/55min)
Director/producer: Hugh Miles
Persecuted throughout the Americas, the mountain lion, also known as the cougar or puma, has been driven to the remotest corners of the earth. Shy and elusive, it is seldom seen, rarely filmed. Several pumas live in the rugged southern Andes in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, and it is here that filmmaker Hugh Miles lives and observes for two years, capturing these beautiful creatures on film. (This film has been shown on a cable network)
Award Winner: Grand Prize, 1997
"Skookum Huck" (USA/1997/10min)
Director: Ben Long. Producer: Bill Donavan
For the first time, an entirely new extreme sport is being introduced to the world through this film. A satirical look at some of the absurdities of extreme sports, this film may offend those lacking a sense of irony.
"I Made It" (Sweden/1996/46min)
Director/Producer: Fredrik Blomquist
Swedish mountaineer Goran Kropp decides to make an attempt on Everest using only human power and without any outside help - from Sweden. So he sets out on his bicycle on a daunting journey across Europe and into Asia, carrying all the equipment he needs for his climb.
"Escape" (Germany/1996/17min)
Director: Uli Wiesmeier. Producer: Gunter Daubermann
The vertical limestone walls of the Dolomites provide the inspiration for this jewel of a film. The performance is as classically choreographed as the polyphonic musical score.