Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

February 1, 2007 issue

Appalachian To Host 2006-2007 Banff Mountain Film Festival March 24 to 25

Global fans of the Banff Mountain Film Festival are already packing into theaters across North America as the Festival’s 250-city World Tour hits the road. Local outdoor and film enthusiasts will get to view some of the festival’s award-winning films and audience favorites when the tour stops once again on the campus of Appalachian State University at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 24, and Sunday, March 25.

A popular international film event, the Banff Mountain Film Festival at Appalachian will be held at Farthing Auditorium. This year marks the 11th anniversary of Banff Film Festival screenings in Boone that has become one of the largest screenings in North America. The Boone screenings have a history of selling out and tickets go rapidly.

The 2006-2007 World Tour will travel to over 250 communities in over 25 countries including stops from Fairbanks, Alaska to Torres del Paine, Chile and Tokyo, Japan to Christchurch, New Zealand. Local tour hosts like ASU choose their own program from the best of over 300 films submitted to the Banff Film Festival in November. From these films, two completely different screenings will be shown on March 24 and 25.

“We will highlight award-winning mountain films each night that combine elements of mountain adventure, culture and the environment,” said ASU Outdoor Programs Coordinator Andrew Miller. “We try to keep each night well balanced but entirely different and unique so audiences are exposed to as many different films as possible during the festival.”

Many films will go on tour this year, including the Grand Prize, Conflict Tiger. This documentary captures the story of Yuri Trush as he sets out on his most notorious pursuit to find a “man-eating” tiger.  Other films on tour include Mountains without Barriers, Exploring the Mother of Waters, Ride of the Mergansers and many more.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival is an annual international competition celebrating its 31st anniversary of featuring the world’s best films on mountain themes. In 2006, the festival screened more than 50 finalist films, chosen from more than 300 entries from 37 different countries. The Banff Centre for Mountain Culture in Banff, Canada organizes the festival. For info, click to www.banffmountainfestivals.com.

For more info about the Banff Mountain Film Festival at ASU, click to www.op.appstate.edu or contact Andrew Miller at millra@appstate.edu. Outdoor Programs is the presenter of this event and Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitters is the leading sponsor. 

Advance tickets are now available. Purchase them from the Farthing Auditorium Box Office at 828-262-4046, online at www.pas.appstate.edu or from Footsloggers Outdoor Travel and Outfitters in downtown Boone at 828-262-5111.

 

Want To Go?

Dates: Saturday, March 24, and Sunday, March 25

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Farthing Auditorium

Cost: $9 in advance/$7 for students in advance/$12 at the door