10th Vancouver Intl Mountain Film Festival February 16-24

Please mark your calendars: 10th Vancouver Intl Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) will be running from February 16 - 24, 2007. Check www.vimff.org for the program and other details.



This year's program is perhaps more exciting than ever with 13 stellar international and local guest speaker presentations, mountain film screenings and some special events. Our guest speakers include Dan Mazur & Andrew Brash (Debacle on Everest), Beth Rodden &Tommy Caldwell (The Nose and El Capitan), Marek Klonowski (Denali solo traverse), Robbin McKinney (Great Bike Journeys of the World), Julie Wafaei & Colin Angus (Beyond the Horizon - Earth circumnavigation), Kelly Cordes (longest alpine climbs), Geoff Powter (Strange and Dangerous Dreams book reading), John Dunn (Devon Island, Arctic travel and exploration), Josune Bereziartu (hardest female rock climbs in Europe), and Sonnie Trotter (Cobra Crack - hardest trad climb and beyond).



The film program is almost completed and will be announced later this week - please make sure to check www.vimff.org, and go to "films". At least 55 films will be screened in different festival sessions (climbing evenings, opening and finale, ski evening, mountain biking evening, world adventures evening).



VIMFF venues include Centennial Theatre (North Van), Pacific Cinematheque (NEW in 2007, Vancouver), North Vancouver District Public Library, and ANZA Club (NEW in 2007, BC Paddle Sports Festival only).



VIMFF tickets are now on sale at www.vimff.org (go to "tickets") - NEW in 2007; at MEC (both Vancouver and North Vancouver location); and at the Centennial Theatre, (604) 984-4484.



For volunteering, sponsorship, other ideas and questions please e-mail to info@vimff.org or call (604) 990-1505.



Please forward this message to your local contacts of people who may be interested in the festival. Thanks!



We look forward to seeing you at the festival!




Natalia Boknikova

Festival Coordinator

www.vimff.org

natalia@vimff.org

VIMFF Festival Opening, Presented by MEC, with Opening Reception; VIMFF 2007 Photo Contest Awards and Exhibition Opening; Himalayan veteran Dan Mazur and Andrew Brash in “Debacle on Everest and the Rescue of Lincoln Hall” live presentation with slides and film clips featuring the events leading up to the May 2006 rescue on Mt Everest; and other VIMFF films: Back to the Wall (quadriplegic Brad Zdanivsky climbs the Squamish Chief via Grand Wall); Ursa Dream (animated film about a girl taken to a tribal ceremony); Visioning Tibet (passionate ophthalmologist Marc Lieberman treats blindness in remote corners of Tibet); First Ascent – Tombstone (Dean Potter and Steph Davis climbing scary first ascent in the desert near Moab); Casa de Milagros (story of one woman's work to create a dream for orphans in Peru);

Mountain Film Buff Matinée 1 with VIMFF film select: The Abyss (Italian cavers descend to the marvelous Spluga della Preta near Verona); First Ascent – Tombstone (Dean Potter and Steph Davis send a scary first ascent in the desert near Moab); Caribou and Wolves (endless dance of wildlife in the American North); Tea for Three (insight into intricate, yet simple lives of three middle-aged South African climbers).

VIMFF Climbing Evening with leading American climbers Beth Rodden and Tommy Caldwell in “The Nose and El Capitan” live multi-media presentation on their free-climbing the of biggest walls via hardest and fastest ascents; and other climbing films: E11 (Dave MacLeod’s long term efforts to climb “Rhapsody” in Scotland, a 5.14d route with no bolts and potential for 70-footers); Le Beatnik (contemporary exploration of Gary Hemming’s legendary climb of Petit Dru in 1966); First Ascent – Thailand (David Lama and friends explore deep water soloing potential of Thailand, throwing long thrilling dynos more than 20 m above the sea level); Benedictus (Tom Callaghan’s 7-year grand adventure on the 'big wall' section of Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire); Mountains Without Barriers (two blind men and a man with no legs tackle a 300 m rock tower in the Italian Dolomites).

VIMFF Polish, Czech and Slovakian Evening with Alex Luczy: Memoires from the High Tatras (slide show with historical images form the highest mountain range of Slovakia); and films: Looking for a Time Without Master FIBI (Marek Klonowski’s film on his 6-month solo hitching trip in North America, including the first solo traverse of Denali); LaoLao (top Polish rock climbers checking unexplored polished limestone walls hidden in the jungle of Laos); Snake River (Czech kayakers navigate in canoes 600 km downstream along the Snake River in the Canadian Northwest Territories); more TBA.

VIMFF Ski Evening with films: Bill Briggs: In His Footsteps (story of Briggs’ first descent of the Grand Teton, the turning point in American ski-mountaineering); Speed Riding (French new-wave speed riders explore the boundaries of the emerging sport, combing the advantages of skiing and paragliding in one); Yes to the No (a short story of invention: ripping the bindings off snowboards and turning them into NoBoards); Next Season (a day in the life of a telemark addict who cannot wait for the next season); Marco the Shooting Star (Marco Siffredi was the first man to snowboard from Everest; he comes back to attempt the more demanding Hornbein Colouir); Ne Pofa (a ski road movie of Xavier Leonti traveling in search of the perfect powder to the Caucasus range, to Kashmir and to British Columbia)

VIMFF Mountain Biking Evening with Robbin McKinney in a slide show “Great Bike Journeys of the World”; and films: Asiemut (bike road movie starring Quebecoises adventurers Olivier Higgins and Mélanie Carrier as they pedal 8000 kms from Mongolia to Culcutta, discovering the world and themselves); Brother (the Fawbert brothers of Gold River from Vancouver Island are bonded through their love for mountain biking); Snacking with Shaun (short street unicycling film with young Shaun Johanneson); The Bike Compilation (short clip from a newly released film featuring top female riders Katrina Strand, Hannah Steffens & Sari Joergensen).

VIMFF World Adventures Evening with Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei in “Beyond the Horizon” live presentation and film on their mind-boggling 2 year circumnavigation of Earth using human power only; and other films: Madagascar (short action flick on climbing, BASE jumping, kite sailing, free biking in Madagascar); Birthplace of the Winds (adventure sea kayaking and exploration of the volcanic Aluetian Islands in the Bering Sea with Jon Bowermaster, Sean Farrell, Barry Tessman, and Scott McGuire); Across the Atlas (a humorous take on the ‚hero’s journey‘ narrated by Timmy O‘Neill follows an expedition to ski North Africa’s highest peak).

VIMFF Alpine Climbing Evening, Presented by Grivel North America, featuring Kelly Cordes and some of his most inspiring dirtbag climbs in the hardest corners of the globe in a slideshow “Trying, Failing, and Sometimes Succeeding: The Most Memorable Climbs”; and other films: Cayesh: The Calling (Steve House and Marko Prezelj open a new route on the west face of Mount Cayesh in the Peruvian Andes in the true spirit of modern alpinism); Cerro Torre – El Arca de los Vientos (Italian alpinists Ermanno Salvaterra, Alessandro Beltrami and Rolo Garibotti climb Cerro Torre via the line started in 1959 by the controversial Cesare Maestri); Knowing Andy (story of a winter week spent in the company of the suffer-mister Andy Kirkpatrick as he drags up Scottish slush piles); Harvest Moon (documentary from a Swiss expedition to climb  a new route on the north face Thalay Sagar in the Garwhal Himalaya of Northern India featuring Stephan Siegrist, Denis Burdet, Thomas Senf and Ralph Weber.

VIMFF BC/Canada Evening, with the legendary Canadian Arctic explorer John Dunn in a multimedia presentation “Journeys on the Wild Side...Exploring Canada's Devon Island” on exploring the world’s largest uninhabited island; BCMC Centennial Celebration and Slide Show with archival images by BCMC members; and the latest films fabriqué au Canada: Best of Jo (animated story of Jo, a coffee addicted Lego character who is is keen to try all sorts of outdoor sports); Crazy Quebec (a team of “Les Givrés” head into the depth of Quebec in search of a mythical ice route that would be great to climb and BASE jump from its top); Dist Urban Behaviour (a short flick exploring the buildering and parkour potential of Montreal modern architecture); Pure (a ski film capturing friends on backcountry trips in the mountains of British Columbia); University Wall (a magical musical ride through the archives with the historical exploits that inspired Glenn Woodsworth, Hamish Mutch, Tim Auger and Dan Tate to climb one of the Squamish Chief’s landmark routes); Andes Bicycle Expedition_Crossing of the Bolivian Altiplano (Canadians Kathleen Mullin and Yannick Daoudi traverse the Bolivian Altiplano by bicycle across one of the world's most remote and forbidding areas).

Mountain Film Buff Matinée 2 with VIMFF film select: Sky’s the Limit (intimate portrait capturing the lives of Quebec hang-gliders flying in the majestic setting of Mont Saint-Pierre on the Gaspé Peninsula); Conflict Tiger (a documentary thrillercombining dramatic reconstruction with extraordinary archive footage about a notorious pursuit of a ‘man-eating’ tiger); Rubicon (would-be spirits of the Baffin Island with a singer-songwriter in the style of Vladimir Vysotskij recount story of a Russian expedition to the big walls of the Great Sail Peak); Conversing With Aotearoa (animated artistic documentary featuring New Zealanders attempting to fathom their deep, personal connection with their land); Devil’s Teeth (a short documentary about Ron Elliott, the only sea urchin diver at the Farallon Islands off the coast of California, his dreams and frequent encounters with Great White Sharks).

Youth Community Program for the North Shore Schools with Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei in “Beyond the Horizon”.

Geoff Powter: “Strange and Dangerous Dreams” slide show and book reading.

BC Paddle Sports Festival with film maker and expedition kayaker…; and other paddling films.

VIMFF Festival Finale, presented by Arc’teryx with Josune Bereziartu from Basque Country in Spain, for many years the strongest female rock and sport climber in “Erori eta Berriz asi” (Falling and Trying Again) North American premiere live presentation; Canada's own Sonnie Trotter with a slide presentation and the film “Cobra Crack”; and other films: Pinturas Búldestres (authentic Spanish flamenco, hip-hop and rap bouldering film from theAlbarracin forest, Spain’s hottest bouldering venue); Set in Stone (climbing documentary charting the cutting-edge routes and personality of the Cumbrian enigmatic climber Dave Birkett); also on the same evening VIMFF Film Awards, screening of the VIMFF 2007 winning film(s) – depending on the actual film length – as well as VIMFF After Party.