BEIRUT: Outdoor enthusiasts will have a chance to get their adrenalin fix at the movies this weekend, as the world tour of the Banff Mountain Film Festival comes to Beirut for the first time.
Eleven short films, featuring nearly every mountain sport and ranging from three to 27 minutes in length, will screen Saturday evening at Metropolis Cinema-Sofil.
“Fly or Die,” the 2010 film by America’s Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen, explores Free BASE, a new activity that manages to combine two extreme sports – free solo climbing and BASE jumping – to achieve what Cedric Hoftstetter, a member of the Beirut organizing committee, calls “every boy’s dream.”
Leaping off the mountain you just scaled, without ropes, may not appeal to everyone, but armchair rock climbers are likely to enjoy this film, which won the Special Jury Award at last year’s Banff Mountain Film Festival.
Equally creative is “The Longest Way,” which won Best Short Mountain Film last year. This five-minute German film is comprised of dozens of face shots of a young man as he walks from Beijing to Urumqi, the capital of China’s westernmost province, over the course of a year.
During the film the passage of time and the physical journey is marked by Christoph Rehage’s growing beard and brief subtitles – “sandstorm again!!” and, “visa issues in Beijing.”
Each year, the best films of the nine-day Banff Mountain Film Festival in Alberta, Canada, are sent to tour the world, stopping this year in over 30 locations from Bangladesh to Taiwan to Antarctica.
The original film festival, now in its 35th year, also assembles speakers, photography and book competitions, readings and workshops, and draws thousands of visitors to Banff, a town situated in a national park of the same name.
The Association du PolyLiban is responsible for bringing the film cycle to Beirut, under the patronage of the Canadian Embassy.
According to PolyLiban’s Carole Akl, the organization stages outdoor events with the aim of exposing young people to the outdoors and promoting mountain sports in Lebanon.
“That’s why we brought the films to Lebanon,” she says.
In October, PolyLiban held the Cedars Polyathon, a multisport noncompetitive event that had participants rafting, swimming, biking and running from Jbeil, at sea level, to Qornet al-Sawda (at over 3,000 meters, Lebanon’s highest peak) in less than 24 hours.
Such activities, and the films documenting them, are about more than adrenaline, according to film tour co-organizer Tina Comaty, as many of the films encourage appreciation and respect for nature.
The organizers also made sure the selection of the films for Beirut would reflect many of the country’s most popular mountains sports – caving, kayaking, mountain biking, mountaineering, rock climbing and skiing.
“The films appeal to all communities that are active in the outdoors in the country,” Hofstetter adds. “It’s a way to bring them all together and an opportunity for them to meet each other.”
The approach seems to be paying off, as the tickets are going fast and many of Lebanon’s sports associations are attending as a group.
If all goes well, Comaty says, next year’s Banff festival in Lebanon could feature longer films screened over several days.
Saturday’s short films punch above their weight. With snow covering the peaks of Lebanon’s high country, watching “Deeper” is a great way to get ready for this year’s ski season.
Not just another ski flick, “Deeper” follows professional big mountain snowboarder Jeremy Jones as he leads a group attempting to reach Alaskan mountains in the raw terrain beyond the reach of helicopters or snowmobiles. The group climbs sheer cliff faces, camping at over 4,000 meters, all for the chance to ride down.
It will leave even the most reluctant skier yearning for powder.
The Banff Mountain Film Festival screens at Saturday at Ashrafieh’s Metropolis Cinema-Sofil and limited tickets are available. For more information visit www.banfflebanon.com and www.polyliban.org.