Get ready for a face full of snow, sweat, and high altitude endurance at the 2015 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour showing at 55 cinemas across the UK and Ireland from January to June.
The two-and-a-half-hour-show will visit 55 towns with 82 screenings and 47,000 tickets to be sold for the collection of the very best adventure and mountain films to come from the annual two-week Banff Mountain Film Festival in the Canadian Rockies.
Now in its sixth UK edition, the Banff Tour has a reputation that’s fast becoming legendary. It brings together the outdoors and adventure community for a night of inspiration and reignites peoples’ passion to get outside – whatever their sport, whatever their level. And the UK shows are just part of a global movement of 400,000 Tour fans in 45 countries.
“More than stunning climbing, skiing, biking, and paddling films – there’s something special about the spirit of the Banff collection,” said UK Tour Director, Nell Teasdale. “Banff Mountain Festival stories are about reaching beyond ourselves – about people pushing the boundaries of what they can achieve.”
THIS WINTER’S PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS:
SUN DOG
The star of this snow film is two years old and has to sleep outside in the cold snow, rather than inside the ski hut with the other skiers. He is a dog called Conga, and as he carves new lines through untouched snow in the stunning Patagonian mountain range in South America – he proves that the joy of deep powder snow need not only be enjoyed by human riders.
THE RIDGE
World renowned trials rider Danny MacAskill is back! He returns to his native home of the Isle of Skye in Scotland for a new challenge: riding a mountain bike on the notorious death-defying Cuillin Ridgeline. A extraordinary film made to be experienced on the big screen!
DRAWN
Four years, four cardinal points, four epic adventures.
Acclaimed climber and artist Jeremy Collins embarks on four journeys, from the Venezuelan Amazon, to the China-Mongolian Border, to the northern reaches of Canada, and to Yosemite Valley in California. Played out across three continents, this powerful adventure changes everything.
SUFFERFEST 2: DESERT ALPINE
Less than a year after enchaining the 15 tallest peaks in California, by bike, Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright are at it again. This time they embark on an ambitious goal to climb 45 of the American Southwest’s most iconic desert towers, via their most difficult routes. Linking it all together is an epic bike journey that takes them through Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. This movie has it all, including: gale force winds, hard climbing, snow in the desert, a puppy, huge phallic towers, loose rock, and Alex Honnold’s bare ass. What more could you ask for?
TOUCH
A colourful and spectacular flying tour that visits some of the most visually spectacular areas in Europe including Santorini, Mont Blanc, and the Col du Galibier in France. This is a paragliding adventure that combines the enormous talent and cheekiness of Jean-Baptiste Chandelier.
CERRO TORRE (tbc)
Storms are expected in Patagonia, but the drama that ensued during the big-budget filming of Lama’s quest to free climb Cerro Torre, the infamous mountain, brought a new level of controversy, scandal, adventure and transformation to a mountain often said to be the most difficult in the world.
2015 Dates:
24 January Edinburgh, Festival Theatre
27 January Cambridge, Lady Mitchell Hall
29 January Leeds, Town Hall
30 January Leeds, The Carriageworks
31 January Stockport, Stockport Plaza
05 February Leamington Spa, The Royal Spa Centre
06 February Llandudno, Venue Cymru – Theatre
07 February Birmingham, Town Hall
10 February Cambridge, Lady Mitchell Hall
12, 13 February Inverness, Eden Court
14 February Pitlochry, Festival Theatre
18 February Shrewsbury, Theatre Severn
19 February Stafford, Gatehouse
20 February Liverpool, Plaza Cinema
21 February Stockport, Stockport Plaza
24 February Salisbury, City Hall
25, 26 February Bath, Komedia Club
27, 28 February Malvern, Forum Theatre
03 March Canterbury, Gulbenkian Cinema
04 March Tunbridge Wells, Assembly
05 March Dorking, Dorking Halls
06 March Weymouth, Pavilion – Theatre
07 March Croydon, Fairfield Halls,
10-21 March London, Union Chapel (10 shows)
11 March Reading, The Hexagon
12 March Colchester, Charter Hall
13 March Peterborough, Cresset Theatre
18 March Porthcawl, Grand Pavilion
19 March Brecon, Theatr Brycheiniog
20 March Llanelli, The Ffwrnes
24 March Abingdon, Abingdon School
25 March Portsmouth, Kings Theatre
26 March Truro, Hall for Cornwall
27, 28 March Exeter, Corn Exchange
09 April Shrewsbury, Theatre Severn
10 April Cardiff, New Theatre
11 April Brighton, Brighton Dome
15 April Weston Super Mare, Playhouse
16-18 April Bristol, Victoria Rooms (3 shows)
22 April Harrogate, Royal Hall
24, 25 April Keswick, Theatre by the Lake
27 April Truro, Hall for Cornwall
28 April Cheltenham, Town Hall
30 April Swindon, Wyvern Theatre
01 May Watford, Colosseum
02 May Torquay, Babbacombe Theatre
06 May Matlock Bath, Grand Pavilion
07, 08 May Whitley Bay, Playhouse
09 May Yarm, Princess Alexandra Auditorium
10 May Glasgow, SECC
13 May Wimborne Minster, Tivoli Theatre
16 May Norwich, Theatre 1
21 May Kilkenny, The Watergate
22 May Dublin, Helix
24 May Cork, Everyman Theatre
26 May Galway, Town Hall
30 May Milford Haven, Torch Theatre
27, 28 May Belfast, Theatre at the Mill
05, 06 June Poole, Lighthouse Theatre
This year Cotswold Outdoor and Keen will join the Tour as Presenting Partners. The 2015 Tour will also be partnered by Buff, Osprey, Banff Lake Louise Tourism, Clif Bar, Sea to Summit, World Expeditions and Artemis.