Just like paddlers get all fired up for symposiums, races and events, filmmakers have pinnacle events that fuel the stoke for their passion to create. The Banff Mountain Film Festival is the top of the rung. It is the adventure festival that filmmakers from all around the globe aspire to be a part of. Every year in November Banff widdles down over 300 entries to 50 odd films that stand out as the best. Kayaking always seems to make an appearance, but it is just one or maybe two films that make the cut. In 2007 Pacific Horizons made it in as a finalist and it opened my eyes to the caliber of adventure films and story telling happening in the outdoor world. This year we were fortunate to make the cut with two films. A 15 minute film festival cut of the The Season, an internet TV series that is set to launch in late January, and a short film on high lining called Blueline that we produced for National Geographic.

This years line up of films included an impressive number of paddling flicks. On the Radical Reel night we saw the first glimpses of Tyler Bradts’s 186ft world record waterfall descent of Palouse Falls. Thanks a lot for that one Tyler. Next time my knees are shaking above a 40 footer, I’ll be pleasently reminded of how much of a wimp I am. Solo won “Best Film on Mountain Sport” and was by far the biggest talk of the festival. This is the BBC/Nat Geo documentary on Andrew MaCauley’s crosssing of the Tasman Sea. As gut wrenching as this film is, it is a must see for all paddlers out there. One of the best suprises of the festival was Finding Farely winning both “People’s Choice” and the “Grand Prize”. From the makers of Being Caribou, this is an incredible story of Karsten and Leanne paddling a canoe with their two year old son all the way from their home in Alberta to Farley Mowat’s house in Cape Breton. Huge inspiration for me being a new Dad and all. So in the end we had The Season which featured Paul Kuthe sea kayaking at the Butze Tidal Rapids, whitewater had it’s plug with Tyler, Solo won the mountain sport category, and a canoeing film won Banff. Overall a killer year for paddling at Banff!