Maine Sport Outfitters is proud to be a host of the Banff Film Festival! The Festival involves 3 nights of exciting short films focused on mountain culture, adventure sports, and the environment. The event is hosted at the Strom Auditorium in Rockport. Each night shows a different selection of films.

This year we are coinciding with the National Tobaggan Championship in Camden! If you are looking for things to do in Camden over this popular weekend, don't miss the Banff Film Festival.

Schedule

February 2, 2024

Cross Countries - 2023, France, 8 min

Filmmakers: Pierre Henni, Kilian Bron
Advisory: None
From the roots of mountain biking in the USA, to the dense Canadian forests and rock slabs of British Columbia, mountain biker Kilian Bron goes on another tour, this time on some of the most beautiful North American trails.

The Ascension Series: Morag Skelton -2023, United Kingdom, 5 min

Filmmakers: Matt Pycroft, Matt Harmer, Harriet Sykes, Coldhouse Collective
Advisory: None
Morag Skelton doesn’t let anything stand in the way of her love of nature. As a deaf climber, she is constantly pushing the limits of what is possible on the mountainside.

School of Fish (Best Short Film) - 2022, USA, 19 min

Filmmakers: Colin Arisman, Oliver Sutro,
Wild Confluence Media, Orvis
Advisory: None
Indigenous people and salmon have been intertwined for thousands of years in Bristol Bay, Alaska. For the last century, corporations have sought to extract the wealth of this rich region and now Pebble Mine threatens to pollute its pristine headwaters. Can the next generation step up to defend the most prolific salmon run left on earth.

Chronoception (Tour Edit) - 2023, France, 41 min

Filmmakers: Guillaume Broust, Picture Organic Clothing
Advisory: None
Thomas Delfino, Léa Klaue and Aurélien Lardy embark on an ambitious expedition in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to ski the Kokshaal-Too range. This skilled team, accompanied by renowned guides Hélias Millerioux and Jean-Yves Fredriksen, finds themselves propelled into a space where time seems to have suddenly come to a halt.

To Be Frank - 2023, USA, 12 min

Filmmakers: Anna Wilder Burns, Morgan Sliff
Advisory: None
Frank Paine is a 73-year-old South Bay icon and humble local legend whose life orbits around a two-block stretch of beach. His unforgettable moustache is what most first notice, but his magnetic spirit and unwavering passion are what keeps the Hermosa Beach surf community connected and whole.

Going Greenland - 2023, USA, 23 min

Filmmakers: Erich Roepke, Jessica Baker, Rachael Burks,
Going Greenland Production
Advisory: Coarse language
What happens when you combine a renewable energy sailboat with an arctic ski expedition in Greenland for the first time ever? Athletes Rachael Burks and Jessica Baker put the idea to test, and endure a both harrowing and inspiring journey along Greenland’s West coast fjords and towering mountains.

Well Worn Life with Dani Reyes-Acosta - 2022, USA, 6 min

Filmmakers: Daniel Mitchell, Kelsey Ferguson, BLK ELK Media
Advisory: Coarse language
Meet Dani Reyes-Acosta: a mountain athlete, land cultivator, and storyteller whose path consistently seeks the limits of her possibility.

Reel Rock: DNA - 2023, USA, 23 min

Filmmakers: Josh Lowell, Zachary Barr, Reel Rock
Advisory: Coarse language
French sport climber Seb Bouin has been quietly working his way through elite grades, culminating in his attempt to establish a long pitch through an overhanging cave in the Verdon Gorge of France – possibly the most difficult route in the world!

February 3, 2024

Desert Wings - 2023, USA, 4 min

Filmmakers: Nathan McBride, NVisualMedia
Advisory: Coarse language
Paramotoring is a niche, largely undocumented, and little-known flying sport. This piece brings it to light in a rightfully epic way. Shot over 6 days, with multiple paramotor pilots, Desert Wings highlights some of the most dramatic desert landscapes in the American Southwest.

Soundscape (Creative Excellence Award) - 2023, USA, 14 min

Filmmakers: Timmy O’Neill, Sarah Lee Steele,
Well Travelled Collective
Advisory: None
Soundscape features Erik Weihenmayer, a global adventure athlete and author who is fully blind, as he ascends a massive alpine rock face deep in the Sierra Nevada.

The Blackcountry Journal (Best Film: Snow Sports) - 2023, USA, 10 min

Filmmakers: Mallory Duncan, Patrick Elmore,
Uhuru Mountain Collective
Advisory: None
A skier contemplates his connection to skiing and the mountains. As he hurries through the streets of L.A., his path takes a turn after bumping into a jazz musician who helps him discover the correlation between jazz and skiing—an expression of art, skiing, and black culture.

Georgia Astle: Flip The Switch - 2023, Canada, 3 min

Filmmakers: Scott Secco, Scott Secco Films
Advisory: None
Watch Georgia Astle explore some of British Columbia’s most striking landscapes, on a search for terrain to push her riding, inspired by a rising tide of female freeriders around the world.

Canada Vertical (Tour Edit) - 2023, Canada, 35 min

Filmmaker: Laurent Poliquin, Nicolas Roulx
Advisory: Coarse language
Follow a team of highly motivated Quebeckers on one of the longest wilderness expeditions ever documented. Stage one involves skiing in relentless polar conditions from Ellesmere Island to the Northwest Passage. Cue canoes for a 2,000 km journey across Nunavut and North West Territories until they get on bikes and pedal 4,000 km to Point Pelee in Ontario.

Leo & Chester (Best Film: Mountain Culture) - 2022, Canada, 8 min

Filmmaker: Andrea Wing, Aline Mayerhoffer, MMGY Origin
Advisory: None
Leo, a sought-after rock star with a promising career, turns his back on the industry to pursue a life on the land with a herd of buffalo.

Earthside - 2023, USA, 33 min

Filmmaker: Kaki Orr, Rob Wassmer, Aidan Haley,
Christina Lustenberger, The North Face
Advisory: Coarse language
In 2022, Hilaree Nelson, Emily Harrington, Christina Lustenberger, and Brette Harrington embarked on an expedition above the Arctic circle. What they found was a celebration of where they’ve been and of where they’re going - and the trip’s success was contingent not on what they skied but the time they had together.

Near The River - 2023, USA, 11 min

Filmmakers: Darby McAdams, Ashley Peel, Rush Sturges,
McAdams Films
Advisory: None
In the tourism town of Livingstone, Zambia, a group of local men who make their living portering kayaks aspire to become safety kayakers on the Zambezi River. The proposed Batoka Gorge Hydroelectric Scheme threatens to flood the famous rapids of the Zambezi and eliminate river related jobs.

El Gavilán - 2022, USA, 20 min

Filmmakers: Bronwyn Hodgins, Savannah Cummins,
Savy Media
Advisory: None
Rising out of the arid Mexican desert lies a 900 ft ship’s prow of elegant limestone sporting a 9-pitch 5.13 established in the 90s by Jeff Jackson. Shrouded in mysticism, the bolts rusted and the holds collecting dust until a couple of young gals from Canada decide to give it a try.

February 4, 2024

Fuego - 2023, France, 7 min

Filmmakes: Pierre Henni, Kilian Bron
Advisory: None
Kilian Bron rides from the foot of the Fuego volcano the day before its historic eruption, to the colourful facades of Barrio Chualluma in La Paz, through the geological formations of the Valle de las Animas to an unforgettable meeting with the Cholitas Escaladoras.

The Best Skier You’ve Never Heard Of - 2023, Sweden, 8 min

Filmmakers: Marcus Ahlström, Mattias Fredriksson,
Stellar Equipment
Advisory: None
After a successful ski racing career, Adrien Grabinski ventured West from Alberta. He discovered his true calling at Shames Mountain, a remote little co-op non-profit ski area near Terrace, B.C. The mountains, the snow, and the big lines first captivated him, but the local ski community truly stole his heart.

One Degree #Peru - 2023, France, 15 min

Filmmaker: Alex Lopez, Riding to Explore
Advisory: None
Armelle Courtois and Martin Thomas seek out the highest glacial lakes – over 5000m above sea level – to try and break the altitude record for kitesurfing. Their sporting challenge quickly takes on a new objective: to raise awareness about the consequences of melting glaciers and inspire change.

Subterranean (Tour Edit) Best Film: Adventure - 2023, Canada, 40 min

Filmmakers: François-Xavier De Ruydts,
Jenny Rustemeyer, Cold Fingers Films
Advisory: Coarse language
Two gritty teams of hobbyist cavers are poised to break records for the longest and deepest caves in Canada. From abyssal, muddy crawls to heart-pounding, vertical pits, and underwater squeezes, these are places where no person has been before.

Mustafa Ceylan - 2022, Switzerland, 12 min

Filmmakers: Jules Guarneri, Benoît Goncerut, Cause
Advisory: Coarse language
This is the story of a young Turkish immigrant, destined to
play football and take over his parents’ kebab restaurant.
But one day, fate put a pair of skis in his way.

Driving Sweep - 2023, USA, 10 min

Filmmakers: Greg Cairns, Cairns Film
Advisory: Coarse language
Few river guides ever get the chance to drive Idaho’s Iconic sweep boat. Join Katie Veteto as she learns how to “drive sweep” down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. She’s learned the rapids and the river. Now she learns to drive 4,000lbs down steep rocky rapids.

Range Rider - 2023, USA, 30 min

Filmmakers: Colin Arisman, Wild Confluence Media
Advisory: Coarse language
As wolves repopulate Washington State, conflict is heating up with rural ranching communities. When wolves are suspected of killing livestock, the consequences for packs can be fatal. Range rider Daniel Curry’s job is to patrol wild areas on horseback, creating a buffer between wolves and the cattle herds.

Two Point Four - 2023, United Kingdom, 20 min

Filmmakers: Natasha Brooks, Leo Houlding
Advisory: Coarse language
Not your typical family holiday… but this is not your typical family! Leo Houlding, his wife Jess, and their two children Freya (9 years) and Jackson (5 years) climb Norway’s national mountain via a 2,000 ft big wall.

Date : February 2 - 4, 2024

Location: Strom Auditorium - 25 Keelson Dr, Rockport, ME 04856

Click here for more information.