The Reel Rock Film Tour 2011

The Reel Rock Film Tour officially gets underway on Thursday in, where else, Boulder, Colorado. From there, the show will spread out across the U.S. and Canada, bringing some of the best outdoor/adventure films from the past year along with it. You can check the tour calendar to see when it is coming to your area and watch the teaser trailer below. The video gives you a nice glimpse of some of the films that will be shown, but you'll find a complete list by clicking here.

Mountainfilm Posts Full Film and Guest Line-up

The 2011 Mountainfilm Festival is now just a week and a half away, and organizers for the event, which goes down annually in Telluride, Colorado, have posted the complete line-up of films and guests that will be on hand to celebrate. Over the past 30+ years, the festival has earned itself a reputation for being one of the best events around, and that is reflected in the diversity of films and guests that will make an appearance there this year.

You can check out the complete list of films by clicking here. There are literally dozens of options to choose from, and I'm not sure how attendees will find time to screen even a fraction of the movies that look interesting. Some of them are shorts of course, but I'm still amazed at the quality of the line-up and the variety of topics that are covered. I'd be interested in catching The Swiss Machine, which profiles Ueli Steck and Towers of Ennedi, which I've mentioned before. That short film follows a group of climbers who go to Chat to take on some unclimbed rock faces there. Both films look fantastic, but there are plenty of others to catch as well.

Amongst the guests who will be attending the Mountainfilm Festival this year are the Baffin Babes, who you may recall skied across Baffin Island back in 2009. Their joined by adventurers like kayaker Ben Stookesberry, climber Freddie Wilkinson, and environmentalist David De Rothschild, amongst numerous others. Check out the full list of special guests by clicking here.

The festival is scheduled to run from May 27-30 and passes are still available to purchase. It looks like it'll be another great event again this year. Anyone planning on going?

In London On April 9th? Attend The Adventurist Film Festival!

The 2011 Adventurist Film Festival is scheduled to take place at the Royal Geographical Society in London on April 9th. Co-hosted by Hendrick's Gin, the event promises to once again shine a spotlight on some of the more offbeat, yet adventuresome, films to be released in the past year. There will also be a host of great guest speakers and plenty of libations to enjoy as well.

Amongst the guests who will be on hand for the event are Amazon Walker Ed Stafford, who will know doubt regale attendees with rousing stories from his 4000 mile hike along the length of the Amazon River. Ed will be joined by Tarka and Katie-Jane L'Herpiniere, who took a little walk of their own along the Great Wall of China,  and Andrew Miles from the Explorers Film School.

The day will begin at 12:15 PM and run throughout the afternoon, with short-list of the top film entries on display. An over all winner for festival will be crowned by 6:30PM, at which time everyone will retire to the RGS Map Room for further discussions of an adventurous nature. To check out the full program, click here and to purchase tickets for the event, click here.

The Adventurists, by the way, are the fine chaps behind such events as the Mongol Rally, the Rickshaw Run, and the Africa Rally, all of which look insanely fun.

More Guests Announced For Mountainfilm Festival

The Mountainfilm Festival is inching ever closer to its May 27th start date, and organizers have announced more guest speakers for the event which is held annually in Telluride, Colorado.

Previously, it had been announced that speakers such as Dan Austin, of 88bikes, and climber/guide Freddie Wilkinson, amongst others, would be on hand to share their stories and experiences. Now the list of guests has grown nicely with some excellent and interesting people being added to the mix. For instance, Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson is back this year as a judge and he'll be joined by Ken Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch and photographer George Steinmetz, who once spent 28 months hitchhiking through Africa.

Perhaps most intriguing of all is Tim DeChristopher, an environmentalist who has been convicted in a U.S. Federal Court for making false bids on energy leases in the western United States. He'll speak about the importance of taking action on global climate change and how to use non-violent, civil disobedience to make changes. Less than a month after his appearance at Mountainfilm, DeChristopher faces sentencing for his actions. What exactly that sentence will be remains to be seen.

For the full list of guests who will be on hand click here and to purchase passes for the festival, click here.




What is Mountainfilm? from Mountainfilm in Telluride on Vimeo.

Mountainfilm Announces Special Guests For 2011

The Mountainfilm Festival is gearing up for another great year, with the 2011 edition of the event scheduled to take place May 27th-30th in Telluride, Colorado. Each year, the event gives adventure filmmakers an opportunity to display their latest creations while also tackling some of the important global issues of our time as well.

One of the hallmarks of Mountainfilm is that they always have great guests on hand to talk about their experiences in the field, and 2011 looks like it'll be no different. Speakers scheduled to attend include Dan Austin, co-founder of 88Bikes, National Geographic Explorer in Residence Wade Davis, and climber/mountain guide Freddie Wilkinson, just to name a few. Check out the special guests who have been announced so far by clicking here, and stay tuned for more guest announcements leading up to the festival at the end of May.

If you'd like to attend Mountainfilm, you can purchase tickets by clicking here. Organizers are still looking for volunteers to help out as well, so if you'd like to attend in that capacity, which still earns you passes, you'll find out more by clicking here.

I'm hoping that I'll get the opportunity to attend Mountainfilm this year, if my schedule allows. Is anyone else planning on being there? It might be a great place to connect!

Deadline For 2011 Submissions To Mountainfilm Festival Is Monday

The 2011 edition of the Mountainfilm Festival, held annually in Telluride, Colorado is set to go down from May 27-30. Over the past three decades the event has earned itself a reputation for being one of the top adventure film fests in the entire world with filmmakers, photographers, environmentalists, mountaineers and explorers all in attendance each year. As usual, the even will kick-off with the Moving Mountains Symposium, which will focus on the theme of Awareness into Action this time out.

While the festival is still several months off, an important deadline for the event is looming next Monday, February 28th. That is when final submissions are due, which means if you have an adventure film you'd like to enter into the event, you have just four more days to get it entered. You'll find all the submission information on a single page, which can accessed by clicking here. 

The Mountainfilm Fest annually awards $10,000 in prize money to the winners in a variety of categories. Those winners are announced at the show's closing picnic, which has become a tradition in its own right each year. For more information on the event, including how to obtain passes, volunteer, where to stay, and so on, simply go to MountainFilm.org. 

Ireland Gets A New Adventure Film Festival

The Explore Foundation, which is a new non-profit organization founded by Tim Lavery and Ripley Davenport, has announced a new adventure film festival for Ireland. The Killarney Adventure Film Festival, or KAFF, is scheduled to take place April 7-10, 2011 and will feature plenty of great adventure films from amateurs and professionals alike.

The organizers of the event are now looking for submissions and on the official KAFF website they have this to say about what they are looking for:

"It’s open to everyone that does weird, wacky, death-defying acts of adventure so here’s your chance to get excited and have a crack of getting your adventure film into the Hall of Fame and onto the big screen. By all accounts, who knows where this may lead to next?"

No matter what your outdoor adventure passion, you'll find a spot at KAFF. Entries can be short videos or feature length films, and can fall into a variety of categories including: Polar Adventures, Climbing Adventures, Desert Adventures, and a whole lot more. For a complete list of the categories click here and to register to submit a film, click here.

While still in the early planning stages, it seems that there are plenty of great things on tap for the first ever KAFF. The early info hints at surprise guests, screenings of some big films, and great prizes for the winners. The official website offers more info on Killarney as well, including where to stay while attending the event.

The Explore Foundation was founded in December of 2010 and has the ambitious goal of inspiring young people to see the world through a different perspective. The non-profit hopes to educate and inspire them through exploration and adventure. It seems there are some big things in the works for the organization, and we'll all just have to wait to see what is ahead. For now though, the focus is on KAFF and building a great adventure film community around that festival. Sounds like a blast!

Adventure Film Festival Invites Us To Make Our Own Legends

The Sixth Annual Adventure Film Festival is set to go down in Boulder, Colorado on November 18-20, with more than 25 great films making their debut. Those movies were selected by the Adventure Film Selection Committee to represent the finest of the more than 140 submittals that they received from 12 different countries.

The festival is sponsored by Patagonia and will be offering a host of unique adventure films designed to inspire a passion for travel, discovery, and change. These films will take us around the globe in a never ending pursuit of the best adventure stories out there, focusing on surfing, climbing, mountaineering, kayaking, skiing, and much more. To review a complete list of the films on display, click here. The films that will be shown at Neptune Mountaineering, REI, the local Patagonia Store, and the Boulder Theater.

In addition to the films themselves, the festival will also play host to a number of other special events, including videography and photography workshops, live music, gear giveaways, guest appearances, and much more. For more information on the event go to AdventureFilm.org

Mountainfilm Festival Announces Film Line-up For 2010

With the 2010 Mountainfilm Festival drawing ever nearer, organizers of the event have unveiled an epic line-up of adventure films that will be screened at this year's event, which will be taking place on May 28th-31st in Telluride, Colorado.

You can checkout the list of films by clicking here. As you can imagine, there are a number of very intriguing and thought provoking film on the docket for this year, including the much lauded The Cove, which garnered a lot of attention last year. Most of you have probably already heard of, and possibly seen, that film, which took an in depth look at the annual dolphin slaughter in Japan. The film returns to the festival this year following a single, surprise showing last year.

But there are plenty of lesser known films that will hit the screening room as well. Some of the movies that caught my eye include Barefoot to Timbuktu, which follows Swiss-American artist Ernst Aebi on his 2008 return to the Araouane oasis in the Sahara where he once lived for three years helping inhabitants build a series of wells and gardens until he was forced out by civl unrest. The highly anticipated The WIldest Dream will also be shown. It's the Conrad Anker/Leo Holding project in which they attempt to climb Everest in vintage gear from the Mallory/Irvine era. Finally, I'm hearing great things about Restrepo, which was shot over 15-months at an advanced army base in Afghanistan that is amongst the most dangerous places on the planet for an American solider. The film is said to be an intimate and challenging look at what life is like on the front lines for the soldiers stationed at the base.

There are plenty more films to be screened of course, and the Mountainfilm blog, The Conversation, is posting trailers to some of them on a regular basis. Like the one below which is for a film called Eastern Rises, which follows a group of fishermen to The Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, where they explore remote rivers that have never been fished before.

Eastern Rises: Trailer from Mountainfilm in Telluride on Vimeo.

Mountainfilm Announces Special Guests For 2010

The Mountainfilm Festival may still be more than two months away, but the annual event held in Telluride, Colorado continues to get even more enticing. The organizers of the festival, which skillfully blends art, culture, adventure, and environmental activism, have announced a number of special guests who will be on hand to make this the best Mountainfilm ever.

Aside from the previous guests who were announced for the Moving Mountains Symposium, the film fest has added the likes of Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortensen, environmental activist Tim DeChristopher, and everyone's favorite mountaineer, Ed Viesturs, amongst others. To check out the full list of guests, click here.

Mountainfilm is scheduled to take place from May 28th to the 31st, and while they haven't announced the line-up of films just yet, you can bet it will be an impressive list of adventure movies that will span many different topics, including climbing, mountaineering, paddling, and more. Keep your eyes peeled on this page on the Mountainfilm website for updates on the full list, which will be coming in early May.

Mountainfilm Photo Contest Continues, More Gear Up For Grabs!

The Mountainfilm Festival is one of the premiere events in the adventure film community. Held in Telluride, Colorado, the festival has grown into an annual event that combines art and a passion for outdoor adventure, while focusing on pressing social and environmental concerns as well.

This year's festival is set to run from May 28th through the 31st, and in the weeks leading up to the event, the organizers have been running an online photo contest on the festival's blog, The Conversation. In the second round of the contest, they're seeking submissions of photos that exemplify the festival's mission statement, which simply reads: "Mountainfilm is dedicated to educating and inspiring audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and conversations worth sustaining."

Photos can be wide ranging in their subject matter, with beautiful landscapes, snapshots of amazing places, images that capture the essence of a culture, and so on. They'll post weekly winners on the blog, and each month they'll select one of the photos to win a prize. For March, they're giving away a sweet looking Mazama backpack, courtesy of Jansport. They'll also throw in a Men's Woody Jacket and a Woman's Skylar Jacket from Horny Toad. That's not all! For a grand prize, they're also giving away a "VIP Festival Package" that includes lodging for the festival, allowing you to experience one of the best adventure film fests in the world first hand.

To enter the contest, simply upload your photos to the Mountainfilm Flickr Pool. Be sure to include a title and description when you complete the upload. That's all there is to it, and if you have a great photo, you may be on your way to Telluride at the end of May. Good luck! (Note: The contest is for U.S. residents only)

2010 Mountainfilm Festival Symposium Theme is The Extinction Crisis

Each year the Mountainfilm Festival, held in Telluride, Colorado, is amongst the top events for the outdoor adventure community. The four-day long event, which runs from May 28th-31st this year, is a showcase of art, film, culture, and while promoting environmental responsibility.

Now in its 32nd year, the Mountainfilm Festival has grown in size and scope and continues to offer a variety of activities for attendees. One of the centerpieces for the event is the day-long Moving Mountains Symposium that kicks off the festival. Each year the symposium selects a topic, and then invites a number speakers and dignitaries from the outdoor adventure community to weigh in on the subject. The result is a series of presentations, Q&A sessions, and panel discussions that are both fascinating and informative to attend.

This year, the subject of the symposium is The Extinction Crisis. This rather broad, but enormously important, topic is something that all of us should be aware of. On the symposium website it says that scientists estimate that by the end of this century, more than half of the species on this planet will extinct. That's a pretty sobering assessment of the situation. Why this is happening and what can be done about is will be the subject of many discussions.

Some of the speakers that are lined up for the symposium include Greg Carr, who is working to rebuild a national park in Mozambique, Paul Nicklen, a photographer and journalist, and Cristina Mittermeier, who works with the League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) who try to put a visual face on the beauty of our world and the dramatic ways it is changing.

Each week leading up to the festival the Mountainfilm Blog will be spotlighting one of these speakers. The first is up now and it is with mountaineer and environmental activist Rick Ridgeway who talks about what drove him to seek out adventure in his life, his thoughts on the extinction crisis, and what we can do to start to change the situation for the better. It's a good interview, and definitely sets the tone for this very important topic.

Sheffield Adventure Film Festival Coming March 12-14

The 2010 Sheffield Adventure Film Festival, affectionally known as ShAFF, will once again take place in Sheffield in the U.K. this March. The annual festival, now in it's fifth year, will run from March 12-14, with a host of events and activities scheduled for the entire weekend.

In addition to screening 44 of the best adventure films from around the world, there will also be a photo exhibition, and a used gear sale. Climber and author Ron Fawcett will be on hand to read from his latest book, and will be signing afterwards, and it all wraps up with the "Best of ShAFF" awards at the end of the weekend.

For information on how to get tickets for the event click here. Then check out the ShAFF trailer below to get a preview of what you can expect. The trailer has a little of everything from insane mountain biking, crazy kayaking, and some amazing climbing shots. There's even a guy in a wingsuit! What mor could you ask for?

2010 ShAFF Trailer from Matt Heason on Vimeo.

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour Teaser Video

The trailer for the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour hit the web today and it has some of the most amazing, and inspiring, images of nature and outdoor adventure that you could hope to find anywhere. You can scope it out for yourself below and then head over to this page to find out when the films will arrive in your area.

Thanks to Best Hike for pointing this out. Great stuff! Makes me want to make a movie.

Submit Your Film To The 2010 Mountainfilm Festival

Filmmakers looking to enter their masterpieces to the 2010 Mountainfilm Festival, held in Telluride, Colorado, have a several submission deadlines that are fast approaching. The event is being held in on May 28-31 of this year, and will feature the top documentary and narrative films, both feature length and short, that celebrate "achievement in mountain, adventure, culture and environment."

You'll find all the information necessary for submitting your films on this page. But in short, there are some upcoming dates that you'll want to keep in mind. We've already missed the December 12 early registration, but those looking to still submit have the following deadlines to deal with according to the festivals website:

Standard ($60): January 12, 2010
Final ($70): February 12, 2010
Short Films (20 minutes or less) ($25): February 12, 2010

The 2010 winners will be announced at the annual Closing Picnic, on Monday, May 31st.

The theme for this year's Moving Mountains Symposium will be Extinction Crisis, which will also play into all of the events held over that weekend, including seminars, films, and lectures.