Gabe Petch

Banff Is Back In Town

The 2022 International Mountain Festival aligns to Grid North.

March 29, 2022

The Banff Mountain Film Festival has grown and grown since its inception in 1976 – and is one of the iconic series of events that the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity are bringing to the UK across 2022.

This year, the tour features two different collections of extraordinary films from the world’s best adventure film-makers, with super-human challenges, soulful journeys and spectacular cinematography from the wildest corners of the planet.

The films are chosen from hundreds of entries into the Banff Mountain Film Festival, which is held every November in the Canadian Rockies. The UK and Ireland tour started in Leicester this January, and finishes in Cambridge in May - before returning in October for the Stockport and Hebden Bridge finales.

The eagerly anticipated tour has already touched down in the North of England and next is in York at the Barbican on 31st March. After that it’s Liverpool’s Plaza Cinema on the 1st of April, Harrogate’s Royal Hall on the 28th of April, Leeds Carriage works on the 5th of May, Yarm Princess Alexandra Auditorium on the 6th of May, then back to Leeds Carriage works on the 7th of May, before heading to Hebden Bridge Picture House on the 19th of May Stockport Plaza on the 20th of May.

Banff UK and Ireland tour director Nell Teasdale explains:

“We are so excited to be sharing these awe-inspiring new films with audiences around the UK and Ireland – up on the big screen!”

“As well as adrenaline-packed stories from the world’s best adventure filmmakers, Banff events are a celebration of the great outdoors with a vibrant atmosphere – and we guarantee audiences will leave inspired to have an adventure of their own too.”

For 2022, some of the exhilarating and often jaw-dropping Film highlights include:

Exit the North Pole

In 24-hour darkness and with temperatures down to -40, polar explorers Børge Ousland and Mike Horn attempt the unimaginable: a 1,500km ski expedition across the frozen Arctic ocean, via the North Pole. With drifting ice and the threat of polar bears, this grueling journey has been described as the boldest polar expedition of modern times.

Exit North Pole - B. Ousland Mike and Borge

Exit North Pole - B. Ousland Mike in tent

Dream Mountain

Defying societal norms, elite climber Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita has had a trailblazing career, summiting K2, Everest and other world-class peaks. Life changed with the birth of her son, but Pasang decides that to be the best mother she can, she needs to follow her dreams again. Transcending expectations and returning to her life-long passion, Pasang attempts her dream mountain: a spectacular Nepalese peak called Cholatse.

Link Sar

The compelling story of the first ascent of one of the last great unclimbed mountains in Pakistan’s Karakoram range: Link Sar at 7,041m. Avalanches and a 36-hour storm cause American alpinist Graham Zimmerman and his team to question their motivations and relationships, in an expedition that earns them mountaineering’s most prestigious award: the Piolet d’Or.