From racing grocery carts to the longest ski descent ever, the biggest little film festival is back!
By Andrew Zwicker
Get psyched. The annual pre-ski-season stoke-up that is the “Rossland Mountain Film Fest Proudly Supported By The Members Of Rossland’s Community Branch Of The Nelson & District Credit Union” gears up for three days of mountain culture.
While the name has gotten exponentially longer this year thanks to a generous sponsorship of the event by our local credit union, the eleventh annual event will follow the same successful format is has employed in recent years. Anxious film goers can get a sneak peak Wednesday night at Drift Izakaya, which will be screening Monkey See Monkey Do, a series of four short climbing films. Thursday night sees the official kick off to the festivities with the opening gala in the Ross Thompson Room of the Prestige Mountain Resort. Dandelion and the Ditchweeds will provide the live soundtrack to the event which features a silent auction and four films. The feature film of the evening, Mt St. Elias, has already proven to be a crowd favorite wherever it has been shown. The story about four very different characters – three of them men, one a mountain is a dramatic and awe-inspiring feature documentary following three of the world’s greatest ski mountaineers to the Mount St. Elias in their attempt to realize the longest ski descent of the world. Bringing the movie to life, Barry Blanchard, an experienced Canadian Mountaineer who was on the St. Elias trip, will be on hand Sunday afternoon (2:00 PM at the Ross Thompson Room in the Prestige). The esteemed alpinist will be sharing photos and stories of his greatest successes and triumphs,, selecting from a three-plus decade career scaling and skiing the great mountains of the world. There will be a full circle moment on Saturday from 1a:00 AM to 12:00 noon at the Rock Cut Pub as one of the original filmmakers that the festival was created to showcase will return to offer a filmmaking workshop. “I can’t verify this but I’ve heard a number of people say that when the idea of the film fest first got started in Rossland in the late nineties, it was to showcase local filmmakers and Christian Begin in particular. In that sense it’s really cool that we’ve got him as a featured workshop presenter for this year’s festival.” For Christian Begin, the last twenty years have taken him on an adventure through film making with a host of successful films under his belt. Most recently he has had success with his film Cart of Darkness which was nominated for best cinematography in adocumentary by the LEO awards. Working as the director of photography on the project, Begin has brought the world of action adventure sports films into the urban environment. Cart of Darkness contrasts a stark and serious look at the homeless population in Vancouver with the uniquely urban sport of grocery cart racing. If you’ve ever had the hankering to become a filmmaker or want to improve on your craft, Begin will be offering inspiration on the drive and commitment it takes to be successful in his profession along with technical tips and advice from his professional experience. All in all, the lineup for this year’s Rossland Mountain Film Fest Proudly Supported By The Members Of Rossland’s Community Branch Of The Nelson & District Credit Union is long in both name and quality and breadth of films. It’s truly the biggest little film festival going, as its organizers have branded the event. This Thursday through Sunday, Rossland will be taken over with multiple venues, presentations, workshop, films and music. The avalanche of mountain culture will be hard to miss so organizers are warning to get your tickets while you still can before the events inevitably sell out. Eleven years on, the Mountain Kingdom’s own spectacle of all things mountain-related is truly come into its own through tireless work of the volunteer board that brings it together this year. Along with offering an economic jolt to the city during the shoulder season, the little film fest that could will inspire, thrill, stoke up the fires for the snow season as well as make you think and learn through provocative mountain stories and environmental tales. Please see the attached file for a full schedule of events.
