Film fests will appeal to outdoor adventurers

“Mountain communities have their own unique identities and collection of local adventures and adventurers,” says Michael Boge, organizer of the annual Banff Mountain Film Festival.

This is Boge’s guiding principle as he selects the film list to be shown in the Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint communities. He does his job well, as attendance has grown steadily attracting outdoor adventurers of every type.

The Coeur d’Alene film festival will be held at the North Idaho College Boswell Schuler Auditorium on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 6. Tickets are $10 each and are available at all North Idaho Zip’s Drive-in locations, Vertical Earth, the Camera Corral, and at the door.

The Sandpoint film festival features 21 different films that will be shown at 7 p.m., Thursday, Friday and next Saturdayat the Panida Theater. Tickets are $11 per person.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival is an international film competition featuring the world’s best footage on mountain subjects. For more than 70 years the Banff Centre’s Mountain Culture programming has promoted understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain places by creating opportunities for people to share and find inspiration in mountain experiences, ideas and visions.

The festival is held annually on the first weekend in November at Banff Centre, a globally respected art, cultural, and educational institution, in Alberta. Immediately following the Canadian festival, a selection of the best films goes on tour.

“Of the eight films that will be shown in Coeur d’Alene, there are more ski-type films – from cross country, to downhill and snowkiting,” Boge says.

Featured films include “Entropy,” a film that joins a couple of the world’s best snowkiters as they search for the ultimate snow and wind conditions. “Cross-Country with the Snakes” is a film about a Nordic-skiing punk band that skis all day and plays music at night, and includes a lot of fast-action photography.

Another film, “Ain’t Got No Friends on a Powder Day,” takes place in Switzerland and draws a parallel between two styles and two approaches to the same mountain with Loris, a classic “free rider” and Jean-Yves, who has an “accidental style.”

Other films will appeal to kayakers, climbers and mountain bikers.

The Banff world tour spans the globe from Austria to Argentina and from Iceland to India. More than 195,000 people attend approximately 480 screenings in about 275 locations.

Many of the tour screenings benefit outdoor programs, community causes or nonprofit organizations. For Boge a large part of presenting the films has been to give back to local community groups. In Coeur d’Alene monies have been donated to the Tubbs Hill Foundation, and the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation.

In Sandpoint, money has been donated to the Schweitzer Ski Patrol to purchase a kayak for a raffle which benefits Community Cancer Services and to the Head Start Restoration Fund. The fund was started by Marilyn Sabella, a community leader who saw the need to help the old First Baptist Church which houses the Head Start Program.

Boge and his wife, Anavel, also support school-age children in the jungle community of Satipo, Peru. The project is called “Satipo Kids,” and part of the film’s Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene proceeds are contributed to this cause.

The money takes care of 34 students’ education needs for 10 years, the amount of time it takes to graduate from the Satipo school system. Satipo is Anavel’s hometown and is on the eastern side of the Andes within the Amazon Basin.

In addition to the film festival, 18 photos from the Banff Mountain Photography Competition will also be exhibited the night of the show.

For more information contact, Michael Boge at 661-3857 or 263-4282.