Banff Film Festival showing in Spokane next week

If you’re looking to start 2026 with some outdoor inspiration, you won’t have to wait long.

Next week, the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival comes to town with a collection of films showcasing extravagant outdoor adventures and good storytelling.

Films will be shown Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Fox Theater.

The outdoor film festival put on by the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity marked its 50th anniversary in November.

Paul Fish, former owner of Mountain Gear and the longtime organizer of the film series’ Spokane showing, said much has changed since it all began.

Some changes are obvious, like the equipment – drones, better and smaller cameras, no more need for physical film.

The festival itself has grown, and now tours hundreds of cities.

Fish remembers the first showing in Spokane taking place in a classroom at Gonzaga, sometime in the 1980s, and that the first crowd wouldn’t have come close to filling up a venue like the Fox.

But he also said the films themselves are improving.

“I think the storytelling has gotten better,” Fish said.

Six films will be shown each night of the festival’s three-day run.

Friday’s show includes skateboarding, ski mountaineering on Mount Robson and a story about a father taking his young son on a mountain bike tour.

Saturday’s lineup includes films about adaptive mountain biking, skiing in Japan, competitive rock climbing and a couple’s 69-day kite ski vacation.

On Sunday, the slate will showcase a story about the first woman to complete the Barkley Marathons – an ultramarathon race in Tennessee that’s notoriously challenging – and more tales of bicyclists, climbers and mountaineers.

The show will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

A VIP event is planned ahead of Saturday’s show starting at 5 p.m., with proceeds from the VIP tickets going to the nonprofit of your choice.

Tickets and more information are available online at livetoplay.com.