January 20, 2004
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu
Best of the 28th Annual Banff Mountain Film Festival—two nights of adventure screen at UCSB Campbell Hall
Summary Facts:
- Best of the 28th Annual Banff Mountain Film Festival
- Two programs of the world’s best mountain and outdoor adventure films
- Enduring favorite sells out yearly
- Entirely different programs, except for concluding film, screen each evening
- Thursday & Friday, February 26 & 27
- 7:30 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
- General public $12 / UCSB students & youth 18 and under $10
- Tickets/Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535
Always inspiring and captivating, the Best of the 28th Annual Banff Mountain Film Festival will screen on Thursday & Friday, February 26 & 27 at 7:30 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. UCSB Arts & Lectures will present a completely different program except for the concluding film each night. The show’s wide variety of film subjects—from extreme sports to mountain culture and the environment—will amaze and thrill audiences. Each night’s program will conclude with Cost of Freedom, the story of an extraordinary wolf and her fight for survival in one of America’s last islands of wilderness in Idaho. Filmmaker Vanessa Schulz will attend both screenings to answer questions about her film that shows the intensity of passions that inflame all sides of the issue of reintroducing wolves in the lower 48 states.
For the past 28 years, The Banff Mountain Film Festival has been celebrating the spirit of adventure and the mountain environment. Each November, the world’s best films on mountain themes draw an international audience to Banff, Canada. This year the Festival screened over 3000 entries from 38 countries to discover the gems that are part of the tour. For the past 17 years, immediately following the festival, selected films hit the road in a “Best of” touring package and have been coming to UCSB since 1992.
The films at UCSB for Thursday, February 26 are:
- Last Chance Journeys—Siberia—Nomadic Siberian natives, the Nenets, undertake a six-month odyssey to the Arctic Ocean and back via reindeer sled (53 min.)
- Janica Kostelic—An impoverished yet dedicated Croatian woman takes on the titans of alpine skiing at the Salt Lake City Olympics (23 min.)
- Eiger North Face—In the Footsteps of Its First Climbers—Two climbers confront Eiger’s treacherous North Face using equipment similar to that used by the first-ascent party in 1938 (52 min.)
- Cost of Freedom—A wolf pack reintroduced into the wild in Idaho sparks a heated controversy; filmmaker Vanessa Schulz in attendance (36 min.)
The films at UCSB for Friday, February 27 are:
- ROCKSTARS!—One Steep Planet—Wild stunts and escapades on and off the bike in the Swiss Alps (12 min.)
- Falling—Waterfall kayakers experience awe and exhilaration (6 min.)
- Le Cervin fait son cinéma (The Matterhorn—Movie Star)—Capturing all the drama of the famed Swiss peak, this film features exceptional archival footage (31 min.)
- Stefania Belmondo—A fascinating look at the first Italian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing (15 min.)
- Focused: Shane McConkey—Shane McConkey takes his usual freeskiing antics on snow—and off—to the next level (10 min.)
- Ice Up—This film about waterfall ice climbing captivates the viewer through the beauty of the settings and the routes (29 min.)
- Encore Screening: Cost of Freedom—A wolf pack reintroduced into the wild in Idaho sparks a heated controversy; filmmaker Vanessa Schulz in attendance (36 min.)
This event is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. The tour of the Banff Mountain Film Festival is presented by National Geographic and Dunham Bootmakers and sponsored by Eagle Creek Travel Gear, Patagonia, Chevy Avalanche, EVENT Fabrics and MSR with assistance from Lake Louise Ski Area, PETZL, Travel Alberta and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Tickets, $12 for the general public and $10 for UCSB students and youth 18 and under, are available now at the Arts & Lectures Ticket Office and will be sold at the door the night of the films, beginning at 6:30 p.m., if available.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.