Banff Mountain Film Festival

Tonight my brother Brian, my dad and I went to Cleveland's Playhouse Theatre and saw the Banff Mountain Film Festival. This event features short independent films about extreme sports, rock climbing, skiing, etc. Brian and my dad both saw it last year and had a great time so I figured I would go this year.

Otto's Moser (with tons of construction in front of it on Euclid)

We got to Cleveland a little before 6 and ate at Otto's Moser, a restaurant/bar by the theatre. At 6:30, the doors opened. It was alot more crowded than I thought it would be. Mustard Seed Market & Cafe had a table with some pretty good unusual types of food. I can't remember exactly what the samples were called, but they had mushrooms with sauce on them, pierogies, tofu, and some Asian sauerkraut-type stuff.

I really enjoyed the films they chose this year. They showed 3 films, had an intermission, then showed 6 more. It started at 7:30 and we got out of there close to 11:00. My favorite films were Searching For The Coast Wolves, It's Fantastic, Entropy and Trial & Error (hard to pick a favorite). Here are the films that were shown, a description of them and a video (if I could find it on youtube). Enjoy!

1) Entropy

Norway, 2006, 11 minutes

Entropy documents the most progressive season in snowkiting so far. Join a couple of the world's best riders as they search for the ultimate snow and wind conditions.

2) Inner Balance

Canada, 2007, 5 minutes

Riders from Canada, USA, New Zealand, and Australia take unicycling to the next level with amazing drops and trials riding in a massive indoor bike park.

3) Searching For The Coast Wolves

Germany, 2006, 52 minutes

Gudrun Pflueger is an ex-world champion cross-country skier and long-distance runner. She goes in search of the mysterious coast wolves of British Columbia.

4) King Lines: Es Pontas

USA, 2007, 13 minutes

A segment from King Lines, filmed on location in Mallorca, Spain. Deep water soloing at its best.

5) Cross-Country With The Snakes

USA, 2007, 7 minutes

A short film about a nordic-skiing punk band. It documents a tour with the Black-eyed Snakes as they ski all day and play rock at night.

6) The Western Lands - Hoy

UK, 2007, 9 minutes

Writer Jim Perrin's attempted climb of the Old Man of Hoy on his 60th birthday. A poetic documentary of love, loss and landscape under the dying of the light.

7) It's Fantastic

USA, 2007, 19 minutes

From the ski slopes of Europe to the volcanic island of El Hierro, some of the world's best speedflyers risk their lives to find the limits of their abilities.

8) Trial & Error

Canada, 2006, 8 minutes

Mountain biker Ryan Leech sets out to ride an incredibly difficult trail in the coastal mountains of British Columbia, in a valley slated for clearcut logging.

9) Ain't Got No Friends On A Powder Day

Switzerland, 2007, 5 minutes

Loris is a "classic" freerider. Jean-Yves, however, has a more or less "accidental style.