The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival is gearing up for another showcase of thrilling films and adventure seekers, and it's all culminating with a grand Squamish finale.
From Jan. 22 to 29, 44 films from 11 countries will be screened at the Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver and Pacific Cinemateque in downtown Vancouver.
During the week of events, Canadian filmmakers will present 12 selections with the rest coming from France, New Zealand, Germany, South Africa and Japan as judges choose top entries for mountaineering, rock climbing, environment, water, ski, mountain biking, best Canadian and best film overall.
The week ends Friday (Jan. 29) at Centennial Theatre with an evening focused on Squamish, as audiences are treated to the world premier of Dreamcatcher - a short documentary depicting North Vancouver resident Sean McColl vanquishing on one of the world's hardest sport routes, rated 5.14d, at the Cacodemon Boulders in Squamish.
McColl also takes to the stage for a short presentation as the first Canadian to achieve such a difficult route. As McColl explains in his blog, fate might have been playing a hand that day.
"[A] funny thing is that Chris Sharma made the first ascent [of Dreamcatcher] on September 23, 2005," writes McColl. "That's exactly four years ago to the day So, maybe it's just the time of year, maybe it's the position of the moon but something about this days brings luck to that route."
Also on Friday (Jan. 29), Squamish's own Sonnie Trotter will be presenting the new film Hey Presto by UK director Paul Dif?ey, depicting his climb of the Squamish classic route Presto. And with the assistance of world class belayer Cory Richards, the film examines what it takes to belay on some of the world's hardest climbs.
Trotter also presents his multimedia show "Letting Go of Control" on achieving dangerous trad ascents.
To add to the Squamish-themed evening, North Vancouver climber Will Stanhope presents "Youthful Exuberance - freeclimbing from Squamish to Patagonia" highlighting the 21-year-old athlete's recent bold climbs.
Also on the screen the final night are Timmy Emmett's hair-raising attempts on the Pembroke cliffs in Wales, slate quarry climbing in Wales with Matt Segal, Hazel Findlay and Johnny Dawes, and a team attempting unexplored terrain in Namibia led by Majka Burhardt.
Starting Friday (Jan. 22), audiences can experience the excitement of adventurers that are at the forefront of exploration, endurance and pushing the boundaries of human achievement in hostile environments.
For the full schedule of events, go to www.VIMFF.org.
