Banff Success!
April 13, 2009 by admin
The 2009 Banff Mountain Film Festival was a huge SUCCESS! The two night film festival sold out the Byham Theater with 2,500 attending between the two shows! Friday night’s films engaged the audience with environmental stories while Saturday’s suspenseful films had the audience on the edge of their seats.
The highlight of the festival was the Venture Outdoors Raffle!
Over 15,000 raffle tickets were sold to hopeful audience members seeking to win one of the big ticket raffle packages that included a brand new kayak, mountain bike and rock climbing excursion. The raffle generated over $3,800 dollars to support our Volunteer Trip Leader Training Program. From the event, we welcome eleven new members to the Venture Outdoors community.
Thank you to everyone who helped make Banff a success!
I’m the lucky guy who won the kayak package Friday night at the Banff film festival.
I would like to make arrangements to pick it up.
Please contact me via email or phone 724 454 4019
Scott Hopkin
PO Box 303
108 Main Street
Madison, Pa. 15663
My First Banff F F
I was totally disappointed……….V O did a great job in setup and booths etc , Raffle everything.
But the films were NOT what i expected. The advertisement showed outdoor , mountain related sports footage……extreme stuff….the advertisement is misleading
The advertisement and the women from Banff even said …..all the films were related to mountains. Instead we saw a longgggggggg documentary on the the eco battle of the proposed copper mine in alaska……interview after interview…i can see this any nite on cable…….also the LONGGGGGGGGGG story of the lady who wanted to fly with eagles…………….too long…could have shown us that in 10 minutes……… i will never recommend this film to anyone who loves to bike, ski, climb, hike etc………………i think Banff has lost its way on the original intent
Ps…. i took 5 other people……….all felt the same……I am an avid M biker, skier , canoeer and backpacker…………………very disappointed….
larry
Believe me, I completely understand the desire for films that push the adrenaline meter. But I thought Sat’s films did that in a big way. In fact, this was my fourth year for Banff and I enjoyed it the best (but I wasn’t there Friday so I can’t comment.) I can say that I was part of the group that previewed all the films and selected the dozen or so to be shown here in Pittsburgh. You only get three minute clips to judge the films by, so the long documentaries undoubtedly look more exciting in the previews, and I agree some of them can get long. But what’s long and boring to some is interesting and enlightening to others. That’s the rub — finding the balance. And it’s hard to know what’s truly in store when you’re previewing the short clips but I still think Banff is one of the most unique and inspiring film festivals you can attend. The Red Helmet was six minutes of poignant film-making, extreme sports, and great story-telling. Journey to the Center was funny, revealing, intense, insane and…55 minutes long! Like I said, I can’t speak to Friday, but the films on Saturday had me amped up and thinking to myself that all my mtn biking and backcountry skiing is kind of lame compared to screaming down the face of a mountain in a suit that makes you fly like a bat.
friday nite was my first banff festival, most of the films were enjoyable, but some i found a bit too long such as the eagle in flight, but i probably would have enjoyed the whole event more if it was not for the induvidual in the seat behind me. the whole nite i thought i was at a movie with a five year old kicking and pushing the chair for the entire event. even after numerous futile attempts to get him to stop he contiued . thus i left the event prior to it ending.oh by the way this person was accompnied by a staff member of venture outdoors .Will I return?Not
Larry – I couldn’t agree more completely! My uncle and I have gone to BANFF for the past two years and really enjoyed the movies. This year we took my cousins (ages 22 & 18) and we all agreed that the documentaries could have been shortened to 15-20 minutes and replaced with more exciting segments.
VO does do a great job organizing and promoting the event, but I hope they improve the film selections for next year. The event is advertised as an exciting outdoor adventure film festival and that’s what one expects…just like the program cover of a guy ice climbing.
It sounds like Saturday had a much better selection.
Geoff – is it possible to view any of Saturday’s films online?
Friday night was a total flop. The long and boring movies made me fall into a deep sleep. The sound of people snoring woke me up just in time to beat the crowds out the door. I doubt I will ever eat salmon again. Could you please let us know next year which night is the crappy movie and which night is the extreme, adrenaline pumping goodies movie.
Thanks
I just read about the “Radical Reels” film tour. How can we bring this to the ‘Burgh?
It sounds like it’s comprised of all action packed films and would be well received by the Pittsburgh audience.
Everyone,
Thank you for your comments on the movies. We really appreciate each comment and they help us to plan for the next year. Know that we only see a few minutes of each film beforehand and we strive to make each night a lot of fun. We’ll take your advice and limit the number of long films next year.
Also, a big thanks to everyone that came and purchased raffle tickets. You helped us raise almost $4000 that will go towards helping our dedicated volunteers, help get more kids and families outside, and help us bring outdoor adventures to under-served communities in Pittsburgh.
We appreciate your comments and know that we’re always striving to serve Pittsburgh with high quality outdoors adventures.
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your comments about the film selection in Pittsburgh. We’re sorry to hear that not all of you enjoyed the selections on Friday night, and we welcome your input. Hearing a range of honest opinions from a variety of audience members helps us shape your local program, and guides our film selections for future tours.
As you can imagine, audience preferences vary significantly. While our overall audience feedback and ratings are extremely positive, we also receive comments that present mixed reviews. Red Gold is a good example. Red Gold won the People’s Choice award here in Banff where it received two standing ovations and continues to generate lots of audience praise on tour. This film is currently ranked second in favorite film voting by tour audiences via our online contest survey.
http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/tour/contest/2008/
In general, feedback indicates that most audiences prefer one feature film combined with a mixture of short films focusing on adrenaline sports, mountain culture and environment, and great stories. The feedback you provided will help our team to work with Venture Outdoors to suggest films that keep this balance in the program, and reflect the interests of the local crowd.
All the best from Banff,
The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour team
Wow, I’m glad I didn’t go Friday looking at the comments. I went to the Saturday show and the films were fantastic! However, I really liked the location of last year’s event – Carnegie Hall in Munhall (or Duquesne??) Leaving the parking garage was a pain! It took me 25 minutes to leave the garage – and I was on the 2nd floor!