CAMDEN— Celebrating everything outdoors this weekend is the 18th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival as it comes to Maine on its world tour in tandem with the U.S. National Toboggan Championships. Jeff Boggs, manager and buyer for Maine Sport Outfitters, which sponsors the event, has had a hand in this film fest for many years. Each day has its own curated line up of short films.

The World Tour Lineup feautres 36 short films. Each location has a curated set of films that will appeal most to that regional audience. In the past, the Tour has only been for two nights in Camden.

“Based on the fact that we’ve sold out on both weekend days each year, we decided to add a third day, Sunday, a matinee at 4 p.m.,” said Boggs.

The documentaries were chosen by the Banff Mountain Film Fest’s traveling host, Jamie Carpenter.

Friday night

“The opening film on Friday night is hilarious,” said Boggs of Rogue Elements: Corbet's Couloir. This short doc portrays the first-ever mountain bike descent of Corbet's Couloir, a world-famous in-bounds run at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Boggs also said don’t miss the feature film that night, Surviving The Outback, which features a guy named Mike, who survives alone in the remote outback of Australia for a whole month, trekking and sailing on a makeshift raft, with nothing but a time capsule of antique stuff from 1932.

Saturday Night

“The good thing about Saturday night’s line up is that there is a wide-range of films that will appeal to all ages,” said Boggs. He cited Far Out: Kai Jones, featuring the 11-year-old Kai Jones, who isn’t old enough to go to the movies alone or order a sandwich at the pub, but is following in his family’s ski tracks—right into back flips and tricks off of cliffs.

And then in For The Love of Mary, there’s a 97-year-old mountain runner named George Etzweiler, who is not not just running to the summit of Mt. Washington; Etzweiler carries something else special with him: the memory of his late wife of 68 years.

“The feature film is a really cool story about a mother-daughter team ski touring adventure in Alaska and the British Columbia,” he said about This Mountain Life: Coast Range Traverse.

Sunday Afternoon

“Sunday’s line up is a little more kid-focused and family-friendly, but I’m always careful not to promise there won’t be any swearing,” Boggs said, laughing. “I really liked Boy Nomad, about a boy growing up in Mongolia,” he said.

The 20-minute film features 9-year old Janibek, who lives with his family in Mongolia’s Altai Mountains and accompanys his father on the winter migration.

Join Maine Sport Outfitters when Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour takes the spirit of outdoor adventure to the Camden Hills Regional High School Strom Auditorium on Friday, February 8, at 7 p.m., Saturday, February 9, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, February 10, at 4 p.m.

Tickets are on sale. Adults: $12 ($10 when purchased in-store), Students: $5 (priced per show) Visit mainesportbanff.brownpapertickets.com/to purchase tickets online. 

Film selections for each night can be found here and video previews/descriptions for all of Banff Mountain Film Festival’s films can be found here.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com