By Marie-Renee Goulet
The festival stopped rolling this past Sunday. We’ll now have to wait another year for the next tales of distant journeys, ground-breaking expeditions, and remarkable achievements, told by adventurers, photographers, authors, and filmmakers from around the world.
Here are this year’s competition winners. I watched films on this list and did not write about them because I did not find them interesting, so we see that judging art or any creative pursuit is highly subjective.
The highest praise went to one I could hardly finish. I can see the story is worth telling, but the filmmakers could have done so in a fraction of the time. There were interminable shots of watching an older woman sleeping or slowly emptying a bucket of snails on a table. Having to wait for the last snail to crawl across a table until it crawls out of the shot was not compelling to me. And the movie is only 31 minutes long. I certainly understand that the film’s pace matched the simplicity and speed of the two women’s lives, but I must have missed things the jury saw. I loved and reviewed movies here that did not make the awards list, so this is when I miss the conversations I would have had if able to attend in person. Fingers crossed for 2021!
Banff Mountain Film Competition 2020 Winners including trailers, filmmaker details, and jury comments: View Details
Congratulations to the 2020 Banff Mountain Film Competition Winners
Then Comes the Evening | Grand Prize, Sponsored by MEC
Lost At Sea | Best Film – Exploration & Adventure, Sponsored by Devold
Cholitas | Best Film – Mountain Culture, Sponsored by Helly Hansen
The Cull – Scotland’s Deer Dilemma | Best Film – Mountain Environment & Natural History, Sponsored by Kupilka
The Wall Of Shadows | Best Film – Climbing, Sponsored by Clif Bar & Co.
Confessions of a Runner | Best Film – Mountain Sports, Sponsored by Storyblocks
Metanoia | Best Film – Snow Sports, Sponsored by Park Distillery
Voice Above Water | Best Mountain Short, Sponsored by Backcountry Lodges of BC Association
Godspeed, Los Polacos! | Best Mountain Feature, Sponsored by Oboz Footwear
My Last Day of Summer | Creative Excellence Award, Sponsored by Kootenay Mountain Culture Magazine
24 Leeches | Special Jury Mention
BEAR-LIKE (DER BÄR IN MIR) | Special Jury Mention
You can watch the award winners by following this link
There are trailers for each.
Marie’s appreciation for movies & TV began early in life as it offered escapes, laughter, and often an education. It sparked a love of photography, travel, and a general curiosity for the world and everything in it. Originally from Quebec City, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Trebas Institute in 1998 where John H. Foote was her Film History professor. The winds pushed her into a different professional field and on a few adventures around the world. The passion for film and storytelling in all forms continues. Marie lives in the Canadian Rockies.
