EVERETT — Next weekend, the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival is coming to the Historic Everett Theatre for two nights of award-winning outdoor films.
In 1976, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity launched the Banff Festival of Mountain Films. Ten years after its inception, the centre created an outreach program to bring the festival to other communities, and since then it has become an internationally recognized showcase of outdoor films.
Paul Fish, CEO of Live to Play, has the festival in 10 U.S. cities. The tour supports local theaters, and donates over $25,000 to recreation and environmental nonprofits, he said. The Everett shows will support North Cascades Institute and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
On Friday, the festival will present the Basalt program, followed by the Quartzite program on Saturday. Doors for the shows open at 6 p.m. and films start at 7 p.m.
On Friday, films include backyard scientists studying hummingbirds, Japanese free ride skiers, mountain biking, wingsuiting and renowned rock climber Molly Mitchell’s journey to climb Crank It, one of Colorado’s most dangerous routes.
“And then there’s Canyon Chorus, which, have to say, is one of my favorite films ever, just because of the story,” Fish said. “It’s a story of a group of gay men doing a river trip, but it’s really the story of personal relationships.”
Canyon Chorus filmmaker Mikah Meyer will attend the showing on Friday evening.
Meyer’s is an LGBTQ+ advocate and National Parks and travel social media influencer. In 2016, on the 11th anniversary of his father’s death, Meyer began his road trip to visit every unit of the U.S. National Park system.
As a result of the project, which was covered by national media outlets, Meyer began working with a variety of outdoor brands. He became a sponsored athlete for Eddie Bauer, which eventually asked him if he wanted to make a documentary.
“I told them about my amazing mentor, Larry, who grew up in Everett, and that I thought we could tell the story of his mentorship,” he said.
Larry was also Meyer’s father’s name, and Meyer explained that after his father passed away from cancer in 2005, he then met Larry Edwards, who stepped in to fill a father-figure role in Meyer’s life.
“It’s kind of a Trojan horse in that when on the surface, you’re supposed to think it’s about like a father-son, Boy Scout, kind of manly, man trip. But then, pardon my language, when you watch it, you find out we’re all f—s,” Meyer said. “The goal was to trick an audience that might not normally want to watch a story about gay people to watching one about gay people through a story that’s maybe more relatable or easier to understand.”
The story of mentorship, and how Edwards changed his life for the better, has been a story Meyer’s has wanted to tell for decades. The film, which premiered last April, captures a river rafting trip in Utah, and is now being shown around the world through the Banff World Tour.
Saturday’s program includes films about paddling rapids under Victoria Falls, rock climbing in Jamaica, a Drake’s Passage journey and a couple’s dedication to keeping one of the last manual weather stations going.
You can buy tickets at ticketor.com/livetoplay.
Eliza Aronson: 425-339-3434; eliza.aronson@heraldnet.com; X: @ElizaAronson.
Eliza’s stories are supported by the Herald’s Environmental and Climate Reporting Fund.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
