My Brilliant, World-Traveling Mother discovered this incredible gem of a film
festival about ten years ago and brought me onto shortly thereafter. Over the past several years we have watched this lil ole home-grown film fest grow into a 5-day affair featuring movies from 70 countries.
Today we are absolute adventure travel film junkies. The
Flag Mountain Film Fest features almost all documentaries on outdoor adventure,
cultural and environmental causes, as well as humanitarian issues. You can go
to a ridiculous number of movies for a ridiculously little amount of $. Each 3-hour session costs
only $10 but you can buy a Film Fest VIP Pass (just love the way it sounds
actually!) like The Thurston Girls and get into every session you want for five
days as well as attend multiple special events.
How much does the VIP Pass
cost? $60. That’s it!
We attended a total of 30
hours of films and special events during a four day period. Every year I come
out of the film festival feeling like my LIFE BATTERY HAS BEEN RECHARGED! ;-) In addition, we've become friends with a couple of the film festival directors as well as some of the filmmakers whom we have met over the years.
By the end of the week it feels like we have
traveled the world and had a taste of these amazing “moments” of adventures,
been inspired by men, women, and kids doing incredible work in the world, and
been educated on issues we had no awareness of beforehand.
I basically come out of it wanting
to go do AWESOME THINGS IN THE WORLD!
This year’s highlights for me
spanned everything from young Norwegian guys doing Arctic Surfing in a recycled shelter to
spending Christmas without Chinese Goods to climbing Pakistan’s K2 to trying to
break the world record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.
I’m hoping many of these
movies will make it to other film festivals where you live. Most of these films
are also available to purchase through the filmmakers. A select few will be
picked up by tv networks like HBO and PBS.
Here are just a few of our
favorites from this year…..Because many of the sessions were occurring simultaneously we weren't able to see all of the films offered but we did manage to about 80% of the films this year.
Fav Adventure Films:
“North Of The Sun”
46 Minutes, Norway, 2012
Directors & Producers:
Inge Wegge, Jorn Ranum
This is one of my favorite
docs from the festival this year b/c it’s a hybrid (part-surfing,
part-environmental) and b/c it has the three elements of a truly wonderful
film. Great story, great characters, and fantastic video work.
North Of The Sun follows two
young Norwegian guys who decide it would be fun to camp out in the Arctic
during THE WINTER on a remote beach without any tents or supplies. They make a
pact to subsist on free expired food from groceries and to build a shelter out
of only items they can find washed up on shore.
Sound a little masochistic?
It is yet the two guys seem to keep upbeat through the darkness of an Arctic
Winter and will surprise you with their inventiveness.
Beautifully filmed as well
from both the ground and the air (one of them just happens to be a bada$$
paraglider as well…is there anything they can’t do?!). ;-)
“Naked Ambition”
87 Minutes, UK, 2012
Director: Joe Wihl
Producer: Oliver Gray
Rowing across the Atlantic.
Another two guys (why does it always seems to be the young guys?) charged with
testosterone attempt to beat the world rowing record for crossing the Atlantic
Ocean.
Like many great adventure
tales, you see these guys go from being a little cocky and sure they will be
the world record to many days later realixing they won’t but just looking
forward to making good time and having a great story to hoping they will just
survive the trip.
Rowing unsupported across any
great ocean is a fine line between keeping your boat light but having enough
food and supplies to sustain the trip. If you run into bad weather it can cost you
time and possibly, your life.
“K2: Siren Of The Himalayas”
75 Minutes, USA, 2013
Director: Dave Ohlson
Producers: Jason Reid, Andy
McDonough
Mom and I are gluttons for mountaineering movies...maybe it's b/c we love high altitude and pushing our bodies to the extreme but we also know that we're not masochistic enough to get into extreme mountaineering yet are drawn to it nonetheless.
We especially enjoyed this film on the world's most dangerous and mercurial mountain.
"K2" weaves together archival footage from The Duke of Abruzzi's expedition on K2 along with footage from a 2009 summit attempt by some of the most skilled mountaineers in the world while skillfully examining the difficult and humbling decisions that mountaineers must face in giving up summit bids in order to stay alive. This film showing was also a special treat as three of the guys behind the film were there in person to talk about the trials and tribulations of distilling a story down to its essence....after editing through100 hours of footage.
“MaidenTrip”
81 Minutes, USA, 2013
Directors: Jillian
Schlessinger, Emily McAllister
I love bigwater
expeditions…whether they’re on the world’s longest river or across one of the
Great Oceans. Maidentrip follows Dutch teenager Laura Dekker’s attempt to break
the world record for the youngest person (and woman!) to sail around the world
solo. She started the trip at 14 years old.
It’s no wonder that people
were up in arms. It’s scary to imagine a 14 year old driving a car let alone
womanning a sailboat alone. Yet she proves herself to be among history’s
strongest sailors…not only does she have the technical skills to do it but she
is at her best and calmest alone and facing the ocean’s worst. It’s when she’s
around people that you see her nerves start to fray.
Accompanied by a beautiful
musical score by Ben Sollee? And subtly done animation by The Moth Collective,
Maidentrip is an enjoyable and gentle ride. The one issue with following
someone like Dekker at sea is that a
solo trip around the world almost appears easy and effortless. Which I know it
isn’t. It might have been helpful to have other sailors talking about how scary
it can be at sea or how difficult some of the situations can be.
Yet Dekker seems to be having
her own sort of slumber party on the boat without much mention of how close you
can be to death when you’re alone at sea.
I still very much enjoyed the
film. Makes me want to go try it out.
Hopefully it won’t encourage
many 10 year olds to try it, too.
*Other Noteworthy Adventure Films to check
out….
“The Ridge” 81 Minutes from Spain
Favorite Environmental Films:
“Growing Cities”
90 Minutes, USA, 2012
Director: Dan Susman
Producers: Dan Susman, Dana
Altman, Andrew Monbouquette
Super fun road trip following
Susman and his buddies as they travel around the U.S. looking at how normal
folk are turning unused public lots in large cities into farmable land that
both provides job opportunities for urban dwellers while providing healthy,
organic fruits and veggies to locals while simultaneously connecting people
with the earth and improving the aesthetics of vacant lots. Really enjoyed this
one!
“Musicwood”
81 Minutes, USA, 2012
Director: Maxine Trump
Producer: Josh Granger
An elegantly rendered film on
a complex battle over the rights to use and/or protect one of the largest
unbroken stands of temperate rainforest in the world…situated in remote Alaska.
The leader of Greenpeace rallies the world’s top three guitar makers to travel
to Alaska to try to convince the indigenous leaders of a corporation to move
from clear-cutting to a more sustainable form of logging.
*OTHER NOTEWORTHY ENVIRONMENTAL FILMS TO CHECK
OUT:
"The Human Scale" 77 Minutes from Denmark
“Tiny: Story Of Living Small” 63 Minutes from
the USA
“Bidder 70” 73 Minutes from the USA
Favorite Cultural Films:
“The Only Son”
78 Minutes, The Netherlands,
Belgium, 2012
Director: Simonka de Jong
Producers: Carolign
Borgdorff, Suzanne Van Voorst
This is one of the best films
I have yet to see which illustrates that difficult clash between a family that
is transitioning from a subsistent agrarian culture to an urban and global one.
“Xmas Without China”
63 Minutes, USA, 2013
Director: Alicia Dwyer
Producers: Alicia Dwyer, Tom
Xia
This is a fantastic look at a
cultural juxtaposition….an American Family trying to celebrate a month of
Christmas without any products from China and the filmmaker’s (Tom Xia) Chinese-American Parents embracing
an American Christmas. A provocative and often humorous look at what it means
to be an American and Chinese-American, America’s dependence on Chinese
products, what Christmas means to us culturally, and how blurry line can be between cultural and national identities can be.
“I Learn America”
92 Minutes, Australia, 2013
Director & Producer:
Nicholas Covelli
A very endearing and heartfelt
film following the lives of several teenagers trying to navigate their way
through high school as immigrants from extremely disparate backgrounds (Latin
America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East). In addition to facing the
normal challenges of teenhood, they are faced with their own mix of additional personal and cultural challenges (ranging from extreme religious upbringings to gender identity and languages barriers).
“Vultures Of Tibet”
21 Minutes, USA/Canada, 2013
Director: Russell O. Bush
Producers: Elisabeth Oakham,
Annie Bush
Doing any film on Tibet
within the boundaries of China is a difficult and dangerous undertaking yet an
important one if at the very least to document how the Supernation is impacting
ancient Tibetan traditions within its borders.
Bush took three years to
carefully take undercover footage (with the blessing and help of Tibetan monks
and refugees) of a sacred ritual and how corrupt govt officials are selling
tickets to Chinese Tourists to watch it without Tibetans’ approval.
Bush delicately conveys the
ritual and its participants and outside voyeurs in a respectful and careful
manner. He also protected the identity of the featured monks by doing
voiceovers recorded by Tibetan Refugees in Daramsala, India.
“After Effects”
29 Minutes, USA/Haiti, 2013
Director & Producer:
Denise M. Stilley
Super heartwarming film by
Flagstaff local filmmaker Stilley which highlights the relief efforts in Haiti
by the non-profit Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corp (NAVMC). NAVMC makes
regular trips to help the men, women, and children of this Caribbean Nation in
the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake which impacted 3 million people (and was
estimated to have killed anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 people).
*OTHER NOTEWORTHY CULTURAL FILMS TO CHECK OUT:
“Blood Brother” 93 Minutes from the USA
“Tales From The Organ Trade” 82 Minutes from
Canada
“Narco Cultura” 102 Minutes from USA/Mexico
“Running Blind” 31 Minutes from the USA
Favorite Extreme Films:
“Petzl Roctrip China”
23 Minutes, France, 2012
Director: Vladimir Cellier
Producer: Petzl
I have seen A LOT of climbing
movies over the past ten years between films that have appeared at the Banff,
Telluride, and Flag Mtn. Film Fests. Trust me on this one.
I’m always looking for some
film which has a unique and refreshing approach to climbing and this one does
not disappoint. Focusing on a climbing event in rural China in a giant
limestone waterway arch, the film editor of “Petzl Roctrip China” is the unsung
hero here (they often are!). He or she has a mesmerizing, rhythmic approach to
stitching scenes and dialogue together to a fantastic soundtrack. It becomes a
dj-like symphony that you can’t help but bob your head to.
There’s a small story
here—which is true of many short climbing movies--but the lyrical ride is a
beautiful one and takes you into the heart of a very special place in China.
“Honnold 3.0”
32 Minutes, USA, 2012
Directors: Peter Mortimer,
Josh Lowell
Producers: Peter Mortimer,
Josh Lowell, Nick Rosen, Alex Lowther
Okay, if you’re not familiar
with the world climbing phenom Alex Honnold, then watch this film or any film
on him. He’s a tall, wholesome-looking, and unassuming young American guy who
just happens to be the boldest climber in the world. Among other feats, he
takes on a speed record for climbing the three greatest walls in Yosemite (each
of which can take up to a week to do for skilled climbers) in less than….24
hours!
It’s nerve racking to watch
Honnold free climb (no ropes, folks) for much of these three climbs. The only
thing missing from this is an interview with his mother sharing us how she must
cope knowing the risks her son is taking everytime he climbs.
He is ridiculously good and
it is ridiculously scary watching him take these chances. There is no margin
for error if he slips when he is unclipped.
Does he make it?
Watch for yourself.
