NZ Mountain Film Festival 2015 – The Festival Begins

NZ Mountain Film Festival 2015 – The Festival Begins

This Friday the NZ Mountain Film Festival will open it’s doors. The festival has sold an unprecedented amount of tickets to filmgoers from outside of the region, yet there are still tickets available to see speakers, workshops and film sessions. Festival Director Mark Sedon is pleased with the blend of festival enthusiasts, “we have a core audience of long time festival fans both local and from throughout New Zealand, we are really pleased to see a mix of returners and good influx of new people from outside of the area. The event has become an annual reunion and a pilgrimage for adventure filmmakers and adventurers and we have new people joining the mix every year.” The growth and breadth of the festival audience can be attributed to the deliberately varied content; the film topics cater to the adventurous, as well as the armchair enthusiasts.

Although many of the films in this years’ festival are faced paced, adrenalinepumping accounts of extreme adventure, the Environmental and Cultural film sessions take a closer look at the people and places where the action take place. Kiwi Directors and filmmakers have made a record 5 of the 9 films featuring in the Nature and Environment session on Sunday 5th July. The award for the Best Environmental film goes to New Zealand filmmaker Braydon Maloney for his film ‘Pest Free?’. This wildlife documentary covers of the Department of Conservations’ activity in Fiordland to eradicate pests and save New Zealand’s native vegetation. Both Wanaka and Queenstown will host Saturday morning sessions on Mountain Culture and tickets are still available for these shows.

Dr Samuel Mann will be speaking at the festival about everyday environmentalism. Sam is an Associate Professor of Information Technology at Otago Polytechnic. He is working in computing to develop strategies, practices and resources to contribute positively to a sustainable future. He loves computing and sustainability, according to Sam he is “saving the earth, one byte at a time”. Dr Mann will speak on Sunday at 6pm in Wanaka.

A highly recommended watch and recipient of the Best Film on Climbing is USA Directors Nick Rosen and Peter Mortimer’s documentary styled ‘Valley Uprising’. This is arguably the greatest untold story of American counterculture, that of the Yosemite Valley rock climbers. For 50 years, Yosemite’s cliffs have drawn explorers to leave materialism behind and venture onto the high, lonesome granite of the iconic National Park. This film is part of the Adventure Films session, tickets are available online.

In the spirit of the festival the Dyno competition offers climbers the chance to break the world record distance of 1.9 meters for women and 2.6 meters for men. A ‘Dyno’ is a rock climbing term for a dynamic move, from one hold to the other. The competition will draw a crowd and is an exciting and fun active event within the festival. The competition is held at Base Camp Climbing Centre in Wanaka on Saturday 4th of July.

The festival welcomes the local and travelling audience as well as the speakers, filmmakers, Directors, film subjects in the Festival Opening this Friday 3rd July. Tickets can still be purchased online or at the festival venue from Friday at 5:00pm.

ENDS

© Scoop Media