NZ Mountain Film Festival – on to Cromwell and Queenstown!

NZ Mountain Film Festival – on to Cromwell and Queenstown!

The 13th NZ Mountain Film Festival is a huge success. The festival has wrapped in Wanaka will continue in Cromwell and Queenstown through to Saturday the 11th of July.

Wanaka, the home of the NZ Mountain Festival, enjoyed record crowds once again. This year the films quality, depth and adventure content seems to exceed the audiences’ expectations. Mark Sedon the Festival Director is really pleased with this year’s event so far, “the turn out has been amazing and it has been satisfying to watch the audience’s reaction to these films. We knew Alex would be a hit and the new Book Festival seems to have been well received. We are now off to Queenstown and Cromwell for the next 4 days. There are still tickets available and we are looking forward to a big crowd”

For those who missed Alex Honnold speak in Wanaka, there is still the opportunity to see him on Thursday night 9th July in Queenstown. The audience reaction in Wanaka was electric and it is expected the Queenstown festival goers will enjoy seeing the talk also. Legendary Nathan Faavae will speak in Queenstown about his team’s recent bid for the world adventure racing title in Ecuador late in 2014. The 43 year old Captained the team through the 10-stage, 700km course in 111 hours. In preparation for the race and to acclimate to the elevation, the team tackled a 10 day training mission by climbing Cotopaxi, the second highest peak in Ecuador which towers over the Quito basin at 5911-metres. Nathan will speak about his preparation to get to the race, the controversy during the race and how to dig deep for peak performance. Nathan is the keynote speaker on Saturday 11th of July and tickets are still available online.

The Grand Prize winner in the 2015 NZ Mountain Film Festival went to Myanmar: Bridges to Change. This film left the Wanaka viewers in awe as it offers more than first expected as it tells a tale beyond the mountain climbing expedition first posed. Although the group of 7 climbers’, 5 Americans and 2 Burmese, principal goal was to ascend Gamlang Razi, they soon realize they are travelling through some of earths most untouched corners and connecting with some of humanity’s most remote and unaffected people. The team travel 300km on foot and stay with villagers along the way who have never seen westerners before. Myanmar, a nation just recently released from over 50 years of military rule, provides these adventurers an astoundingly unique glimpse at an untouched culture living in a hot, wet, creature-filled jungle environment. The award winning film offers an exceptional insight into this remarkable journey and can be watched in Queenstown on 9th July following Alex’s talk.

The Ski and Snowboard session in Queenstown will take the audience from Ruapehu to Greenland and from Alaska to Canada to ride the best snow in some of the more beautifully scenic places in the world. Canadian Director, Darcy Turenne’s film ‘The Little Things’ won a Special Jury Award. This beautifully presented piece of work is an environmental film featuring award-winning scientist David Suzuki alongside a cast of professional snowboarders who have adopted alternative lifestyles or have gone off the beaten path in order to promote sustainable living in their own unique ways. This film takes a different view of the sustainability of skiing and snowboarding. The rest of the snow session is full of powder pillows, steep, steep Alaskan terrain and some skiing and snowboarding footage to get the audience amped.

Queenstown festival goers can also attend a free Avalanche Awareness Course or participate in the Digital Photography workshop. The free Youth Programme is running at 1pm on Friday 10th of July and this will feature a taste of some of the festivals best films. The free Youth programme was well attended in Wanaka and is received well by parents looking for school holiday activities. Tickets are available for all Queenstown shows both online and from the Queenstown Memorial Hall from Thursday 9th July at 3pm.

ENDS

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