NZ Mountain Film Festival Programme Launch

NZ Mountain Film Festival Programme Launch

This year the NZ Mountain Film Festival film line-up is of an exceptional standard. The global content, the magnitude of the adventures undertaken and world-class cinematography make for an impressive programme. Festival Director Mark Sedon says, “the equipment available for film makers today has significantly improved shot accessibility and changed the quality and scale of production for the everyday Director. Drones, GoPro’s and adventure-proof gear mean the quality of the films year-on-year is next level.” The audience can expect up-close adventure, emotive and insightful cultural content and the usual fast-paced, action packed adrenaline entertainment.

The winner of the Grand Prize Award for 2016 is a film called Locked In - First Descent of the Beriman Gorge. Directors Bryan Smith and David Pearson follow four kayakers deep into the jungle of Papua New Guinea to be the first to ever paddle the beautiful, but treacherous Beriman Gorge. Danger is high and the expedition tackles one of the most committed and dangerous stretches of white water on the planet. Judges felt the audience would experience the remoteness of the location and the authentic danger of the mission through the quality of the cinematography and the outstanding style of editing. The commitment to this level of adventure is confounding, Director David Pearson agrees.

“What surprised the guys the most was the complexity and scope of the challenge. From the scout flight they knew they would have to portage a few unrunnable sections of the river. What they didn’t realize was how difficult that would actually be. During the first portage the guys had to haul their loaded boats up a steep vegetated wall before they could traverse the rim of the canyon. One day quickly became 5 or 6 days and the guys were totally beaten down. On a few of those days the terrain was so tough that they made less than 300m progress! The amount of time they spent trying to battle through these portages definitely led to the deterioration of their feet. It wasn’t a pretty sight by the end.

The filmmakers were awarded $1,000 USD in prize money, which they have generously donated back to the festival Charity. The funds will be used to transport school children to Wanaka from outer lying areas of the district to enjoy the free Youth session.

The Best New Zealand Film and recipient of the Hiddleston/MacQueen Award was well contested. Of the 155 films received from all over the world 22 were from Kiwi filmmakers and a film named Paddle for the North was a stand out favourite amongst the judging panel. Director Simon Lucas follows two Frenchmen, a pair of Canadians, a Kiwi duo and a couple of dogs on an epic adventure canoeing in a remote web of rivers in North America. The expedition has all the ingredients of boyhood adventure: exploration, a journey, blokes in boats and danger. For the filmmakers and paddlers, and in turn the audience, the trip delivers so much more.

Over 1500km, through six rivers, the mission reveals the vulnerability of the area to mining and the impact development would have to the subsistence of indigenous families who have lived on the rivers for generations. The physical challenges force the lads to dig deep for mental and physical strength and they are rewarded with hard earned camaraderie and once-in-a-lifetime scenic moments. Paddle for the North Director Simon Lucas’s debut film, the rookie explains, “we definitely made the film the hard way; we were all new to film making so we had some steep learning curves.”

If you asked all of us the reason we went on the trip it was for the adventure. To be able to explore some incredibly raw and remote wilderness with your mates is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The film making side was always there, but it didn’t really become a priority until we were on the trip. The wilderness and the people we met along were incredibly powerful and I came away with a new perspective on nature, and humans role within it. It really bonded me to conservation/activism and trying to inspire people to reconnect with nature. I knew we had a good story so I was pretty determined to get people to see it. This world is about balance, we are not against development or mining, we just think some places should be left completely alone. The Peel Watershed is a pretty perfect place to start.

There are four World Premiers being released at this years event, each of which come from Kiwi filmmakers. Sedon says, “Each year we are pleased to receive more work, of increasingly high caliber, from Kiwi filmmakers. The process seems perpetual, where adventure films seem to inspire more adventure films. This means the each year the festival audience gets taken further, higher and deeper into these adventure tales, this years line up in no exception.”

The NZ Mountain Film Festival will run from the 1st to the 9th of July in Wanaka, Cromwell and Queenstown. Tickets are on sale June 1st online at mountainfilm.net.nz and you can grab a programme at Paper Plus in Wanaka from next week.

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