NZ Mountain Film Festival Grant Applications Open; National Tour Underway

Lake Wānaka, New Zealand (1 August 2024) – Applications are open for the NZ Mountain Film Festival Grant Scheme and Festival Director Mark Sedon is encouraging anyone seeking funding for youth filmmaking or adventure skills courses, the purchase of adaptive sports equipment, or environmental projects to get in touch.

Grant applications are open until 31 August and Sedon estimates that the NZ Mountain Film Festival Charitable Trust will have close to $6000 to giveaway in grants this year. Funds were raised through a silent auction during the festival in Wānaka and Queenstown in June, and more will be added from the proceeds of a national film tour which gets underway today.

The NZ Mountain Film Festival National Tour will be taking a selection of award-winning films to film and adventure enthusiasts throughout New Zealand. There are 30 venues included in the tour so far, from Alexandra to Waiheke Island and everywhere in between, with more venues to be confirmed in the coming weeks. Check the tour schedule here

Included in the tour programme is the newly announced winner of the People’s Choice Award, Inshallah, by New Zealand directors Georgia Merton and Isobel Ewing. Festival fans were asked to cast votes for the People’s Choice Award and Inshallah, which documents Merton and Ewing’s bike tour through the mountains of Pakistan, earned the number one spot. The film had also previously been awarded the prize for Best Self-Filmed Film.

Merton and Ewing say they are “delighted and taken aback” by their latest award. Merton continues: “The film is really a tribute to the people of Pakistan and the power of adventure, so it's wonderful to know that it touched people.”

Sedon says he and his fellow trustees are delighted to be giving more people the chance to watch some incredible films while also raising funds for causes close to his heart including:

Funding youth (under 18) in adventure filmmaking courses and/or adventure skills training;

Financially supporting local environmental projects like river cleanups, native tree re-planting and other similar projects; and

Assisting with funding people with disabilities to buy specialist sporting equipment and/or experience the outdoors.

Festival fans are also advised to save the dates for the 2025 edition of this popular community event which will take place in Wānaka and Queenstown from 20 – 27 June.

About

The NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival is a member of the International Alliance of Mountain Film, hosting speakers, a world-class line-up of films, and a broad range of literary events. It is a celebration of adventurous sports and lifestyles.

The festival holds an international adventure filmmaking competition that receives submissions from filmmakers from all over the world. The finalists make up the festival programme, screened both off- and on-line. The standard is exceptionally high and the event sits on the world stage alongside other well-known events.

The Mountain Book competition also champions the theme of ‘adventurous sports and lifestyles’. Written work is submitted in a range of categories to win prize money and compete for the NZ Mountain Book of the Year. The Mountain Book event also features author readings, old-fashioned storytelling, writing workshops and children’s events.

The festival is run by the NZ Mountain Film Festival Charitable Trust and is a registered charity (#CC49344). The trust aims to promote, through its annual mountain film and book festival, healthy and active lifestyles, encourage youth to make small safe adventures in the outdoors, to inspire people to reach their full potential, to work cooperatively with others in the youth development area, to help people with disabilities get into outdoor activities and to promote NZ arts, film, culture, environment and outdoor lifestyles.

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