Blue Programme

Launching their world premiere showcase ahead of an extensive tour, taking the collection of films to over forty countries, it’s an exciting time once again for Edinburgh audiences as the 15th edition of the UK and Ireland Banff Mountain Film Festival has its double-bill showcase of cinematic programming at the Festival Theatre, giving us another reminder of the venues exceptional capabilities as a film space.

A shared space where expert adventurers meet alongside armchair explorers in a celebration of everything which makes our planet magnificent and everything which champions the extraordinary feats of humanity. A snow-capped adventure is in store for those daring enough to undertake the Blue Programme this afternoon – with a series of short films from around the world, which inadvertently take our focus to the highest peaks and deepest depths where the cold wins out and the tests of human endurance. 

The festival maintains its presence in highlighting the ongoing climate crisis’ impact on the world, though the only film which pushes itself into an open territory of opinion and forms its cinematic narrative around the climate crisis, GoingGreenland offers a frank documentary experience on the combination of ski expedition with renewable transport. Created by Ericj Roepke, Jessica Baker, and Rachal Burks, Going Greenland combines point-of-view action adventure with sweeping shots of the utterly perfect landscape of the country and the impact our continued blind-sighted nature is having. A crisp documentary, which benefits from the honesty of those involved, there’s a similar construction with Reel Rock: Cenote, a brief piece from Zachary Barr about a young papaya farmer, Adolfo Trujillo, and his growing love for climbing in and around the freshwater sinkholes of Mexico. Less directly concerning climate change, the value of preservation and community are at the forefront of this brief opening film, which utilises colour and lighting to great effect and impact. 

It’s a sharp contrast to the following film, Eternal Flame, which revisits an award-winning short from the festival thirty years ago; showcasing the undertaking of an intensive base jump which floods the audience with gasps, cheers, and a few breathless moments. High-octane filmmaking from Nicolas Bossard, Eternal Flame also shows the stark difference between filming techniques, the evolution of the point-of-view feed, and how closely we can emulate the speed and ferocity of these stunts without strapping on the wingsuit ourselves.

Winner of the festival’s Best Adventure prize (with little question as to why), audiences are reminded to breathe deep and avert their eyes if they’re a touch claustrophobic for Francois Xavier De Ruydt’s Subterranean, which plunges viewers from the mountain tops and under the Earth’s surface. 

Fittingly, as the longest film of the Blue Programme, De Ruydts’ film seamlessly combines two ventures to break records and make vital discoveries: one team attempts to locate Canada’s deepest cave – while a group of cavers looks to connect three separate caves into the worlds’ longest. The framing is, expectantly, often claustrophobic and labouring, a testament to both De Ruydt’s commitment and the film’s editing to capture a sense of constriction that audiences will (hopefully) never find themselves. But it isn’t all tight corners and mud-packed dead-ends, as Subterranean conjures this, frankly, otherworldly nature – the combination of shots build upon one another to construct a world we know exists but looks nothing like we may have thought. Additional narration from adventurer/writer Bruce Kirkby unpacks much of the film’s more technical elements with ease, which makes for an accessible and engaging film, one richly deserving of its award. 

Bookending the programme, Mustafa Ceylon and No Way! infuse a sharper sense of playfulness than the other films – though no less impressive, either in technique or feats. A more story-driven film from Jules Guarneri and Benoit Gonceruti, Mustafa Ceylon follows the underdog tale of a young Turkish immigrant, Mustafa, who strays from an intended path to focus on an explosive passion for skiing – no matter what people say along the way. Blossoming with natural charisma, comedic moments, and more than a few stumbles on the grind rails it’s a charming way to open the film and encourage the ideology that the first step for any sport, activity, and undertaking Is to accept that with the falls, comes the drive to get back up and try, try, try again. 

While Jean Baptiste Chandelier’s No Way! Closes out the Blue Programme in the most intoxicatingly adventurous manner and in four minutes captures everything thrilling and adrenaline-inducing about the festival. It’s also one of the more sleekly produced films, combining a wide array of aerial photography, and seamless cuts to offer a constant sense of emotion, utilised for both greatly comedic, and gasp-worthy stunts. 

A unique afternoon of collective minds, the Banff Mountain Film Festival offers audiences the opportunity to experience sites they may never see – and brings a selection of worldly-quality short films to audiences from all over the world at an accessible level. Whether audiences catch one or both programmes, they will all leave with a refreshed sense of appreciation for the world – and the complexities involved with filmmaking – a magnificent start to the year. We’re already calming our pulses over the next instalment. 

The festival can still be caught when it tours to many other Scottish locations: Stirling, Inverness, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Pitlochry. And don’t forget that after scaling the highest peaks as part of the Mountain festival, audiences can return to the Festival Theatre in October with some scuba gear to catch The World Ocean Festival. 

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