Kendal Mountain Film Festival



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Film Festival - Programme - Film List - Judges - History

A REPORT ON THE 2004 FESTIVAL

A "tribal gathering" for anyone interested in mountain sports, adventure, environment, nature, culture, film, literature, art and photography - and a good time!

Quotes from the Festival - both from American Yvon Chouinard.

"Well, it was the sixties, back in the days when climbing was dangerous and sex was safe."

"Isolated communities lack curiosity, and without education to feed their intelligence, they can behave very strangely .... like our President."

The Brewery Arts Centre

At 9pm on Saturday evening Kendal Film Festival was well underway and the atmosphere buzzing - there were 2500 people in the various venues - Yvon Chouinard was in the middle of his "historic tour de force" lecture on his life and times in front of a sell out crowd in the Kendal Leisure Centre. Dr Charlie Clarke had just finished speaking on his remarkable tales from Tibet and Alastair Lee was just about to start his show of beautiful images and crazy antics in the Brewery Arts Centre - meanwhile 4 cinemas showed an incredible range of films. Restaurants were packed, the bars were already filling and the DJ's were doing their sound checks for the late night party. Others relaxed in the art and photo galleries. At Rheged Dag Goering and Maria Coffey had virtually completed their marathon journey round Vancouver Island by Kayak.

Another year and another great Festival - if you were one of the 5500 who came to Kendal then I am sure you will agree it was one of the best. If you could not make it then you missed a fantastic show so make sure you put the 18^th - 20^th November 2005 in your diary right now.

FEATURE FILMS

The Festival started early this year with the Mountain Feature Film Season. This was screened every Sunday evening from September 19^th in the Brewery Cinema. This year it featured a selection of art-house and docu-drama feature length films, four of which were UK premieres.

Seven Years in Tibet.
Volgas
I Nostri Anni
The Ring of Buddha
Further Than the Eye Can See
Au Sud Des Nuages

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY

The other aspect of the Festival which started well before the main crowds arrived was the art and photographic exhibitions- Ithaca - which was open to the public in the galleries of the Brewery Arts Centre from October 20^th to November 21^st. Sponsored by Victorinox, Petzl lighting and Beal, this year provided an incredibly diverse selection of work.

Banners in the Sugar Store Gallery

John Dugger

John Dugger is a master banner maker and his work made a dramatic impact in the Sugar Store Gallery. Heinz Zak is regarded by many as the best rock climbing photographer of recent years but his display in the Warehouse Gallery of large prints of landscapes and nature showed a completely different side to his art.

Andy Parkin & Rowan Huntley

Heinz Zak

Rowan Huntley displayed a beautiful selection of landscapes chiefly of Norway and "resident" artist and sculptor Andy Parkin showed this years much admired and unique film trophies. Also displayed in the Brewery were Alastair Lee's 360 degree eye catching photographs and Jim Duff's portrayal of Himalayan porters at work. In a move to actively involve the town of Kendal resident Rob Fraser displayed his photographs in the Library.

This year we again held the popular web digital photo competition with two categories – action and landscape giving prizes to the first, second and third placed in both categories. The following 1st winners being voted as so by the public on our web site were- Rob Lisney for his action shot on Edgelane, Millstone - and Georgina Shelland for her landscape, Antelope Canyon -. The professional choice judged by John Beatty saw the action category won by Bill Stevenson and Rappel and the 1st landscape winner - “Clouds Clearing Masherbrum” by Andy Latham The winners were displayed in the Green Room of the Brewery and the winners received either a product prize or cash.

KENDAL MOUNTAIN BOOK FESTIVAL

Dermot Somers reading - Book Festival

This year we expanded the Festival and introduced a number of new features, in particular the Kendal Mountain Book Festival.

Book Festival director Julie Tait made a huge effort to put together a great program which featured six "meet the author" -style events where the joys risks and motivations of mountain sports were explored face-to-face with some of the leading writers of the genre. In particular it showcased the best of recently published books and focused on the finalists of the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature.

The Book Festival was launched on Saturday 13^th with a panel discussion on the changing role and status of mountain literature chaired by Eric Robson with panelists Steve Dean, Bernadette McDonald, Bernard Newman, Ken Wilson, and Maria Coffey.

On Wednesday 17^th November Jamie Andrew and Malcolm Slesser both read from their new books and discussed "Survivors Tales"

Thursday evening, the 18^th concentrated on the Cumbrian influence on mountain literature and featured works and contributions from Simon Yates, Bill Birkett, Chris Bonington, Harry Griffin, Roger Hubank, Julian Atterton and many more.

Book Fair - Town Hall

Friday looked at the contribution of women's mountain writing. With author, researcher and historian Audrey Salkeld speaking in the morning. After lunch, author and kayak adventurer, Maria Coffey took stage with her most recent publication "Where the mountain casts its shadow". Then in the evening "Women Mountain Words" gave voice to the group of talented writers giving the female experience of the mountains.

Dermot Somers gave spellbinding readings from his "Collected Short Stories" in the Town Hall on Saturday lunch time and on Sunday afternoon Richard Askwith, Associate Editor of the Independent and fell runner entertained with readings from his book "Feet in the Clouds: A Tale of Fell- running and Obsession"

There was a great atmosphere and several events sold out with a total attendance of five hundred.

Special thanks must go to the sponsors - Jennings Cumberland Ale, Ottakar's who acted as Festival Bookseller, K Village Outlet Centre, Pete Bland Sports and the New Moon Restaurant in Kendal. Thanks also to the Kendal College for all their help.

Ex Film School at BBC Manchester
THE EXTREME FILM SCHOOL

Have you ever wanted to make a film?

Following last year's successful Film School, the Festival in association with LowePro , Manfrotto, BBC, North West Vision, ESF, University of Teesside & One North East invited applications from aspiring filmmakers and those already working within the industry. Aimed at individuals or small teams, this is an ambitious plan to stimulate, lay the foundations and develop adventure filmmaking. The 15 successful applicants receive training over two weekends in October in camera operations, editing and film production. They then make 5 short films in the subject area of Adventure Sports using equipment loaned from the BBC. This year produced :-

"Polaris Challenge" by Tim Sayers & Barry Roberts

"No Cycling" by Peter Gomer, Robert Hewson & Alun Williams

"Dreams" by Hugo Glover & Farah Iqbal

"Biere pour tout le monde" by Adrian Berry & Louise Alexander

"Prohibited" by Dominic Gill & Mike Silver

Graham Hoyland (BBC director & Producer), Richard Else (Independent Film Maker), Keith Partridge (adventure cameraman) and Brian Hall (Film Safety Consultant) with the staff of the WFA media and culture centre, Manchester trained the applicants.

The films were screened and judged at the festival and "Prohibited" was chosen as winner. Enquiries for 2005 applications should e mail info@mountainfilm.co.uk and address them to Extreme Film School.

Making an adventure film day

Andy Parkin & Mark Batey

Learning to edit film

Also part of the "Film School" are two full day workshops during the Festival.

On Thursday over 50 attended the "How to make an Adventure Film" which was aimed at climbers and adventurers who own a video camera and want to operate it better and then be able to effectively edit the footage to make a successful record of their exploits. Mark Batey (BBC news cameraman) first explained basics of camera and sound work then filmed Andy Parkin sculpt an example of the film festival trophies.. During the afternoon he explained the techniques of editing and by the close had produced a one minute film burnt DVD and ready to show.

On Friday was the Extreme Film School Pro Day - This full day workshop was aimed at aspiring filmmakers and those already making films. The day featured the showing, judging and analysis of the 5 films made for the "School" Then a diverse programme including:

The making and production of films by Swiss filmmaker and Mountain Film Alliance Award Winner Fulvio Mariani. Technical sessions were presented by Visual Impact (suppliers of broadcast and professional video equipment) on radio microphones, the new Sony's HDV camera, and desktop editing systems.

Andy Curtis ( Head of Operations, Simula, University of Bradford) gave a fascinating glimpse into the future of media with" Blue Sky Media"

Keith Partridge described his life as an Adventure Cameraman.

Visual Impact, Manfrotto and Lowepro representatives were on hand with equipment and literature - ready to answer questions on their products.

Full bars & cafes in the Brewery

FILMS

This year's selection of films was the best yet. Over 200 films were entered into the competition and our pre selection committee had a hard job selecting just over 50 finalists, which were screened at the Festival.

We increased the length of the Festival this year, showing a full programme of films all day Friday. Even with this extra screening time, such was the interest in the films programme that the film pass tickets for Saturday sold out!

A list of the films shown was published in the programme and can be found on the Festival website. The films varied from 2 minute shorts to 2 hour feature films from a wide variety of countries.

Many films are now entered in dvd format which is causing quality problems during projection. DVD's are excellent quality but not as reliable as the older professional format beta sp or digi beta video tape. DVD was not intended as a professional projection format but it has been adopted as such. Unpredictably dvd's can fail which led to a number of problems during screening. This problem is worldwide and for example Banff (the world largest Mountain Festival) had similar problems this year.

The five judges provided a wide range of experience.

Maria Coffey - based on Vancouver Island, is an internationally published author of 11 books and is a passionate sea kayaker.

Fulvio Mariani - is a Swiss film director and producer of numerous adventure films and won the prestigious 2004 International Alliance for Mountain Film Award for his lifetime contribution to mountain film.

Dermot Somers - Irish climber, writer and broadcaster.

Simon Wells - climber and adventure filmmaker for over 20 years.

Justine Wright - New Zealand film editor based in the UK. Credits include Academy Award winner "One Day in September" and BAFTA winner "Touching the Void".

Fulvio Mariani	Maria Coffey
Dermot Somers	Justine Wright

Thanks must also go to Coordinator of Judging, John Innerdale

They chose a great selection of films. Many deserving films unfortunately did not win any prizes but were enjoyed by the audience. Everyone who watched the films had their own favourites but the judges selection is listed below.

The Prize Ceremony on Sunday afternoon is always a widely anticipated event introduced by Festival Patron Sir Chris Bonington and presented by Julie Summers. Film clips, judges' analysis and filmmaker's speeches - made it a serious but good fun ceremony. Winners were awarded a valuable Andy Parkin sculpture plus a cash prize where indicated.

Please see the judges special report

Grand Prize - Andy Parkin sculpture

Grand Prize (presented by Berghaus) - "Your Himalaya" - directed by Alberto I urrategi, produced by Anaiak I urrategi & Aretxabaleta Award plus £500

Mountaineering (presented by Climber Magazine) - "Sur les Fil de 4000" - directed by Gilles Chappaz and produced by Migoo Production/ Ville de Grenoble / Association Grande Cordee. Award plus £250

Climbing (presented by Scarpa) - "Psicobloc" - directed and produced by Josh Lowell. Award plus £250

Mountain Adventure (presented by Rural Regeneration Cumbria) - "Alone Across Australia" - directed by Jon Muir and Ian Darling. Award plus £250

Also mentioned for praise “Caught between a Rock and a Hard Place” directed Curgenven, Guilford & Snell, produced by Snell & Dyson

Mountain Culture (presented by First Ascent) - "Charles, Edouard ou le Temps" directed and produced by Bernard Boyer. Award plus £250

Mountain Environment (presented by First Ascent) - "Das Rad" directed by Steiner, Wittlinger & Uibel, produced by Gruber. Award plus £250

Video Short - (presented by NW Vision) - "Highliner" - produced and directed by Heinz Zak .Award plus £250

Also selected for praise - "Dolomites Trance" - directed and produced by Ride the Planets
“The Fly Up” directed by Marat Sarulu and produced by Film Kino

People's Choice (presented by Bridgedale) - "Twice Upon a Time in Bolivia" - directed & produced by Alastair Lee & Dave Halsted. Award plus £250

Extreme Film School (presented by Lowepro/Manfrotto) - "Prohibited" - by Dominic Gill & Mike Silver . Award

Judges' Special Prize (presented by KMFF) - "Au Sud Des Nuages" - directed by Jean-Francoise Amiguet and produced by Bernard Lang. Award

Judges special mention -

"The Falcon that Flew with Man" - produced and directed by Leo Dickinson

“Le Cheval 2.1” Directed and Produced by Alex Kirkland

Zak - Short Film Prize winner

Presenting the Grand Prize

SPECIAL EVENINGS

Rob Collister

There were two special evening programmes. Wednesday 17^th "Mountain Bike & White Water" and Thursday 18^th "Ski and Board". Both evening were very popular and contained a real mix of films from loud and brash to serene and exploratory.

As a contrast to some of the frenetic kayak & bike films Dag Goering and Maria Coffey gave a beautiful photographic presentation “Sacred Water: By Kayak down India’s River Ganges” A story of paddling1500km from the Himalaya, to the holy city of Varanasi, battling through a maze of water channels , searing winds, quicksand, floating corpses and bandit attacks.

On Thursday mountain guide Rob Collister punctuated the steep and deep skiing films with a lecture on ski mountaineering - "Skiing the Back of Beyond" in which he took the audience on an amazing journey to remote areas - Mt Waddington, Alaska, India and Lebanon.

Opening the Art Gallery

LECTURES

The Friday evening of the Festival started with the usual frenetic activity. In the Brewery Arts Centre four venues showing films whilst in the Warehouse Gallery the art and photography exhibitions were officially opened by the Mayoress of Kendal and Sir Chris Bonington. Adding to a great evening program were the DMM Fast & Committed lecture series in the Brewery Theatre and Kurt Diemberger appeared at the Kendal Leisure Centre with "Summits & Secrets".

Nick Bullock

Al Powell

The Friday night DMM lecture series has become an eagerly anticipated regular feature of each Kendal Festival. This years theme moved to the greater ranges with "Fast & Committed" It celebrated big mountain / small team climbing - with lectures, films insights and tales of the previously unknown. It included an all star cast.

John Porter - who turned the clock back to the 70s & 80s - MacIntyre, Rouse, Scott et al

Nick Bullock on Jirishanca SE Face in the Cordillera Huayhuash of Peru

Al Powell - Big remote faces in Greenland.

Jon Bracey Mt Kennedy NW Face in the Yukon's remote St Elias.

Also on Friday evening but at the Kendal Leisure Centre we welcomed back Kurt Diemberger with his "Summits & Secrets" - lecture & films on his illustrious mountaineering career including first ascents of two 8000 m peaks (Broad Peak and Dhaulagiri), filming on Everest and Nanga Parbat and tragedy on both Chogolisa and K2.

On Saturday the Mount Everest Foundation and British Mountaineering Council presented the "Cutting Edge of British Mountaineering" a series of lectures on recent expeditions which have received their support - a whirlwind tour of the mountains of the world,

Stephen Reid (Dansketinde - Stauning Alps of East Greenland), Jon Bracey (Mt Kennedy in the Canadian Yukon), Ben Bransby (Patagonia blitz!), Andy Sharpe & Sam Chinnery (Mt Dickey from the Ruth Glacier, Alaska), Graham Little & Jim Lowther (Suj Tilla West in Indian Eastern Himalaya) and Comm. Satya Dam from India (Padmanabh & Teram areas of E. Karakoram). Special thanks must go to Lindsay Griffin and Bill Ruthven for organizing this event.

The BMC & MEF team

In the afternoon at the Kendal Leisure Centre, Austrian climber and photographer, Heinz Zak, presented the most visually spectacular show of the Festival with a double presentation of "100 years of Free Climbing" followed by an audio visual presentation of "Symphony of the Mountains!" The lecture was kindly supported by Petz - lighting.

David Hamilton

This was followed by the David Hamilton lecture - "Fulfill your dreams" - presented by Jagged Globe. David is a high altitude climbing expert and has been a key to enabling scores of climbers to fulfill their dreams of climbing in the Greater Ranges.

In the evening we were honored to welcome Dr Charles Houston, who is 91years old and from America. His presentation incorporated film and comment based around a showing of his new film "The Brotherhood of the Rope". Charlie is a legend of mountaineering with expeditions which include the first ascent of Nanda Devi and leader of two K2 expeditions in 1938 and 1953. The presentation was cut short when the film stopped (due to technical problems) 10 minutes from the end but Charlie stepped forward and his spell binding description of events was more enthralling than the film itself!

The highlight of the Festival for many people was Yvon Chouinard's - "50 Years in the Wild". A full capacity audience watched rock climber, alpinist, innovative ice climber, vagabond surfer and kayaker, addicted fisherman and founder & CEO of Patagonia give a two and a half hour tour de force lecture on his life. Yvon's lecture was sponsored by Outside.

Yvon Couinard & Leo Dickinson

Over in the Brewery Arts Centre two Saturday evening lectures were given. Firstly Dr Charles Clarke who looked at three vignettes of the expedition experience. Charlie put his doctors “hat on” to look at high altitude physiology and Tibetan medicine and his mountaineering boots to take us to the remote mountains of Tibet.

Charlie looked at three vignettes of the expedition experience. He put his doctors "hat on" to look at high altitude physiology and Tibetan medicine and his mountaineering boots to take us to the remote mountains of Tibet.

Next followed Offbeat photographer and climber Alastair Lee who welcomed us to the fringe session of the festival presenting a one-hour comic skit spectacular with jaw dropping photography

Dr Charles Clarke

The Saturday night lasted well into the small hours with a packed Malt Room Bar drinking and dancing to DJ's Stuart Miller and Simon Abrahams on the decks.

Steve Goodwin & Yvon Chouinard

Fresh from the festivities of Saturday night the audience had a more than full program on Sunday 21^st November. John Dugger had an impressive display of his mountain Banners in the Sugar Store Gallery and in the morning he gave a fascinating lecture on the history and techniques of banner making. This was followed by a discussion on the Environmental and Corporate Responsibility with Yvon Chouinard and journalist Steve Goodwin. This fascinating debate looked at the ways companies and individuals have to take responsibility for their own actions, rather than hope that governments will act. Topics ranged from global politics to the actions of individuals. After the discussion the Kendal Film Festival announced that it will be the first UK organization to join the "1% for the Planet" An organization set up by Chouinard to benefit environmental causes.

Jeff Lowe

On Sunday afternoon Jeff Lowe, showed new and unseen film to show his world of ice and mixed climbing. Regarded as the "super hero" of ice in North America his influence has been felt throughout the world.

The final lecture of the Festival was the Celebration of 50 years of K2 presented by First Ascent. Jim Curran, Alan Hinkes and Dr Charlie Houston traced the history of the Savage Mountain. Jim has a fascination with K2 and has written two books on the mountain and looked at it's history. Charlie remembers the American '38 & '53 expeditions, which he co-led, culminating in the heroic attempt to rescue Art Gilkey. Alan is one of the few British climbers to have succeeded on K2 and is well qualified to describe the mountains difficulties.

Crowds outside the Kendal Leisure Centre

RHEGED EVENTS

The excellent theatre with large screen and the National Mountaineering Exhibition make the Rheged Centre a very popular venue. It is located half an hours drive north of Kendal, near Penrith.

The Festival holds a number of events, lectures and film evenings throughout the period of the Festival and this year the programme was larger and better attended than ever.

On 13^th November Alan Hinkes lectured on "Dhaulagiri - unlucky for some" - his quest to climb all fourteen 8000 m peaks in the world, Dhaulagiri was his 13th. Followed on Sunday with a retrospective film night showing the best films of the 2003 Festival.

On 18^th November Jeff Lowe, American ice climbing hero lectured on his climbing life "Many climbs , many lessons" . Then on Friday night, 19th November as part of the Festival's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of K2, Rheged welcomed Alan Hinkes and Dr Charles Houston. Alan's ascent in '95 is one of the few British successes on what he regards as the most difficult and dangerous of the 8000 m peaks. US legend, Charlie was leader of both the '38 and '53 K2 expeditions.

On Saturday evening 20th November, Canadian based couple Dag Goering & Maria Coffey gave a breathtaking account of an audacious bid to circumnavigate Vancouver Island on Canada's West Coast in a double kayak. The Festival program concluded at Rheged on Sunday night 21st November by showing a selection of the 2004 prize winning films.

SPONSORS and HELPERS

We would like to thank all of our sponsors, particularly Berghaus for 4 years as a Presenting Sponsor and for providing great help with the Festival promotion. Also thanks to our new Joint Presenting Sponsor - Rural Regeneration Cumbria - and in turn, the North West Development Agency.

The next set of thank you’s go to our Major sponsors – they provide a huge boost, and bring new concepts and innovations to the way we do things – Climber Magazine, First Ascent, Scarpa, Outside, North West Vision, Petzl lighting and Beal. A big thanks must go to Picture Works who provided all the technical equipment at a special sponsored rate. Together with the Presenting sponsors all these companies have made this Festival happen.

Support Sponsors make a difference as well, often with their own ideas in specific areas of the program. Like our Friday night lectures organized by DMM or the Extreme Film School with Lowepro, Manfrotto, BBC, Visual Impact, North West Vision, University of Teeside, Europe Social Fund, One North East.

Jagged Globe, Jim Lowther, Victorinox and Bridgedale have all helped facilitate lectures art and photography.

The MEF & BMC put together a great programme of new extreme climbs each year, while the Alpine Club have helped with travel costs for lecturers. The Book Festival had its own group of sponsors, local brewery Jennings the Major Sponsor plus Ottaker's, K Village Outlet Centre, Pete Bland Sports, New Moon Restaurant and Absolute Digital Printing.

We would also like to thank our local sponsors, the Kendal Town Council (and especially the Mayoress, Marilyn Maloy, for her great support) , South Lakeland District Council, Cumbria County Council, The brewery Arts Centre, Kendal Leisure Centre, Rheged, and Chocolate House 1657, Lava House Associates, Arc Creative Consultants.

Finally the biggest thanks to all the team of people who worked on the Festival and there are over 150, most on a voluntary basis. You know who you are and the Festival could not run without you.

CHARITIES

One % for the planet

This year the Festival has decided to join "1% for the planet" inspired and created by Yvon Chouinard

Mission Statement

"1% For The Planet is an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging their resources to create a healthier planet. Members recognize their responsibility to and dependence on a healthy environment and donate at least 1% of their annual net revenues to environmental organizations worldwide. The alliance aims to prove that taking environmental responsibility is good for business."

The KMFF is the first UK company to join this group and we hope to spread the word and persuade other companies and our audience to help. More details will be announced. Please look at www.onepercentfortheplanet.org

Additionally the Festival officially supports two charities. One national and the other international. These are the John Muir Trust and CAN (Community Action Nepal).

We will help publicize their cause by links on our websites, lectures and information stands at the Festival. We also hope that you will make a donation when purchasing tickets. The money being donated will be split equally between the two charities.