The nucleus of mountain storytelling at 50.
This year’s 50th anniversary Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival (November 1-9), held by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta, will welcome adventurers, filmmakers, authors and photographers from around the world for a massive lineup of 87 films (including world and North American premieres).
Also not to be missed is the Fire and Ice Symposium—exploring the role of storytelling through the lens of the world’s changing ice and wildfires—the Festival Marketplace, free talks on the Rab Stage, happy hours with live music, downtown events, exhibitions and more.
Plus: the daytime book-related events—featuring authors, photographers and explorers from around the world—will include Hamish Frost, Guy Robertson, Sonnie Trotter, Joanna Croston, Hazel Findlay, Lynn Hill, Lydia Bradey, Sarah Hueniken, Brette Harrington, Sharon Wood, Tom Bell, Jean McNeil, Jeremy Collins, Cassidy Randall, Greg Hill and Craig Childs.
Check the Festival schedule here. Tickets and passes can be purchased at banffmountainfestival.ca or Banff Centre Box Office. Online films will be available following the Festival from November 12-23 (CAN/USA only).
Banff Mountain Film Competition
The Banff Mountain Film Competition submissions include the world’s top adventure, environmental and adrenaline-sports films; this year’s jury received a record-breaking 570 films from 45 countries, with 87 films from 14 countries selected as finalists.
This year’s international jury includes Ava Karvonen (Canada), a 35-year industry veteran and second-generation filmmaker; Ben Sturgulewski (USA), an acclaimed director, cinematographer, editor, writer and the 2024 Grand Prize winner for Champions of the Golden Valley; Dina Mufti (UK), a director, producer, film curator, and recipient of the BBC Director General’s Award for Creativity; Sébastien Montaz-Rosset (France), an award-winning filmmaker, co-founder of the production company Montaz-Rosset Studio and certified high-mountain guide; and Subina Shrestha (UK/Nepal), an investigative journalist and cinematic documentary filmmaker.
View the full list of 2025 Banff Mountain Film Competition finalists here.
The category award winners and the Grand Prize winner will be announced during the festival on Sunday, November 9. The Festival will award $30,000 in cash across 10 categories, plus a Grand Prize of $5,000.
Among the not-to-be-missed films:
Robson (world premiere)
(Canada, 2025, 40 minutes)
Director: Philip Forsey
Two of the world’s most accomplished ski mountaineers, Christina Lustenberger and Guillaume Pierrel, have carved their names into history with bold first descents across the globe. Now, turning their sights on Mount Robson, the highest and most formidable peak in the Canadian Rockies, they retrace the steps of pioneering alpinists who came before them, pushing the line between past and present. Battling towering walls of ice, snow and rock, unpredictable weather and the weight of a dream that has challenged generations, their journey becomes as much about resilience and legacy as it is about the pursuit of a descent few have ever dared to imagine.
Screenings:
Sat, Nov 1, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre
Sun, Nov 2, 7:30 PM @ artsPlace Canmore
(USA, 2024, 39 minutes)
Directors: Jeff Orlowski-Yang, Sarah Keo
Over the course of the 15-year Extreme Ice Survey project, photographer James Balog and his team brought some of the world’s first and most compelling visual evidence of climate change to the global stage as he depicted the rapid melting of glaciers around the world. Chasing Time is a meditative exploration of time and mortality, following James and his crew as they bring the decades-long project to a close, cataloging more than one million images in the process.
Screenings:
Weds, Nov 5, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre
Available online Nov 12 – 23
The Finisher: Jasmin Paris and the Barkley Marathons
(USA, 2025, 46 minutes)
Directors: Julia Marie Campanelli, Drew Darby
The Finisher is a chronicle of Jasmin Paris’ groundbreaking achievement at the 2024 Barkley Marathons, where she became the first woman to complete the race in its 38-year history — defying long-held beliefs that no woman could ever achieve it. From her previous failed attempts to her triumphant finish — Paris’ resilience shines in one of the world’s most brutal endurance challenges.
Screenings:
Thurs, Nov 6, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre
Available online Nov 12 – 23
(Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, 2025, 95 minutes)
Director: Ryan Sidhoo
The Track is a coming-of-age journey of three teenagers chasing their improbable Olympic dreams in post-war Bosnia. Training on their bullet-riddled luge track left over from the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, the heart of the journey is a relatable, sometimes humorous and exciting portrayal of friends striving for a better life despite rekindled nationalism, political corruption and a murky economic future.
Screening:
Fri, Nov 7, 7:30 PM @ Margaret Greenham Theatre, Banff Centre
(USA, 2025, 88 minutes)
Director: Paige Bethmann
Living on the Paiute reservation in Northwest Nevada, Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggles to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great-grandfather’s escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present and future. Will Ku outrun his history or will he learn to run in parallel with it to achieve his dreams?
Screenings:
Sat, Nov 8, 9 AM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre and Max Bell Auditorium, Banff Centre
Sat, Nov 8, 7 PM @ Lux Cinema Banff
Available online Nov 12 – 23
(USA, 2025, 79 minutes)
Director: Rob Petit
Adapted from the bestselling book by Robert Macfarlane, Underland is a cinematic documentary that voyages into worlds rarely glimpsed by human eyes. Beginning in the shallow soil beneath an old ash tree, we travel alongside three intrepid ‘astronauts of the underworld’ into ancient sacred caves, flooded storm drains, melting glaciers, underwater burial chambers and a deep underground laboratory built to solve the mysteries of the universe.
Screening:
Sun, Nov 9, 9 AM @ Margaret Greenham Theatre, Banff Centre
(UK, 2024, 95 minutes)
Directors: Sonam Choekyi Lama, Andrew Lynch, Ben Ayers.
Snow Leopard Sisters tells the inspiring story of an unlikely yet powerful friendship between local snow leopard conservationist Tshiring Lhamu Lama and 17-year-old Tenzin Bhuti Gurung, who is desperate to escape a forced marriage. Together, they journey through the treacherous yet breathtaking landscape of the Himalaya in search of the last remaining endangered snow leopards.
Screenings:
Sun, Nov 9, 2 PM @ Jenny Belzberg and Margaret Greenham Theatres, Banff Centre.
Sun, Nov 9, 3:30 PM @ Lux Cinema Banff.
Available online Nov 12 – 23
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