Photo Credits: Micheli Oliver (@micheliphoto)

Pathfinder: Life Beyond Fear

By Adam Rubin and Dan Lior

Pathfinder is a tale about the human spirit. The film follows six world-class slackliners (Highliners) on a mission deep into the Norwegian mountains to attempt something that’s never been seen before: Walking a thin line, elevated in the vastness between two colossal cliffs, illuminated only by the mystical northern lights. The yearning that drives adventurers and explorers to climb the highest peaks, sail endless oceans, and cross vast deserts in the name of progress, is the same passion that drives these slack-liners to attempt what has still been unclaimed. Through the extreme conditions and endless challenges, we learn about their elemental desire to explore the limits of humankind.

LOST

By Brody Leven

This film shouldn’t exist. These iPhone clips were never supposed to be shown. But when your passion is your job and also your enemy, a tough stint can deconstruct life into consecutive losses. Losses that come in so many forms. The unique ways we cope are part of how we justify our responses. For professional skier Brody Leven, a series of losses ultimately steered him to the highest peak in the Republic of Georgia, where a three-week trip led to a one-hour ski descent and ultimately two years of reckoning with himself. When the loss of a role model, partner, job, and identity collide, weak confidence can suffer. The way loss translates to outdoor challenges is where he finds hope.

Float to Ski

By Allie Rood

This is the story of a bunch of river guides and ski bums who dreamt of floating to ski in the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. This float to ski expedition took six years of daydreaming before the crew realized no time was a good time to embark in what unfolded as a true adventure of a lifetime. The river still remains the only viable (and machine free) way to access the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The Middle Fork flows through the center of this 2.5-million acre wilderness area, which is the largest contiguous federally managed wilderness in the Lower 48. Similar to the Grand Canyon, only a select group of permit drawers, paying clients and river guides get to float the river each season. Unlike the Grand Canyon, the Middle Fork’s elevation starts around 7000 feet and is free flowing, snow and rain fed for 425 miles until the Salmon River joins with the Snake River.

Last Tracks

By Erik Petersen

After shedding a lifetime of belongings, moving to an assisted living facility with his ailing sweetheart, and now coping with losing his mind, former world-class athlete Alan Jackson, 87, embraces his last tracks, and what remains despite the losses.

LATITUDE

By Wesley Walker and Brittney Ziebell

LATITUDE is a poetic short documentary film that follows four daring young women to the 79th parallel, under 700 miles from the North Pole to rediscover themselves amidst Svalbard’s epic arctic ocean sailing, ice mountain climbs, and ski descents. Shelby Dyer, Anna Marno, Brittney Ziebell & Jessica Baker are all former competitive skiers & they revisit what skiing means to them to find a new curiosity and love for a sport they’ve known all their lives.

Resonances

By Florencia Barrabino

This short experimental film is set on “Patagonia Argentina”. It portrays, in a conceptual, non-narrative way, the harsh climate of the glaciers and the stillness that comes with the first snow of the year. And, as everything in nature, then suddenly, it changes. The sun slowly begins to warm things up again. Animals and people awake to another cycle.

Last Call for Moose Mountain

By Joe Fairbanks

In Northern Minnesota, backcountry skiers are fighting to save their most coveted terrain, which is the site of proposed development by a local ski area.

Awaken [Revelstoke Segment]

By SunGod

A Festival cut featuring one segment, this is the story of three groups of winter adventurers, each dedicated to the pursuit of adventure, each loyal to their home playground. Filmed in three iconic winter locations, AWAKEN follows these adventurers as they are faced with the growing impact of climate change, right in their backyard. Contrasting the happiness we draw from the mountains with the harsh reality of an uncertain future, this film reminds us that the environmental message is truly simple; to adventure is to connect with the wild. It is this connection that empowers us to protect these fragile spaces and inspire others to follow.

Wild Space

By Jordan Manley

Rocket Scientist, Space Junk Crusader, backcountry and extra-terrestrial Leave No Trace advocate – Natalie Panek uses her passion for space and genius for aerospace robotics to combat pollution in outer space.

Yellowstone Gateway

By The Conservation Alliance and Uncage the Soul Productions

Three locals from Livingston, Montana, led the effort to permanently protect 30,370 acres at the gateway to Yellowstone National Park from the threat of industrial scale gold mining. Determined to protect the place they love, Conservation Alliance grantee County Environmental Council and more than 400 area businesses came together to form the Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition in 2015. Four years later, Congress passed the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act. This area can now continue to exist as an important migration corridor for mule deer and elk, as well as an all-season recreation paradise for visitors and locals alike.

Freeride Ski at Home

By Philipp Klein

Just before the current health situation locked us in, the director was about to go Freeriding with his family. It was supposed to be the big adventure of the year, the one he had been eagerly awaiting for a year. Therefore, the lockdown had him thinking about skiing the whole time, so he started to think how he could ski without leaving his living room.

The Classic Route

By Alexis Blaise, Maxime Moulin, Thomas Guerrin, and Hensli Sage

The famous “Vallée Blanche” in Chamonix is an off-piste ski route in the Mont Blanc range. Discover Sam Favret revisiting this classic one with his own style!

Reimagining how we do what we do from home – balancing both our work and personal lives from our couches and new at-home offices; how we entertain ourselves as films and TV show productions were put on pause; what we look forward to as trips were cancelled and events effectively postponed until who knows when; what the backcountry will look like each season moving forward with more usage and less opportunity to educate; and how we all do this together, in a world that’s asking more of us in terms of assessing safety and security, emotional intelligence, historical understanding, and requesting skill sets in listening and compassion be at the forefront of all conversations.

At Winter Wildlands Alliance, all we’ve been doing is asking these questions – over and over and in a variety of forms: What will our policy and advocacy efforts look like in a virtual business world and in an outdoor industry where more people are wanting to get outside without much access to education and resources? How do we bring K-12 students outside to learn about snow science, watersheds, and avalanche safety when they aren’t even allowed inside a classroom? How do we provide a film festival experience that still connects our audiences to the backcountry spirit, without risking their safety and health? How do we ultimately provide support for our grassroots groups, backcountry partners, and member community when we’re not sure what tomorrow will look like?

Everyone is reimagining. As we get closer to our favorite season (winter, did we really have to say it?), Backcountry Film Festival has reimagined our emphasis on bringing backcountry communities together to hoot and holler around a screen filled to the brim with human-powered storytelling. Our ask now is that you do so, instead of from the edge of your seat in your local theatre, but rather from the edge of your couch in your living room. Or from the edge of your camper chair in your backyard. Or from the back of your tailgate at a drive-in. The reimagining never ceases of places we can all still come together and celebrate human-powered, winter stories.

One way we’ve reimagined how we come together (virtually and in-person as deemed safe and smart to do so) is to provide more opportunities to celebrate this season. How about we start with a collection some of the best films from the past 15 seasons? While we wish we could engage you all in a binge-watching fest of all seasons past, we figured this would be the next best thing. So here it is: our Best of Fest trailer and film line-up announcement. We hope to see you “here” soon.

*Our Best of Fest will be hosted by local grassroots groups, backcountry retailers, and other community members. Please visit our tour page for more information on local screenings. We highly encourage you to attend your local screening or intentionally choose what screening you purchase tickets for (and if you don’t have one, reach out so we can schedule one for you!). Funds raised go back to your local backcountry community, so it’s vital you “show” up from the comfort of your own home for the host(s)/location(s) that are near and dear to your heart. Some of these screenings will also be “geofenced”, which requires you to be located within the state we designate for a specific screening to be screened in and will be denoted in the event title if it is geofenced.

Film Line-Up’s*

1. PG13 Version
   • “Red Lady: The Battle for Your Mountains”(2009-10 lineup)
   • “Cross Country Snowboarding”(2010-11 lineup)
   • “Seasons: Winter”(2011-12 lineup)
   • “Bolton Valley”(2013-14 lineup)
   • “Out on a Limb”(2014-15 lineup)
   • “Afterglow”(2014-15 lineup)
   • “I Love Splitboarding”(2015-16 lineup)
   • “China: A Skier’s Journey”(2016-17 lineup)
   • “Snow Art”(2016-17 lineup)
   • “There on the Periphery”(2016-17 lineup)
   • “Adventure Not War”(2017-18 lineup)
   • “Blue”(2018-19 lineup)
   • “I Am Here”(2018-19 lineup)
   • “Can’t Ski Vegas”(2019-20 lineup)
   • “Soundscapes” (2019-20 lineup)
2. Kid’s Version
   • “TRUST: Colorado”(2012-13 lineup)
   • “IRS Traverse: Insert Coin”(2014-15 lineup)
   • “Out on a Limb”(2014-15 lineup)
   • “Sun Dog”(2014-15 lineup)
   • “I Love Splitboarding”(2015-16 lineup)
   • “Snow Art”(2016-17 lineup)
   • “An Education”(2016-17 lineup)
   • “Blue”(2018-19 lineup)
   • “I Am Here”(2018-19 lineup)
   • “Drawn to High Places”(2019-20 lineup)
   • “Backflippers” (2019-20 lineup)
   • “Soundscapes” (2019-20 lineup)

*Subject to change as of 8/21/2020

The “Beyond Backcountry” series provides a deeper dive into the films that make up the Backcountry Film Festival seasonal line-up. We chat with filmmakers, athletes, backyard adventurers, and the folks that came together to make these human-powered stories happen to get a glimpse further into their worlds.

In the first episode, Backcountry Film Festival Manager, Melinda Quick, catches up with “A Climb for Equality” film team, all-around athletic badasses, and quarantined sweethearts, Rob Lea and Caroline Gleich. We chat about quarantine training, gender equality, climate, imperfection, dealing with negativity and preconceptions on social media, and the importance of falling down. Check it out at the video above and let us know what questions you have for Caroline and Rob!