Finding Farley wins at Banff Mountain Film Festival
CBC Arts | Posted: November 9, 2009 10:13 PM | Last Updated: November 9, 2009
Finding Farley, a travel documentary about a family of three who take a wilderness journey from their Canmore, Alta., home to the Nova Scotia home of writer Farley Mowat, has won the top prize at the 2009 Banff Mountain Film Festival.
The film follows Leanne Allison and Karsten Heuer as they and their two-year-old son canoe, hike and sail across Canada.
Allison's film, with its glorious images of Canadian landscapes, has been shown at documentary festivals across the country.
"It's a sincere adventure that winds through the very heart and fabric of Canada," jury member and Canadian climber Don Bowie said in awarding the $4,000 Grand Prize to Allison.
The festival, which focuses on mountain culture and lifestyle, ended Sunday with the awards ceremony.
French director/producer Rémy Tezier's Beyond the Summits, which follows French mountaineer Catherine Destivelle on a series of high-alpine climbs, won the award for best feature-length mountain film.
Other winners:
- Best film on climbing: Committed 2: The Walk of Life by Britain's Dave Brown.
- Best film on mountain culture: A Little Bit Mongolian by Australia's Michael Dillon.
- Best film on mountain environment: Natural World: Snow Leopard - Beyond the Myth by Jeff Wilson.
- Best film on mountain sports: Solo by Australian director David Michod.
- Best short: Mont-Blanc Speed Flying, by director/producer Didier Lafond, which has a continuous 10-minute show of speed riders as they fly from the upper slopes of Mont Blanc to Chamonix in the French Alps.