Every year, Kingsbury Hall, in partnership with Campus Recreation Services Outdoor Adventures, hosts three nights of film viewings from the year’s Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. Put on by the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity at Canada’s Banff National Park, the festival is a huge celebration of “Mountain Culture.” There, available to attendees, are guest speakers, workshops, marketplaces, films, art exhibitions and storytelling competitions. It’s from those latter competitions that the festival’s World Tour pulls incredible, award-winning, independent films to share throughout the year.
The Kingsbury Hall showings feature a unique curation of eight films, none of which are repeated over the multiple nights. Patrons can purchase single-night tickets or a three-day pass to see all the films picked for our Utah crowds. This year, I went to the Friday night showing on Feb. 20, and from the minute I walked up the Hall’s steps, I was engulfed in a crowd of outdoor-loving people. The excitement of the room only grew as the show got started — the epic shots and music accompanying the introduction video of the list of sponsors set a clear tone for the powerful films to come. That night, this is the collection I saw:
Cold Calls – Japan (Tour Edit)
Synopsis: “Cold Calls is a ski film pieced together through conversations, memories, and whatever the season decided to offer!”
Cold Calls – Japan, a simple, delightfully fun opener, was a tapestry of brilliant mountain shots and highlights of Japanese culture. It used overlaid text notifications in the screen corners as a creative way to introduce the skiers and keep the fun of the sport present. Most impressive were the skiing shots: epic slow-motion captures of the skiers flying and swimming through snow like powder, thanks in part to the 36-hour snowfall that had dumped 6 feet of powder before the group’s run.
The Hive Architect
Synopsis: “For the last 14 years, Matt Somerville has spent the winters creating his log hives before driving around all of England in the summer, erecting them as non-intervention habitats for wild honeybees.”
This short and delightfully sweet film perfectly mirrored the kind personality of star Matt Somerville by mixing documentary-style filming with old-home-video-esque film shots. The film perfectly captured the softness of the English countryside in summer, and the delicateness of honeybees when they’re calm. It accomplished its goal of highlighting the incredible and needed work that Somerville does — he has erected 800 log hives around England, all beautiful, all successful and all beloved by local farmers. In his work and in this film, Somerville has inspired people to pay attention to the little creatures of our planet and to strive to conserve them.
Deluge
Synopsis: “Georgia Astle, Casey Brown, Carson Storch, and Tom van Steenbergen battle the elements.”
At only two minutes long, Deluge was the shortest film of the evening and can be easily described as a study in the cinematic. There was no commentary — just gorgeous shots of mountain bikers flying down the mountain in a torrent of rain. It was like a pause where one finds themselves holding their breath in anticipation. That brief moment of silence before a bird takes flight.
The Finisher
Synopsis: “The Finisher follows ultrarunner Jasmin Paris as she takes on the notorious Barkley Marathons, attempting to become the first woman to ever complete the race in its 38-year history. Through past failures and relentless perseverance, Paris pushes the limits of endurance and possibility.”
The longest film of the night, The Finisher, told a story nothing short of monumental. At 47 minutes long, this film was a well-done documentary with poignant interviews, exclusive ultrarunning footage and gorgeous animated artwork — and we were lucky enough to be introduced to the film by the two directors, live in-house. To start, The Finisher explained the strange phenomenon that is the Barkley Marathons: a selective and secretive race where 40 ultrarunners have 60 hours to complete five loops — totaling over 100 miles — through Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee. It was started by Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, who believed he could do (much better) than James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., did in his 1977 prison escape, where Ray covered only 8 miles in the same mountains in the same time window. This extremely and purposefully difficult race is given a new course every year. In 2024, Jasmin Paris, a mother of two at the time, embarked on her third time running the Barkley Marathons. She completed two laps in her first year, three laps in her second. In her 2024 attempt, only 12 contestants made it three laps to complete the honorary “fun run” portion. The Finisher beautifully followed Paris’ Barkley journey, telling a rich and vulnerable tale in which you can’t help but cheer her on. As Jasmin Paris journeyed in the film to become the first woman to complete the Barkley Marathon, the viewers at Kingsbury Hall felt the incredible motivation and inspiration of Paris, understood the deep camaraderie and collaboration the Barkley runners have with one another and shared in a powerful victory with Jasmin herself.
One Step Ahead
Synopsis: “After losing his leg in an accident, Norwegian skier Bernt Marius gets back to doing what he loves best: skiing big lines in the Sunnmøre Alps.”
There is a certain gravity that comes in a comeback story, especially when said comeback is from something scary, sudden and devastating — and this film handled that gravity beautifully. It was somber, hopeful and real. Bernt Marius was highlighted not just as a skier, but as a runner, climber, skydiver and paraglider. It was that last activity that Marius had his accident in, but as the synopsis explained, he got back to what he loved. Told through interviews and personal footage, One Step Ahead wove a motivational story of recovery and loving what you do even through major setbacks.
Reel Rock: Riders on the Storm
Synopsis: “Big wall climber Siebe Vanhee enlists Drew Smith and fellow Belgian countrymen Nico Favresse and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll to attempt the first free ascent of the elusive Riders on the Storm route on the East Face of Patagonia’s Torre Central.”
Three Belgians and a Montana Cowboy climb a sheer rockface … and while that doesn’t get you a punchline, it does get you a short film full of laughs, music, wit and jabs. It was creative and — like last year’s film about French skiers traversing the Denali Massif, Wild Days — the kind of indescribable fun that only Europeans could have. Throughout the viewing, laughter echoed through the entire audience. It was a film I could see myself rewatching whenever I need a pick-me-up, and it is one I will be recommending to all who’ll listen. It was a film that kept a wide smile on my face, even as my palms were sympathetically sweating while watching them free climb.
A Brutal, Beautiful Life
Synopsis: “Amid the rugged beauty of the Rocky Mountains and high desert, ranching women, their dogs, horses, and cattle share quiet, powerful moments of connection. Through instinct and experience, four species reveal the deep, often unseen harmony that binds life on the range.”
Quite possibly my favorite of the night, A Brutal, Beautiful Life was a love letter to ranching and the West. The stunning cinematography matched the title with rich hues of dark green and brown, sweeping shots of willow and sagebrush, and dramatic moments — with intermittent frames in sharp black and white — showing the work of the cows, dogs, horses and women. Over the film was commentary from an interview with one of these ranching women. Though for so long a male-dominated field, in recent times, women have been “taking the reins” in incredible ways. The star interviewee, a 76-year-old woman and mother, recounted the hard life of a rancher: the death, the sweat, getting a shoulder rebuilt and her knees replaced. But she also spoke to the satisfaction and joy of it, and the way she wouldn’t trade it for a thing. She would always keep getting back in the saddle.
That One Friend
Synopsis: “Professional backcountry skier Sierra Schlag has built a career around focus, grit, and always chasing the next big line. She takes her job and her skiing seriously. But when Waverly Chin — aka Waves — her funky, free-spirited best friend shows up with snacks and silliness, it’s a reminder not to take life (or skiing) too seriously.”
Two friends skiing down a mountain, one professional and one recreational, were described as “always just a little behind.” Though if I’m honest, I could only tell the two apart by the color of their snowsuits. This short film was a jovial finale to the night, and even against a Colorado backdrop, it could make anyone think of the friends who keep things fun. For me, that was my friend Lyza, but instead of skiing, our high school sport was mountain biking. The short film was heartfelt, bright and unabashedly genuine. That One Friend was everything the films shown before were: expansive, cinematic, full of joy and clear, deep love of the great outdoors.
The 2026 Banff Mountain Film Festival will be held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 8. Films from past festivals can be viewed online at the Banff Center’s website. Kingsbury Hall hosts the Film Festival every year, and those with a valid University ID get discounted hall tickets — so keep an eye out next February!
