GETTING ADVENTUROUS

A scene from “14.c” by George Knowles.

“The Questions We Ask” was one of the 15 films that were screened at the recently completed Bangladesh segment of 'Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour 2014', hosted by Kewkradong Bangladesh, at the premises of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro.

To promote the ever-growing enthusiasm of adventure sports worldwide, Banff Center located in Banff, Alberta organises the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour every year. The films are shown in over 40 countries and reaches out over 3,90,000 adventure enthusiasts annually. The festival finalises an assortment of around 25 films from over 300 submissions from all over the world. For the world tour, a host organisation at each location chooses films out of those 25 to best suit the interests of the local audience. Kewkradong Bangladesh has been hosting the Bangladesh segment of the tour for the last five years.

Like every year, this year there were a plethora of selected films and documentaries of various lengths on mountain themes – ranging from mountaineering to rock climbing, skiing, bicycling, snow-boarding, paddle-boarding, wingsuit-flying, etc. Some of the most compelling works are: the short biopic of Elizabeth Hawley, a woman who has been chronicling Himalayan expeditions for more than 50 years; the story of two young Norwegian adventurers who decide to spend a harsh winter in an arctic island, winter skiing and surfing in the haunting low-light; the endeavours of a blind kayaker and the breathtaking account of a wingsuit pilot who tries to fly through an archway curved out of the mountain in China.

To go with the screening of all these internationally acclaimed films, co-host of the event, seasoned adventurer and cyclist Muntasir Mamun also presented a slideshow of his recent accomplishment – a journey of almost 7,200 km, from Alaska to Toronto in a span of 95 days. The viewers were inspired to see that Bangladesh is not lagging behind in adventure sports.

The two-day long event ended on December 20. It was sponsored by Coca-Cola; National Geographic and The North Face were the international partners.