It’s a wrap and the winners are…

The 46th Annual Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival wrapped up on Sunday after running over nine consecutive days from October 30th to November 7th, 2021. Having attended the festival for three of those days I can tell you the stoke was high not only for the movies but also for being out amongst people again and attending events to celebrate the start of the coming ski season. The winners were announced and awards handed out and I would agree wholeheartedly with the selection of the winners. Must-see movies include ‘The Rescue’ and ‘Torn’. Although the live and virtual festivals are now both complete you can still catch the 2020/2021 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival World Tour at a theatre near you. Look for all those dates and locations here and more information on the festival itself here.

And now onto the winners, drum roll please...



Grand Prize
$4000 – Sponsored by Doña Paula
The Rescue
(USA, 2021, 110 mins)
Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Producers: John Battsek, Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, P.J. van Sandwijk

Creative Excellence Award
$2000
The Magnitude of All Things
(Canada, 2020, 86 mins)
Director: Jennifer Abbott
Producers: Jennifer Abbott, Henrik Meyer, Shirley Vercruysse, Andrew Williamson

Best Film: Exploration and Adventure
$2000 – Sponsored by Monod Sports
Exit the North Pole
(Norway, 2021, 57 mins)
Director: Ole-André Lagmandokk
Producer: Svein Haaland

Best Film: Climbing
$2000 – Sponsored by Arc’teryx
They/Them
(USA, 2021, 70 mins)
Director: Blake McCord
Producer: Justin Clifton

Best Film: Mountain Culture
$2000 – Sponsored by Helly Hansen
Horse Tamer
(France, 2019, 85 mins)
Director: Hamid Sardar
Producer: Vivien Lemaignan

Best Film: Mountain Sports
$2000
The River Runner
(USA, 2021, 86 mins)
Director: Rush Sturges
Producers: Rush Sturges, Thayer Walker, Aidan Haley

Best Film: Mountain Environment and Natural History
$2000 – Sponsored by Bow Valley Power
Tigre Gente
(USA, 2021, 93 mins)
Director: Elizabeth Unger
Producers: Elizabeth Unger, Joanna Natasegara

Best Film: Snow Sports
$2000 – Sponsored by Park Distillery Restaurant and Bar
Learning to Drown
(USA, 2021, 40 mins)
Director: Ben Knight
Producer: Travis Rummel

Best Short Film
$2000 – Sponsored by Backcountry Lodges of BC Association
From My Window
(USA, 2020, 19 mins)
Director: Frank Pickell
Producer: Christian Silberbauer

Best Feature Length Film
$2000
Torn
(USA, 2020, 91 mins)
Director: Max Lowe
Producers: Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Max Lowe, Chris Murphy

Special Jury Mentions:
Sonder
(Canada, 2020, 34 mins)
Director: Jay Macmillan
Producer: Jay Macmillan
“Reel Rock 15: Black Ice”
(USA, 2020, 44 mins)
Directors: Zachary Barr, Peter Mortimer
Producers: Chris Dean, Zachary Barr



BANFF MOUNTAIN BOOK COMPETITION

Grand Prize – The Phyllis and Don Munday Award
$4000 – Sponsored by the Alpine Club of Canada
Finding the Mother Tree
Suzanne Simard, Allen Lane Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada (Canada, 2021)

Mountain Literature (non-fiction) – The Jon Whyte Award
$2000 – Sponsored by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Structured Chaos
Victor Saunders, Vertebrate Publishing (UK, 2021)

Mountain Fiction & Poetry
$2000 – Sponsored by the Town of Banff
Dammed If You Don’t
Chris Kalman (USA, 2021)

Mountain Environment and Natural History
$2000 – Sponsored by Canadian Mountain Network
Finding the Mother Tree
Suzanne Simard, Allen Lane Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada (Canada, 2021)

Adventure Travel
$2000 – Sponsored by World Expeditions
Two Trees Make a Forest
Jessica J. Lee, Hamish Hamilton Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada (Canada, 2020)

Mountain Image
$2000 – Sponsored by Banff Culture Collective
The Great Sea Cliffs of Scotland
Guy Robertson, Scottish Mountaineering Press (UK, 2020)

Guidebooks
$2000 – Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides
Irish Peaks
Mountaineering Ireland (Ireland, 2020)

Mountaineering Article
$2000 – Sponsored by Rab
Letters to a Young Climber
Doug Robinson, Alpinist Magazine (USA, June 2021)

Climbing Literature
$2000 – Sponsored by Mountain Life
A Feeling for Rock
Sarah-Jane Dobner, Dob Dob Dob (UK, 2021)

Special Jury Mention
More than It Hurts: And Other Stories of (Mis)Adventure by Woman Who Climb and Mountaineer
Wendy Bruere, Climb and Wine (Australia, 2020)