If you aren’t familiar with Banff, it’s the Sundance of extreme adventure cinema. This year’s festival ran eight days at The Banff Centre and showcased the cream of the 277 videos submitted from 28 countries. The cream of those selected to run at Banff will appear at the North Carolia showings, which are part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour.

Most of the films are short, 10 minutes or less in some instances. “MedeoZ,” for instance, is a six-minute film about photographer/mountain climber Tony Lamiche’s effort to catch climbing, skiing, snowboarding, speed riding, paragliding and BASE jumping in one shot. Some stories take longer to tell. “Take a Seat” is the story of Dominic Gill’s two-year, 20,000-mile ride on a tandem from  the northern coast of Alaska to the tip of South America. That film is 46 minutes.

Enough yakking. Here’s where the tour will show in North Carolina, followed by quick synopses of those films and, where available, links to trailers (be sure to check out the trailers). For a quick overview of the festival, check out this 6 minute, 29 second video — and be sure to stick around until the end.

The towns

Boone
March 26, 27
NC Farthing Auditorium, Appalachian State University
Films showing: Revolution One, Mont-Blanc Speed Flying, Take a Seat, Azazel, Signatures: Canvas of Snow, Rowing the Atlantic, Project Megawoosh, MedeoZ, Finding Farley, Kranked: Revovle, African Revolutions Tour, Deep/Shinsetsu, First Ascent: Alone on the Wall.
Info & tickets: Outdoor Programs, Appalachian State University, 828.262.2475.

Brevard
March 19, 20

NC Porter Center, Brevard College

Films showing: March 19: MedeoZ, Deep/Shinsetsu, Take a Seat, Azazel, Kranked – Revolve, Revolution One, First Ascent: Alone on the Wall. March 20: Hunlen, Finding Farley, First Ascent: The Impossible Climb, Signatures: Canvas of Snow, Project Megawoosh.
Info & tickets: 828.884.8330, djurenja@brevard.edu

Charlotte
March 24

U.S. National Whitewater Center

Films showing: Africa Revolutions Tour, First Ascent: Alone on the Wall, Deep/Shinsetsu, Pick-up Sticks, Take a Seat, Project Megawoosh, Kranked: Revolve.

Info & tickets: 704.391.3900

High Point
March 28

Sponsored by REI – Greensboro, showing at High Point Theatre.

Films showing: Africa Revolution Tour, Take a Seat, Alone on the Wall, Pick-up Sticks, Rowing the Atlantic, Kranked-Revolve, Project Megawoosh

Info & tickets: 336.323.3117

The films

Africa Revolutions Tour
USA, 2009, 20 minutes
Director: Rush Sturges
A group of friends kayaks across Africa, enduring crocs on the White Nile and executing big-water first descents along the way.
Take a peek here.

Azazel
France, 2007, 22 minutes
Director: Guillaume Broust
Four friends set out to open a route up the Trango Pulpit, a 6,000-metre tower in Pakistan. Pictured at top.

Deep/Shinsetsu
Japan, 2009, 3 minutes
Director: Masaki Sekiguchi
Skiing powder, deep powder, in Japan.
Take a peek here.

Finding Farley
Canada, 2009, 63 minutes
Director: Leanne Allison
Filmmakers Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison, their 2-year-old son Zev and dog Willow trek, sail, poratage and paddle their way across Canada to retrace the literary footsteps of Farley Mowat. Winner of Banff’s Grand Prize Award and People’s Choice Award.
Take a peek here.

First Ascent: Alone on the Wall
USA, 2009, 24 minutes
Directors: Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen
Free climbing Yosemite’s Half Dome.
Take a peek here (of the First Ascent series).

Kranked: Revolve
Canada, 2009, 11 minutes
Director: Bjørn Enga
A highlight reel of dirt jump, trail, freeride, slopestyle and downhill. (Warning: coarse language.)
Take a peek here.

MedeoZ
France, 2008, 6 minutes
Director: Guillaume Broust
Photographer/mountain climber Tony Lamiche tries to orchestrate climbing, skiing, snowboarding, speed riding, paragliding and BASE jumping in one shot.
Take a peek here.

Mont-Blanc Speed Flying
France, 2008, 10 minutes
Director: Didier Lafond
Speed riding — that’s people launching off mountains in flying squirrel suits — in one take, from the upper slopes of Mont Blanc down to Chamonix, the crazysport capital of the world.

Pick-up Sticks
Canada, 2009, 9 minutes
Director: Julia Szucs.
A look at the effects of climate change on an Arctic seabird colony.
Take a peek here.

Project Megawoosh
Germany, 2009, 4 minutes
Director: Minh Duong
German engineering at its finest. (Just watch the clip.)
Take a peek here.

Revolution One
USA, 2009, 10 minutes
Director: Dan Heaton.
Offroad unicycling. Need we say more?
Take a peek here.

Rowing the Atlantic
USA, 2009, 26 minutes
Director: JB Benna.
What happens when a management consultant spends 11 years inside a London cubicle? She rows a boat across the Atlantic.
Take a peek here.

Signatures: Canvas of Snow
USA, 2009, 16 minutes
Director: Nick Waggoner
A thoughtful, nontestosterone-injected look at skiing, snowboarding and noboarding in Japan.
Take a peek here.

Take a Seat
UK, 2009, 46 minutes
Directors: Ed Stobart, Dominic Gill
Chronicles Dominic Gill’s two-year, 20,000-mile tandem bike ride from the north coast of Alaska to the tip of South America. (Note: The advisory warns that there’s nudity; the clip shows a butt-naked Gill skinny dipping. Not sure if that’s the extent of skin in this film).
Take a peek here.

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