Extreme adventure from Afghanistan to Ecuador: the Banff Mountain Film Festival returns

Shortly to tour the UK, this festival of exhilarating documentaries expands our notions of human possibility – and focuses attention on inequality and the environment

The Banff Mountain film festival opens the door to the inspiring stories of people who simultaneously confront their physical and mental limits and the elements. And with this year’s festival featuring films on a lawyer running ultra marathons to help women in Afghanistan, a mountain-biking family living with disability, and the first woman to kayak down a 30-metre waterfall, there’s more than a hint of activism over environmental and equality concerns.

The festival, which began in 1976, celebrates and showcases the best of mountain culture, sports, and adventure. Over 2023, it will tour the world, with in-person and online screenings taking place in more than 40 countries, including more than 50 cities in the UK and Ireland.

Rafael Bridi in Walking On Clouds