Adventure Film Festival Follow Up

What was the most surprising film of the 2009 Adventure Film Festival?

All of the above, or anything we couldn't list Everything at the Festival was amazing and I can't single out one film.

First Ascent: Point of No Return by Sender Films This special episode of the new Nat Geo Adventure series follows Adventure Film founder Jonny Copp, his climbing partner Micah Dash, and Sender Films cameraman Wade Johnson on their fateful expedition to the unclimbed east face of Mt. Edgar, in western China. The episode documents the lives of these climbers leading up to the expedition, and features extensive footage of the expedition recovered from the massive avalanche that tragically took their lives.

Garbage Warrior by Oliver Hodge Own water, and grows its own food. Imagine that it needs no expensive technology, recycles its own waste, and has its own power source. And now imagine that it can be built anywhere, by anyone, out of the things society throws away. Shot over three years in the USA, India and Mexico, Garbage Warrior tells the epic story of maverick architect Michael Reynolds, his crew of renegade house builders from New Mexico, and their fight to introduce radically different ways of living.

No Impact Man by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein Ever wonder just what you can give up? Ever wonder what would be left after you removed all environmental impacts from your life? Do you think you could make it a week? How about a whole year? This very relevant movie follows the Beaven family as they abandon their high consumption Fifth Avenue lifestyle in an attempt to make no-net environmental impact for twelve months.

Once in a Blue Moon by Jeanie Ackley and Carl McNeil In an unpredictable chain of events a mass flowering of the ancient New Zealand Beech forest leads to an excess of seed production. Mice and rodents take advantage of this bundance and numbers reach plague proportions. Incredible footage follows these rodents as they embark on a strange migration, attempting to swim across the expanse of New Zealand’s rivers and lakes.

Reporter by Eric Daniel Metzgar This important film explores the world of Nicholas Kristof, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the New York Times who almost single-handedly put the crisis in Darfur on the world map. The film puts the viewer in Kristof’s pocket, revealing the man and his methods, and just how and why real reporting is vital to our democracy, our world-awareness, and our capacity to be a force for good.

Signatures by Nick Waggoner and Yuki Miyazaki From the orange and gold of fall to the pink cherry blossoms of spring, Signatures follows an entire winter deep in the hardwoods of Hokkaido, Japan. Deliciously deep January blower to April corn, we bring you a film about expression, and the art of riding on snow. At the heart of this lovely tale of deep powder mystery: the seasons.

Swift, Silent, Deep by Jon “JK” Klaczkiewicz The story of a secretive, underground crew who call themselves the Jackson Hole Air Force, a band of civil disobedients in the unknown realm of Out-of Bounds. The influence of the Jackson Hole Air Force has reached far beyond Jackson; JHAF members won the first three World Extreme Skiing Championships and are directly responsible for pioneering the big mountain skiing in the world’s most incredible playground – Alaska, which brought about the fat ski revolution.

Tibet: Murder in the Snow by Mark Gould In September 2006, two very different groups attempted to climb in the snow capped Himalayas. One sought freedom, the other adventure. A murder bought them together. This is a true story. Tibet: Murder in the Snow centers around an incident which shocked the world, a teenage Tibetan nun, Kelsang Namtso, was killed when Chinese border police opened fire on a group of pilgrims as they fled Tibet over the infamous Nangpa Pass.

The End of the Line by Rupert Murray Meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act. In this film we see first hand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. Filmed across the world, from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market, The End of the Line follows the investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing.