With three nights of epic film watching, whilst still remaining true to its original festival mandate, “Dedicated to filmmakers who spark awareness of mountain cultures, fragile environments and the passion and perseverance of global explorers”, that was created back in 2007 by Festival Directors, Jon Turk, Brian Bell and his fellow MAST students, the sixth annual FMFF was a roaring success.

As ever, Locals Film Night was a popular evening, with The Power of Powder winning the locals award of $500. And whilst putting the Festival to bed for another year, the Festival Committee voted on their Best of Fest – a tough task, picking from the wide array of submitted films in this year’s festival. However, this year the award goes to Ice Vikings – an entertaining film submitted by Don Wargowski, detailing an expedition taken in May 2010 by a team of six to L’Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland in an attempt to climb an iceberg. A feat that no-one else has perhaps considered, yet when combined with some dry-humoured novice climbers travelling all the way from Pittsburgh to Newfoundland in a dilapidated school bus, it’s an adventure worth watching – and a worthy festival winner indeed. Congratulations.

The Festival also gave out their third annual Fernie Mountain Culture Award on the Saturday night, this year going to Leanne Walker, whose great passion for all things wild, as well as her endless environmental education and entrepreneurship made her a very deserving and popular recipient. Nominations for the 2013 award are being taken online at www.ferniefilmfestival.com. This year the non-profit FMFF Festival also made generous donations to The Fernie Trails Alliance and The Fernie Nordic Society – both of which are valuable collaborations in Fernie, utilized by many a resident and visitor.

The Festival Committee would also like to thank everyone who yet again made the festival happen, in particular the 2012 sponsors: Kootenay Mountain Culture Magazine, College of the Rockies, BC Hydro and Teck; City of Fernie, Savage Marketing, Claris Media, Park Place Lodge, Tera Environmental, Evolution Health & Fitness and Columbia Basin Trust. Fernie Brewing Company, Midge’s Mags, Red Tree Lodge, Fernie Wilderness Adventures, Fernie Alpine Resort and Fernie Physio; Straightline, Ascent Helicopters, Dave Couse Photography and Giv’er Shirtworks. Without these generous supporters this annual festival would not be possible.

Want to be a part of the action? Submissions are already being accepted for 2013! Or if you’d like to join the Festival Committee and help put this Festival together, go to www.ferniefilmfestival.com for more information and contact details.

Still remaining true to its festival mandate, “Dedicated to filmmakers who spark awareness of mountain cultures, fragile environments and the passion and perseverance of global explorers”, that was created back in 2007 by Festival Directors, Jon Turk, Brian Bell and his fellow MAST students, the FMFF is well known and much loved by many – both in town and further afield. Renowned for an eclectic mix of films – exciting, adventurous, thought provoking, enlightening and most importantly entertaining – reeling in large crowds throughout the entire three night festival. So to help get excited, here’s this year’s lineup…

Thursday 23rd Feb, 2012: 7pm @ The Fernie Community Centre – Local’s Night, $5 entry
Kicking off the festival is the popular Local’s Film Night. The Line Up will be revealed on the night, but with a talk by Paul Attalla on his personal experiences biking in the 2011 Tour Divide Adventure last summer and a great selection of local filmmakers work, it’s guaranteed to be a fantastic Fernie feel good night not to be missed.

Friday 24th Feb, 2012: 7pm @ The Fernie Community Centre – $10 entry
Encordades: 52mins (Feature Film, climbing)
Woo!: 5mins (skiing)
Intermission
Ice Vikings: 15mins (ice climbing)
Chasing Water: 18mins (environmental)
Wildwater: 14mins (kayaking)
Industrial Revolution: 5mins (biking)
Darkside of the Lens: 6mins (cinematography)

Saturday 25th Feb, 2012: 5pm @ The Fernie Community Centre, Kid’s Fest – free entry
Kid’s Film Fest: 5-6pm is perfect for the whole family. With free popcorn & juice!

Saturday 25th Feb, 2012: 7pm @ The Fernie Community Centre – $10 entry
Slope Flying: 2mins (paragliding)
Solitaire: 52mins (Feature Film, climbing/skiing)
Cheese Rolling: 3mins (for those who love cheese)
Intermission & Presentation of the Fernie Mountain Culture Award
Deep Runs the Canyon: 17mins (kayaking/environmental)
Clear Sky: 6mins (yak herding)
10 Things I love about Biking: 3mins (biking)
Linea Continua: 17mins (climbing)
Mt Ruapehu Timelapse: 3mins (cinematography)

Tickets are available at www.ferniefilmfestival.com, at Midge’s Mags & Straightline in town or at the door. Buy all three nights for just $20 for the full festival experience! All three evenings start at 7pm, at The Fernie Community Centre.

It’s a social media short-film comp, primarily promoted and run via the FMFF’s facebook page, which for three lucky winners will result in them taking home a GoPro HD Camera to help their winter filming season and bring something awesome to the Thursday Local’s Film Night. Local’s Film Night kicks off the main weekend Festival with a bang and last year was a huge hit. With improvements afoot and this online pre-festival short-film comp this year will be even better, with cash prizes to 1st, 2nd and 3rd. You heard it here first.

Whilst the main Festival’s mandate “The Fernie Mountain Film Festival is dedicated to filmmakers who spark awareness of mountain cultures, fragile environments, and the passion and perseverance of global explorers”, ensures a diverse selection of film submissions, the criteria for this short-film comp is split simply into three categories – Biking, Skiing or Mountain Adventure. Choose your weapon.

How to enter? First you need to ‘like’ the FMFF facebook page. Then, upload your short film (up to 10mins in length) either direct to FMFF’s facebook page, or via YouTube (then posting the YouTube link on our page or choosing Autoshare to facebook). Encourage friends to ‘like’ or share your entry, but the FMFF committee will in the end cast final votes and those three lucky winners will bag themselves a GoPro. It’s as simple as that.

Comp is NOW OPEN and closes on November 30th, with winners announced on December 15th. So as you wait for the snow to roll into town, get your film on for your chance to win big…

Call for submissions. The FMFF is always looking for great new films to screen during our festival. Filmmakers go to www.ferniefilmfestival.com for a submission form!

The Fernie Mountain Film Festival is presented by the Mountain Adventure Skills Training (MAST) program at the College of the Rockies, Fernie Campus. www.cotr.bc.ca/mast

The Fernie Mountain Film Festival is dedicated to filmmakers who spark awareness of mountain cultures, fragile environments, and the passion and perseverance of global explorers

Fernie Community Center 7pm

Feb 24, 25, 26 2011

February 24th is ‘Local’s Night’. Local filmmakers of all ages are welcome to submit thier films for a public showing! February 25 and 26th include a feature film followed by a wide variety of short films. The short films are chosen for thier quality of production, relevance to our mandate and entertainment value. From high adrenaline sports to cultural and environmental documentaries the shorts are sure to be crowd pleasers.

Beer and wine bar during each evening festival.

Free Children’s Matinee 3-4:30 on Saturday Feb 25th the Community Centre

Tickets $10 for one night $15 for two and $20 for all three nights.

Available at:

• College of the Rockies 342 3^rd Ave 250-423-4691
• Guides Hut 671 2^nd Ave. 423-3650

A portion of proceeds to go to the Ghostrider Adventure Camp for Elk Valley Kids.

Official Festival Web Site – www.ferniefilmfestival.com

Links to past films and sponsors found on the web site

Our new line up for the 2011 Festival is in the works – please check the web site soon.

Submit your film today!