March 9, 2023

Banff Film Festival at Home

Yesterday started with SNOW!

We don't get a lot of snow in this part of Wales - when I moved here I was told it "never" snows, which is definitely not true.  This was a heavy snow for us - about 4 inches or so, and the kids ran around outside before nursery while said "snow! it's snow!"  Isaac got far too cold, especially when Andy hit him with a snowball (accidentally) but after a short meltdown (both of snow and mental fortitude) everyone went to nursery.

Unfortunately my trains were canceled (because of 4 inches of snow) and so I did not make it to the office.  I didn't do particularly well with the quick pivot and felt out of sorts all day.

Other than normal work stuff, yesterday was the Banff Film Festival.  I didn't realize this until about a week before, when I saw there were still tickets available and wanted to go.  I messaged EVERYONE I knew but no one was available on a short notice Wednesday.  Instead Andy and I did Banff at Home.

Basically, we pretended it was 15 years ago and watched some awesome films on my computer.

The first film was Bridge Boys - an insane documentary about two climbers who started climbing the underside of bridges during lockdown.  It was funny and light, but sometimes I can't fathom how much time some people had during lockdown.  They got bored training in their basement while my husband and I was at home working 70 hours a week and watching a 15 month full time while 3 months pregnant.  But, besides the lockdown/Covid stuff (which was very minimal) the film was entertaining.  Climbers are crazy.

The second film was FKT, a Canadian Salomon runner named Jeanelle Hazlett aims for the Fastest Known Time up Mt. Brunswick in British Columbia.  The running was impressive, the mountains looked amazing.  I was never able to run up things very fast but man oh man do I like seeing lots of mountains.  Also, she talked about her training routine and it was 15 hours of running and 5 hours at the gym a week, which didn't seem like that much time.  

The third film was The Nine Wheels, about a french family of mountain bikers.  It was really touching and a bit sad - the mom had a degenerative disease so the family has taken to adventuring in a camper van.  She had a three wheeled bike which she used as a wheelchair.  Her young sons were incredible mountain bikers and the film was them biking, the family traveling, and some conversation about her illness.  It was sort of hard to watch and sort of awesome.  

Because that was sad we decided to watch a new Danny Mcaskill film called Do A Wheelie.  This was classic Danny MacAskill enjoyment.  I don't think I'll ever be able to pop a wheelie. I also liked this film because Danny included a diverse cast including a female artistic cyclist.  The representation game was strong.

Although I missed the big screen, the Patagonia clad hipsters, and the prize draws, it was still fun to watch movies with Andy at home.  I think it counts as a little adventure for the week!

Have you ever seen the Banff film festival?  Have you ever done a film festival at home?

3 comments:

  1. What a fun night. We used to go to our local film festival, but haven't been able to make it for years because it's almost always the same week as spring break. I can't remember ever seeing a bad movie.

    Same thoughts about free time in the pandemic. The only extra that I got was not having to commute to work. It was more a case of "oh it's so nice that we're all home together and we're going hiking on Saturday" then "wow, I have hours and hours of free time on my hands that I don't know what to do with".

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  2. What a fun way to "celebrate" a snowy day! I don't think I have ever been to a film festival but it sounds like fun. Although I might prefer your at home version.

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  3. I've never been to a film festival because I don't remember ever being able to stay awake through an entire film. Even as a teenager, I'd go on a date to a movie and I'd just fall asleep. LOL. I admire those of you who are able to focus for such a long time!

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