Big Screen, Big Stories: Travel the world and experience some inspirational, exhilarating and unforgettable adventures from the comfort of your theatre chair at the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, returning to the UK and Ireland from Jan 30^th-May 10^th 2014.

Now in its fifth edition, the 2014 UK & Ireland Banff Tour is the biggest tour to date - 56 screenings will be showing at 40 locations, including 12 new venues.

The festival showcases the best of the latest films from the global mountain sports community including climbing, alpinism, mountain biking, adventure travel, skiing and kayaking. New activities to the line-up this year are base-jumping, surfing and trail running.

The diverse film programme is selected from the 360 films, including award-winners and audience favourites, entered into the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival held in the Canadian Rockies in November 2013.

The Tour is much more than a series of incredible film nights. It brings together people with all kinds of outdoor passions who come back every year to enjoy the fantastic community feeling and leave with new enthusiasm and inspiration for their own next adventure.

With the increased number of venues plus increased size of venues, the expected audience figure is 28,000 (compared to 18,500 in 2013) – 6,000 of those will be from London’s outdoors community who will enjoy a night of adrenalin in the atmospheric Union Chapel, Islington which now has nine screenings and three different film programmes.

The World Tour travels the globe every year, visiting more than 400 communities and over 40 different countries from Australia through to Antarctica, being enjoyed by more than 300,000 people.

2014 Highlights include:

Heaven’s Gate

Best Film Mountain Sports
A group of wingsuit pilots gather at Tianmen Mountain in China, the birthplace of the dream of human flight, to attempt an intimidating feat – flying through the sacred site known as Heaven’s Gate, an archway carved out of the mountain. As Jeb Corliss drops from a helicopter and soars toward the opening, nearly a half-billion people hold their breath.

High Tension
Best Film Mountain Culture
Flying fists, obscenities, and death threats at 23,000 feet? Is this the new Everest reality? This film takes a closer look at the 2013 incident at Camp II that made international headlines and had climbers Ueli Steck, Simone Moro, and Jonathan Griffith running for their lives.

North of the Sun

Grand Prize and People’s Choice Award
Tucked between the cold Atlantic Ocean and the rocky slopes of a remote, arctic island, two young Norwegian adventurers discover their own private playground. They build themselves a cabin out of flotsam while clearing the beach of debris, then spend the long winter skiing and surfing in the haunting low light.

Keeper of the Mountain
Special Jury Mention
Elizabeth Hawley bucked the conventions of her time by settling alone in Kathmandu in 1960, where she began chronicling Himalayan expeditions for The Himalayan Database. Even as she turns 90, she continues to update these records with rigorous accuracy and dedication, challenging the truth of even the most adamant of mountaineers.

Spice Girl

The UK climbing scene is known for its strict traditional ethic, yielding dangerous routes and a competitive machismo among the driven young climbers risking it all to prove their boldness. It's the last place you'd expect to find a nice little blond girl putting all the lads to shame, but Hazel Findlay is doing just that. The first woman to climb the British grade of E9, Hazel is a connoisseur of loose rock, dodgy gear, and big run-outs. Having mastered the scrappy seacliffs at home she teams up with Emily Harrington to tackle the massive, untamed bigwalls of Taghia Gorge, Morocco.

UK and Ireland 2014 Tour dates are as follows:

·      30 January                           Empire Theatre, Eden Court Theatre,Inverness

·      31 January                           Queen's Hall, Edinburgh - Films A

·      1 February                          Queen's Hall, Edinburgh - Films B

·      5 February                          Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

·      6 February                          Theatre by the Lake, Keswick - Films A

·      7 February                          Theatre by the Lake, Keswick - Films B

·      8 February                          Theatre, Venue Cymru, Llandudno

·      12 February                        The Carriageworks, Leeds - Films B

·      13 February                        The Carriageworks, Leeds - Films A

·      14 February                        Grand Hall, City Halls,Glasgow

·      15 February                        Plaza Cinema,Stockport – Films A and B

·      19 February                        Dorking Halls, Dorking

·      20 February                        Komedia, Bath - Films A

·      21 February                        Birmingham Town Hall, Birmingham

·      22 February                        Great Hall, Derby Live, Derby

·      26 February                        Amey Theatre, Abingdon

·      27 February                        Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford

·      28 February                        Forum Theatre, Malvern Theatres, Malvern

·      1 March                                Plaza Community Cinema, Liverpool

·      4 March                                Lady Mitchell Hall, Cambridge

·      5- 15 March                        Union Chapel, London - Films A, B and C

·      18 March                             Komedia, Bath - Films B

·      20 March                             Electric Cinema, Bridport

·      21 March                             Hall for Cornwall, Truro

·      22 March                             City Hall, Salisbury

·      26 March                             Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells

·      27 March                             Grand Pavilion Porthcawl, Bridgend

·      28 March                             The Ffwrnes,Llanelli

·      29 March                             Cheltenham Town Hall, Cheltenham

·      2 April                                   Corn Exchange, Exeter

·      3 April                                   Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne Minister

·      4 April                                   Lighthouse, Poole

·      5 April                                   Theatre 1, UEA, Norwich

·      8 April                                   The Torch Theatre, Milford Haven

·      9 April                                   Victoria Rooms, Bristol - Films A

·      10 April                                 Victoria Rooms, Bristol - Films B

·      11 April                                 Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, Brighton

·      12 April                                 Gulbenkian Cinema, Canterbury

·      24 April                                 Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate

·      25 April                                 Playhouse, Whitley Bay

·      26 April                                 Princess Alexandra Auditorium, Yarm

·      6 May                                   Everyman Theatre, Cork

·      7 May                                    The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny

·      8 May                                    Town Hall Theatre, Galway

·      9 May                                    Theatre at the Mill, Belfast

·      10 May                                 The Helix, Dublin – Films A and B