Banff Film Festival back on the Western Slope

Michael Logerwell
·2 min read

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — The Banff Film Festival has four showings this week on the Western Slope starting Wednesday night at Colorado Mesa University, followed by showings at the Avalon Theater on Thursday and Friday, then a final showing at the Delta Egyptian Theater on Saturday.

Every year at the end of October in Banff, Alberta, Canada the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity holds the Banff Film Festival. 2023 was the 48th time of the film festival. Then Banff film officials take a selection of films on the road to 144 cities across America and 49 different countries—including Grand Junction and Delta.

Paul Price, a roadwarrior with Banff, told WesternSlopeNow what you can expect from Banff Film Festival showings, “Everything from outdoor adventure films to culture films, environmental films and there’s a lot more diversity and inclusion this year in our films.”

Here are some of the films you can see this week on the Western Slope:

  • Fuego

    • A story about mountain biking from Guatemala to Peru.

  • Canada Vertical

    • A team of highly motivated Quebeckers set out on one of the longest wilderness expeditions ever documented, including skiing, canoeing, and biking.

  • Soundscape

    • The sightless experience of climbing a mountain via echolocation, touch, and imagination.

  • School of Fish

    • Pebble Mine threatens to pollute the pristine headwaters of Bristol Bay. Can the next generation step up to defend the most prolific salmon run left on earth?

For me what stands out is one called Soundscape. It’s about a sightless climber. He’s been to the summit of everest, he’s kayaked the length of the grand canyon, he’s been on the seven summits.

Paul Price, Banff Roadwarrior

Oliver Sutro, from Carbondale, directed School of Fish. He joined WesternSlopeNow on a video call to talk about his film. “We really wanted to look into the sport fishing aspect of it and the native side of things,” Sutro said.

Sutro spent four weeks in the summer over a two-year span near Bristol Bay, AK, and in Dillingham, AK a small coastal town. “We really wanted to find a family and find multiple generations that could explain the relationship between that culture and the salmon,” Sutro told WesternSlopeNow. Especially as a pebble mine is proposed to be built near Bristol Bay.

Colorado Banff tour locations and dates:

  • Aspen, March 7th

  • Boulder, February 19th-21st

  • Breckenridge, February 23rd-24th

  • Colorado Springs, March 5th-7th

  • Crested Butte, March 22nd-23rd

  • Delta, February 17th

  • Denver, February 29th-March 2nd

  • Durango, March 8th-9th

  • Fort Collins, February 23rd-25th

  • Grand Junction, February 14th-16th

Click here for the full list of films.

Buy tickets for all showings on the Western Slope here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WesternSlopeNow.com.