Counting as its 13th installment the Backcountry Film Festival is back in Laramie gathering adventurous people and nature previews together under one roof.
The 13th Annual Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival will be shown in Laramie on Feb. 15 at the Gryphon Theatre at 6 p.m.
The Backcountry Film Festival consists of series of films that are put together by the Winter Wildland Alliance, which is a nonprofit organization working at the national level to educate and inspire the backcountry community for the protection of winter landscapes.
“Our organization, the Wyoming Wilderness Association, we believe in educating the public about these issues because they are specific to Wyoming,” Shaleas Harrison, U.S. Bureau of Land Management Wild Lands Community Organizer, said. “We have a lot of conservation issues that we are facing in this day and it helps to raise the awareness about them and one way to do that is really fun engaging film.”
The whole packet of adventure of all outdoor sport and thrilling nature can be found in this award-winning lineup.
Films in this year’s festival include:
– The Space Within, DPS Skis Cinematic 5 min 28 sec
– Ruth Gorge, Noah Howell 8 min 1 sec
– Below 0, Itai Haggade 4 min 54 sec
– The End of Snow, Jane Zelikova and Morgan Heim 20 min 35 sec
– Follow Through, Anya Miller and Becca Cahall 21 min 48 sec
– Genesis, Ben Sturgulewski and Dan Pizza 5 min 50 sec
– Idaho 12ver Project, Mark Ortiz 12 min 10 sec
– Adventure Not War, Max Lowe 7 min 35 sec
“There is going to be an additional film that is a Wyoming Wilderness Association film on the red desert that we made and that’s the landscape I worked in to protect,” Harrison said. “There is actually going to be two films about Wyoming one from us and the another one from the actual backcountry film festival.”
Most of these films brought winter outdoor gears such as Patagonia, North Face, Sherpa Gear and so on together to help promote winter sports as well as the climatic issues.
The main motive of the film is to raise awareness about the climate change as well as show the importance of human powered experience in the outdoor during the winter time.
“Making an adventurous film is really difficult, but what’s most challenging is delivering a message without losing the thrill of the scenes,” UW student of business administration, Philip McCarthy said.
This year the film festival will tour over 100 cities from November to March and counts the second showing in Laramie.
Due to the growing pollution, global warming and hazards in the environment, the organization put an effort to spread awareness among the winter outdoor sports enthusiasts. To attract the young minds more into the awareness, the entry is made free. However, one can easily donate few dollars at the gate.
“I like backcountry skiing and [in a movie] you get to watch backcountry skiers ski, nature and cool film photography,” Theodor Olsen, UW Finance student and skiing enthusiast, said.
The proceeds that are generated from this film series is going to fund University of Wyoming Conservation Core Crew, which is carrying out a project in the red desert this summer.
“It is an important component and important collaboration between my organization Wyoming Conservation Core and the Bureau of Land Management,” Harrison said. “And it’s an awesome opportunity for students to get paid to do natural resource work and then learn about complex natural resource issues out in the field. So, it’s a great experience to everybody.”
