VIMFF more than just 'mountain' movies

Well, unfortunately I did not make it to the Tales of the Cocktail opening night bash as I had hoped to, Sunday night. From all reports, a good time was had by all, though.

However, I did manage to make it to the "Great Ocean Traverses" presentation at the 2012 Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, Saturday night at Pacific Cinematheque.



John Vaillant will read
from his book, Tuesday.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I'm planning to go to a few more evening presentations that are part of the festival. Tonight (Monday) I'll be taking in On the Trail of Genghis Khan , then Tuesday night, it's "Tiger Night," featuring the film Conflict Tiger (the inspiration for Vancouver writer John Vaillant's book, The Tiger) followed by a reading by Vaillant from his book and capped off by the movie, Broken Tail, the story of a Bengal tiger in India (I've already seen it twice - it's an incredible film!)

But about the ocean traverses...

The first part of Saturday's presentation was a slide show and talk by Paul Gleeson, about rowing across the Atlantic Ocean with his girlfriend as part of an international race (which he later turned into a book.)

He was humorous, charming, witty - your typical Irishman. A very inspirational talk, as well. He left us with four questions:

1. What would you do if you knew you only had five years to live?
2. What would you do if you had no limitations?
3. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
4. What would you like to see if you could meet yourself in the future, five years from now?

Crossing the Swell: Paul and Tori row across the Atlantic.



Beau Miles: by kayak around Africa



Following a short intermission, we then watched an amazing film about Beau Miles attempting to kayak around the southern tip of Africa from Mozambique to Namibia. Lots of hardship, there, in terms of dealing with waves, bureaucrats, more waves, wind, and the usual nicks and other health issues that are a part of long-distance kayak touring.

If you're really into paddling, there's more in store at the VIMFF. Wednesday night is "Kayak Night" and features several short- and medium-length films about kayaking. Those hit the waves at Denman Cinemas.

Also running that night, at Centennial Theatre, are several other water-conservation oriented presentations, as part of the "Sacred Headwaters" theme, including White Water, Black Gold.

I might not make it to those, having had my fill (if that's possible!) of water, paddling, rowing et al, already. But I'm really pumped about Tuesday's "Tiger Night."

From Sasha Snow's film, Conflict Tiger

Oh, and by the way - there are plenty of other films that do showcase mountains, mountain climbing and bicycling. But, as you have may have guessed, given the title of my blog, I'm more of a paddler than a pedaller, more of a birder than a climber.

The VIMFF website lists all the themes and movies as the festival continues through until Saturday, Feb. 18.

Maybe I'll see you at one of the events...