Banff Film Festival

I just spend this weekend in Banff at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, which is always a great weekend of films about basically anything to do with the mountains. I used to love going to the "best of" tour that they take around the world, but now that I live close by I have enjoyed going to the entire 2 days of films in Banff for the past few years. As usual, all the films were at least pretty good, but this year there seemed to be several good "mountain culture" films. The one that really struck home for me was an hour long documentary on the Pebble Mine project in Alaska. I had heard of the mine, but didn't really know that much about it, but watching the film really made it hit home what they are trying to do. If you don't know, they are basically trying to open the biggest copper mine in North America at the headwaters of two rivers flowing into Bristol Bay. The filmmakers interviewed people from both sides of the argument, the mining company, and fisherman and native people who live in the area. It was shocking to see that the mining company takes the standpoint that the mine will not have any impact on the ecosystem or the fishing industry up there. I don't feel that I can do the issue justice by trying to explain both sides of it here, however the film made me realize how incredibly dear Alaska is to me and how passionate I feel about protecting its "wildness" and leaving it they way it is. I have never seen an audience so passionate about a film at the film festival before, and have also never seen a film get a standing ovation at the festival. More info on the film can be found here (under "the craft"). An environmental point of view on the issue can be found here, and an interesting article on Palin and the mine debate from the New York Times can be found here. (Of note, the grist.org article mentions that jewelers are being asked to oppose the mine. The film noted that jewelers at Tiffany's have committed to not making jewelry from any materials from the Pebble Mine, if it were to open)

I would urge everyone to go check out the Banff Film Festival tour if it is coming to your city! Its got a bit of something for everyone (not just films on controversial mines) and is lots of fun. Check out the website to see when it will be near you!