UCSB Arts & Lectures Presents Two Nights, Two Programs of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour on Tuesday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the Arlington Theatre

Experience the World’s Best Mountain Films at Larger-Than-Life Scale as an Entirely Different Program of Thrilling Outdoor Adventure Films Screens Each Night

SUMMARY

“This festival of exhilarating documentaries expands our notions of human possibility – and focuses attention on inequality and the environment.” The Guardian (U.K.)

UCSB Arts & Lectures presents the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour on Tuesday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the Arlington Theatre. The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns for two nights of exhilarating mountain adventures at larger-than-life scale. Featuring the world’s best films on subjects ranging from ice climbing and extreme alpinism to mountain culture and the environment, the tour delivers adrenaline-packed thrills alongside profound messages about human potential and the natural world. An entirely different program of films screens each night. Curated and hosted by Roman Baratiak, A&L Associate Director Emeritus.

2025-26 Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour – USA

TUE, FEB 24 PROGRAM

Running time: approx. 160 min. Program subject to change.

A Baffin Vacation: Love On Ice: Join adventurers Erik and Sarah on an outrageous Baffin Vacation as they kiteski north along the remote coastline of Baffin. Over their 69-day holiday, they ski mountains, climb an epic big wall and cross a glacier in search of new rivers to whitewater kayak. (Rush Sturges, Skip Armstrong, Canada, 26 min.)

Flow Vision: There is something that has always excited Ambroise in downhill skateboarding: it’s those moments you experience two or three times in a season or even in your life. He has only experienced this a few times in his life while skating, so he decided to skate the most challenging road in Europe to immerse himself in this mental state — the flow state. (Ambroise Trauet, France, 8 min.)

Best Day Ever: Two mountain bikers find community in rural Vermont through a grassroots movement to build the world’s first completely adaptive trail network in the world. (Ben Knight, Berne Broudy, USA, 48 min.)

Intermission

Emil & Karl – Little Wheels, Big Mountains: Two fathers embark with their sons and heavy gear on a six-day mountain bike tour through the Swiss Alps. Amidst mercilessly steep climbs and their children’s whimsical moods, they master every unexpected hurdle with patience and humor, forging an unforgettable father-child bond amidst breathtaking mountain scenery. (Holger Wimmer, Germany, 22 min.)

Old Man Lightning: The best climbing, comedy, comeback ever made, with a conservation plight. It will make you laugh and cry and maybe piss yer pants. (Dawn Kish, USA, 45 min.)

WED, FEB 25 PROGRAM

Running time: approx. 160 min. Program subject to change.

Rogatkin: From the lights to lows, Nicholi Rogatkin has changed the sport of slopestyle mountain biking with countless world-first tricks. Through a 20-year career of pushing the sport, he has been a positive inspiration for his community. (Keenan DesPlanques, Switzerland, 15 min.)

Cold Calls: Japan: Cold Calls is a ski film pieced together through conversations, memories and whatever the season decided to offer. (Alexi Godbout, Canada, 6 min.)

Deluge: Georgia Astle, Casey Brown, Carson Storch, and Tom van Steenbergen battle the elements. (Scott Secco, Canada, 1 min.)

Beyond Parallels: After crossing Canada from North to South in 2021, the adventurers of AKOR expeditions set out on a new challenge: a crossing of the Canadian Far North from West to East, from the Yukon to Baffin Island. A 6,900-kilometre journey by bike, canoe, sailboat and on foot. (Ariane Moisan, Laurent Poliquin, Canada, 45 min.)

Intermission

Ephemeral: As the ice climbing season grows shorter each year, ice and mixed climber Jeff Mercier is driven into Iceland’s unforgiving glacial landscape. Faced with an ever-shifting medium and treacherous terrain, Jeff pushes his own limits as well as the boundaries of his sport. (Josiah Jones, USA, 33 min.)

Robson: Two world-class ski mountaineers attempt a daring first descent of Mount Robson’s South Face, retracing the footsteps of alpine pioneers and the weight of a legacy that has challenged generations. (Philip Forsey, Canada, 45 min.)