Film Review

Banff, Film Festival, Film Review / 04.11.2010

[caption id="attachment_4153" align="aligncenter" width="422" caption="From the film Rev: A Buried Treasure."][/caption] They say that pornography is hard to define. But you know it when you see it. The term “ski porn” has been used to describe many of the fast-paced alpine thrill rides typical of the Banff Mountain Film Festival. But last night’s Snow Show was an eclectic mix of gratuitous free-based adrenalin mainlined with thoughtful expressions of art and brilliant cinematography.
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Environmental Protection, Film Review, Mountain Film, Podcast / 07.07.2010

An interview with director Louie Psihoyos

The truths discovered in documentary films often reveal far more than meet the eye. In his Oscar winning movie "the Cove" photojournalist Louie Psihoyos takes us on an adventure that perhaps shows us more than we want to see. “I lead an elite team of activists to penetrate a secret cove in Japan to reveal a dark secret,” Psihoyos said. The Cove, part action thriller, part nature film is the exciting story behind a covert operation to document one of the most horrific atrocities of the 21st century, the systematic slaughter of dolphins. “They kill more dolphins than anywhere on the planet right there at this cove, which incidentally is in a Japanese national park, a marine sanctuary,” Psihoyos said. That’s the irony of this whole thing. But it’s also the scene of the captive dolphin trade. Most of the captive dolphins in the world come from this little cove.”
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Film Review, Fun Film Friday / 18.06.2010

This film by Julie Gautier from Bluenery Productions puts free diving in the same adventure category as BASE jumping. Nothing before filmed under water gives you the same thrill as Steph Davis soaring through the air in wingsuit or Andy Lewis hurling himself off a bridge. Shot in 4 minutes 18 seconds you'll hold your breath right along with free diver Guillaume Nery as he descends 663 feet to touch the bottom of Dean's Blue Hole, the world's second deepest underwater sinkhole in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island, Bahamas. Gautier describes this feat as underwater BASE Jumping. But since this environment is neither a bridge, antennae, span nor earth we're going to need another letter.
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Environmental Justice, Environmental Protection, Film Review, Fun Film Friday / 07.05.2010

The documentary film “Tapped” is a glaring indictment of the bottled water industry. Directed by Stephanie Soechtig this expansive look into the commercial acquisition, production and distribution of the Earth’s most precious natural resource, fresh drinking water, is a horrifying tale of abuse and corruption. The story spans the socio-political landscape from small municipalities to multi-national corporations across the globe. But at its heart the film speaks to the personal responsibility each of us must assume in the perpetuation of a product that we freely purchase as its consumption and improper disposal is slowly killing us.
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Africa, Ethiopia, Film Festival, Film Review, Interview, Mountain Film, philanthropy, Podcast / 05.05.2010

It says in the Talmud, the sacred text of Jewish law, “Save one life and you save world.” Dr. Rick Hodes has saved dozens of lives and his continuing work in service of the children has made the world a better place for us all. A pediatric oncologist who specializes in the treatment of heart disease, spine disease and cancer, Dr. Hodes compassionately practices medicine at Mother Theresa’s Mission in Ethiopia. Caring for sick and destitute children in one of the most impoverished regions of the world he’s also the subject of a new book and a film for HBO called “Making the Crooked Straight.”
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Banff, Film Review, Video / 25.04.2010

[caption id="attachment_3088" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="photo by Dominic Gill"][/caption] Adventure filmmaker Dominic Gill is making more movies from his cutting room floor. As his award-winning bicycle travel pic “Take a Seat” is on world tour with the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Dom is creating a series of shorts based on the non-cycling portions of his 20,000-mile tandem trek from Alaska to Argentina. In this first installment called Rich Mountain the biking Britain pulls over in Bolivia long enough to tour one of the infamous Potosi silver mines. Here, since the time of the Inca, more than 8 million people have died over the past 500 years.
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