Banff marks second year of success in Blairsville

“We promote understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain places by creating opportunities for people to share and find inspiration in mountain experiences, ideas, and visions,” according to the Banff Centre. “Following the festival each fall, our annual World Tour reaches more than 45 countries on 7 continents, making us the largest adventure film tour on the planet.”

The Georgia Appalachian Trail Club is credited with bringing the event here as part of a five-year contract that will hopefully be extended if the community continues to show support. And what better place than the ancient, lumbering landscape of the North Georgia Mountains?

Erik Love, Chair of the Banff Film Festival Committee for the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, welcomed guests alongside Union County High School senior Savannah Love, who served as master of ceremonies for the occasion.

“We’d like to get you inspired; we want to get you out there for another season of enjoying the North Georgia Mountains and watching some of these adventure films,” Erik said in his introduction.

Savannah explained that all proceeds from the festival go toward the maintenance and growth of the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club and its goal to promote and preserve the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

The overall festival collection is massive, with no way to show every film in a single viewing. So, following a special selection screening earlier this year, local organizers decided to go with the Moraine program for the World Tour event in Blairsville.

Moraine features a collection of films that showcases the drive and creativity of the human spirit when it comes to helping one another, protecting the environment and people bettering themselves.

First on the list was “Cold Calls – Japan,” a ski film with beautiful cinematography highlighting the fun a group of friends had on their trip to Japan. While there, they took part in learning about Japanese culture – particularly finding joy in sushi trains – between trips to the forested slopes.

“The Hive Architect” walked viewers through the fascinating process of building log bee hives, which Matt Somerville has perfected over the course of 14 years.

Somerville spends winters hollowing out logs and putting together insulating roofs, and he delivers the hives all over England in the warmer months, acting as a conservationist to a truly tiny but mighty species.

One of the most poignant films in the lineup was “Best Day Ever,” which offered a glimpse into the construction of the Driving Range adaptive mountain bike trail system and the people who utilize it.

Adaptive athletes Greg Durso and Allie Bianchi feature heavily as well, giving viewers a chance to learn that folks who have disabilities shouldn’t be looked upon as inferiors deserving pity, but as equals capable of anything.

Savannah noted that by the end of “Best Day Ever,” there weren’t many dry eyes in the house. Between Durso inspiring his friends to do more for the adaptive biking community and Bianchi finding that she can still live her dreams, the film was one of the best received by the audience.

It was no wonder; “Best Day Ever” earned 2025 Best Film for the Mountain Sports category and 2025 Audience Choice Award.

Intermission allowed guests a chance to stretch their legs while learning about some of the organizations that define the southernmost point of the Appalachian Trail.

Lue and Mary Elder with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, for instance, encouraged people to get to know their local wildlife and protect the habitats that both animals and humans enjoy, while the Union County Historical Society manned a table seeking to ignite more passion for the history and culture so deeply intertwined with the Appalachian landscape.

Following the break, the festival dove right back in with the collection’s shortest film, “Deluge.” At just two minutes, it follows bikers Georgia Astle, Casey Brown, Carson Storch and Tom van Steenbergen as they brave a cinematic rainfall through a lush Pacific Northwest forest.

Ravianto and Raviandi Ramadhan were the stars of “Dissidence,” a film about their inspiring journey from their hometown of Jakarta to France. Despite adversity, the twins have become rising stars on the World Championship climbing stage. Over the course of two years, they managed to scale a climbing route in Savoie, France, accomplishing a longstanding goal.

Finally, “A Baffin Vacation, Love on Ice,” produced by and featuring lovestruck adventurers Erik Boomer and Sarah McNair-Landry, came out as the second most enjoyed film by the audience, if the cheers at the end were any indication of public opinion.

Boomer and McNair-Landry traverse the unforgiving, glacial landscape of the Baffin Island over the course of an “outrageous” vacation that lasted 69 days.

Sleeping together on a precariously sheer cliff and trekking across the tundra with kayaks on their backs, the pair ski, mountain climb, and brave whitewater falls with good humor. At the end of it all, Boomer proposes to McNair-Landry with a gummy peach ring and dried apple ring. Of course, she said yes.

Festival attendee Samantha Laratta was just one of many guests that evening, and she was happy she went.

“It was a good mix,” she said of the film selection, adding that while she wouldn’t have thought to look into the topics herself, she was nevertheless glad the movies taught her something new about the world around her. Not only that, but she appreciated the beautiful shots as well on films like “Cold Calls – Japan.”

“I love snow, and I have never been skiing in my life, but I was sitting there thinking, ‘Yeah, I could do that,’” Laratta said, finding serious inspiration from watching fellow human beings brave the elements and move as part of the outdoors – a sentiment hopefully shared among other members of the audience.