Karina Hollekim

Friday, November 6, 8 p.m.
Max Bell Theatre
All tickets $32

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As a BASE jumper and extreme skier, Karina Hollekim is well-known to Banff Mountain Film Festival audiences. Her story has been told in two award-winning films – Fatima’s Hand (Best Film on Mountain Sports, 2006), and 20 Seconds of Joy, (Best Film on Mountain Sports, 2007 and People’s Choice Award). In these two documentaries, audiences went deep into Karina’s world, viewing not only her physical achievements, but also the personal and emotional aspects of a life lived on the extreme edge of risk.

Originally from Norway, Karina was already an established freeskier and BASE jumper, when she met documentary filmmaker Jens Hoffman. It was early in her exploits in BASE jumping (or “flying” as it’s been described), and Jens proposed a film about her life as an athlete. Karina had previously appeared in ski films including some by Teton Gravity Research, and had become the first woman in the world to perform a ski BASE. As a filmmaker, Jens was eager to discover the motivations that led her to a sport that she admits gives the athlete “no second chances.” Jens wished to capture the fear, motivation, discouragement, and exhilaration that she experienced with each jump.

While making 20 Seconds of Joy, Jens realized he had so much great footage from a trip Karina took with her team to Mali for a jump off a great sandstone pillar there, that he could make a separate, preliminary documentary just on that. It became Fatima’s Hand, and documents the jump she made, that almost went fatally wrong, and the impact the people of Mali had on her. The film’s screenings continue to raise money for the people in the village near her jump.

In August of 2006, on a routine demonstration skydive, Karina’s parachute malfunctioned, and she hit the ground at 100 kph, resulting in 21 open fractures in her right leg and the loss of more than three litres of blood. In critical condition, Karina was considered lucky to have survived.

Since her crash, Karina has been slowly working her way through multiple surgeries and rehabilitation. Told she probably wouldn’t walk again, she’s now walking, and slowly getting back into the sports she loves – climbing, skiing (on a sit-ski), and just being in the mountains. She has been tracking her experience on her blog, continuing to travel the world, and now talking to audiences about her life before, during, and after the accident that changed everything.

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Photo credit: Karina Hollekim © Richard Walch