2025 Banff Mountain Film Competition category finalists announced

Media Release | October 2, 2025 | Banff, AB

The 50th anniversary Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is excited to announce that 87 films have been chosen as finalists in the 2025 Banff Mountain Film Competition.

The Banff Mountain Film Competition submissions include the world’s best adventure, environment, and adrenaline sports films – this year received a record-breaking 570 films from 45 countries submitted, with 87 films from 14 countries selected as finalists.

The Festival will screen 17 World premieres, 10 North American premieres, and 29 Canadian premieres, and will award $30,000 in cash across 10 categories, plus a Grand Prize of $5,000.

This year’s international jury includes Ava Karvonen (Canada), a 35-year industry veteran and second-generation filmmaker; Ben Sturgulewski (USA), an acclaimed director, cinematographer, editor, writer, and the 2024 Grand Prize winner for Champions of the Golden Valley; Dina Mufti (UK), a director, producer, film curator, and recipient of the BBC Director General’s Award for Creativity; Sébastien Montaz-Rosset (France), an award-winning filmmaker, co-founder of the production company Montaz-Rosset Studio, and certified high mountain guide; and Subina Shrestha (UK/Nepal), an investigative journalist and cinematic documentary filmmaker.

View the full list of 2025 Banff Mountain Film Competition finalists here.

The category award winners and the Grand Prize winner be announced during the festival on Sunday, November 9, 2025.  

“This year’s film competition saw a record number of entries, making the selection process more difficult than ever. Our finalists in this special 50th anniversary edition showcase exceptional talent and impact in the realm of mountain storytelling. Congratulations to all our filmmakers!”

– Joanna Croston, Director of Mountain Culture at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Not to be missed films:

Robson (World Premiere)
(Canada, 2025, 40 minutes)
Director: Philip Forsey
Producers: Sherpas Cinema, Malcolm Sangster, Joshua Lavigne, Gabriella Dufour-Léonard

Two of the world’s most accomplished ski mountaineers, Christina Lustenberger and Guillaume Pierrel, have carved their names into history with bold first descents across the globe. Now, turning their sights on Mount Robson, the highest and most formidable peak in the Canadian Rockies, they retrace the steps of pioneering alpinists who came before them, pushing the line between past and present. Battling towering walls of ice, snow and rock, unpredictable weather, and the weight of a dream that has challenged generations, their journey becomes as much about resilience and legacy as it is about the pursuit of a descent few have ever dared to imagine. 
Screenings:
Sat, Nov 1, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre 
Sun, Nov 2, 7:30 PM @ artsPlace Canmore

Chasing Time
(USA, 2024, 39 minutes)
Directors: Jeff Orlowski-Yang, Sarah Keo
Producers: Exposure Labs, Brette Ragland, Larissa Rhodes, Jeff Orlowski-Yang, Stacey Piculell

Over the course of the 15-year Extreme Ice Survey project, photographer James Balog and his team brought some of the world’s first and most compelling visual evidence of climate change to the global stage as he depicted the rapid melting of glaciers around the world. Chasing Time is a meditative exploration of time and mortality, following James and his crew as they bring the decades-long project to a close, cataloging more than one million images in the process.
Screenings:
Weds, Nov 5, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre
Available online Nov 12 - 23 | Environmental Shorts 2

The Finisher: Jasmin Paris and the Barkley Marathons
(USA, 2025, 46 minutes)
Directors: Julia Marie Campanelli, Drew Darby 
Producers: Singletrack LLC, Finn Alexander Melanson, Robert Fisher

The Finisher is a chronicle of Jasmin Paris' groundbreaking achievement at the 2024 Barkley Marathons, where she became the first woman to complete the race in its 38-year history — defying long-held beliefs that no woman could ever achieve it. From her previous failed attempts to her triumphant finish — Paris’ resilience shines in one of the world’s most brutal endurance challenges.
Screenings:
Thurs, Nov 6, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre 
Available online Nov 12 - 23 | Mountain Sports Shorts 2

The Track
(Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, 2025, 95 minutes)
Director: Ryan Sidhoo
Producers: Spirit of 84 Films LTD, Ryan Sidhoo

The Track is a coming-of-age journey of three teenagers chasing their improbable Olympic dreams in post-war Bosnia. Training on their bullet-riddled luge track left over from the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, the heart of the journey is a relatable, sometimes humorous and exciting portrayal of friends striving for a better life despite rekindled nationalism, political corruption and a murky economic future.
Screening:
Fri, Nov 7, 7:30 PM @ Margaret Greenham Theatre, Banff Centre

Remaining Native
(USA, 2025, 88 minutes)
Director: Paige Bethmann
Producers: She Carries Her House Productions, Jessica Epstein, Paige Bethmann, Judd Ehrlich

Living on the Paiute reservation in Northwest Nevada, Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggles to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great grandfather's escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present, and future. Will Ku outrun his history or will he learn to run in parallel with it to achieve his dreams?
Screenings:
Sat, Nov 8, 9 AM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre and Max Bell Auditorium, Banff Centre 
Sat, Nov 8, 7 PM @ Lux Cinema Banff
Available online Nov 12 - 23 | Feature Film

Underland
(USA, 2025, 79 minutes)
Director: Rob Petit
Producers: Sandbox Films, Protozoa Pictures, Spring Films, Planet Octopus Studios, Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Lauren Greenwood, Jessica Harrop

Adapted from the bestselling book by Robert Macfarlane, Underland is a cinematic documentary that voyages into worlds rarely glimpsed by human eyes. Beginning in the shallow soil beneath an old ash tree, we travel alongside three intrepid ‘astronauts of the underworld’ into ancient sacred caves, flooded storm drains, melting glaciers, underwater burial chambers, and a deep underground laboratory built to solve the mysteries of the universe.
Screening:
Sun, Nov 9, 9 AM @ Margaret Greenham Theatre, Banff Centre

Snow Leopard Sisters
(UK, 2024, 95 minutes)
Directors: Sonam Choekyi Lama, Andrew Lynch, Ben Ayers, 
Producers: Noah Media Group, Joanna Natasegara, Tshiring Lhamu Lama

Snow Leopard Sisters tells the inspiring story of an unlikely yet powerful friendship between local snow leopard conservationist Tshiring Lhamu Lama and 17-year-old Tenzin Bhuti Gurung, who is desperate to escape a forced marriage. Together, they journey through the treacherous yet breathtaking landscape of the Himalaya in search of the last remaining endangered snow leopards.
Screenings:
Sun, Nov 9, 2 PM @ Jenny Belzberg and Margaret Greenham Theatres, Banff Centre 
Sun, Nov 9, 3:30 PM @ Lux Cinema Banff
Available online Nov 12 - 23 | Feature Film

This year’s 50th anniversary Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival (November 1-9), held by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta, will welcome adventurers, filmmakers, authors, and photographers from around the world for an exceptional lineup featuring 87 epic films (including World and North American premieres), plus a special Fire and Ice Symposium (November 4-5), the bustling Festival Marketplace, free talks on the Rab Stage, happy hours with live music, downtown events, exhibitions, and much more!

Don't miss our popular daytime book events, featuring authors, photographers, and explorers from around the world, including Hamish Frost, Guy Robertson, Sonnie Trotter, Joanna Croston, Hazel Findlay, Lynn Hill, Lydia Bradey, Sarah Hueniken, Brette Harrington, Sharon Wood, Tom Bell, Jean McNeil, Jeremy Collins, Cassidy Randall, Greg Hill, and Craig Childs.

The Festival schedule is available to view online. Tickets and passes can be purchased at banffmountainfestival.ca or Banff Centre Box Office.

Online films will be available following the Festival from November 12-23, 2025 (available in CAN/USA only).

If you’d like to provide media coverage of the 2025 Festival, please submit a media accreditation application form.

For more information or image requests, please contact: 
Jess Elliott
Media and Communications, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Box 1020,107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
Canada T1L 1H5  
jess_elliott@banffcentre.ca 

About Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 50 years ago, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival has become the premier event of its kind in the world. The nine-day Festival hosted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada, showcases the world’s best films, books and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment and natural history, exploration and adventure, wildlife, and sport – and attracts the biggest names in mountaineering, adventure filmmaking, and explorers as presenters and speakers. An international jury will also award over $40,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s Festival competitions. banffmountainfestival.ca    

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Sponsors: The 2025 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Presenting Sponsors are Rab and Banff and Lake Louise Tourism. The Festival is also supported by YETI, Oboz Footwear, World Expeditions, The Lake Louise Ski Resort, Grangers, SLY Foods, Duer, Alpine Club of Canada, Arc’teryx, Durston, Wild Life Distillery, Wild Rose Brewery, and KORE.

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity: Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a post-secondary institution built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and leadership development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creative decision-making across dozens of disciplines. From our home on Treaty 7 territory in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to move everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, thinkers, and audiences – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to build an innovative, inspiring future through education, performances, convenings, and public outreach. banffcentre.ca