Banff Mountain Film Competition

From the film Full Circle, Winter Park Backflip Rail, Trevor Kennison

The Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is a programming-driven, competitive event bringing the best films and books on mountains and the spirit of adventure from around the world to the mountain town of Banff, Alberta.  The Festival provides an opportunity for filmmakers and writers to meet and exchange ideas. 

The 2024 Banff Mountain Film Competition opens April 2!

View Winners

View 2023 Finalists

Questions? 
For full information on the film competition visit our FilmFreeway page.
To talk to us, contact the Banff Mountain Film Competition at 403.762.6441 or banffmountainfilms@banffcentre.ca

How to Enter Your Film

The 2023 Banff Mountain Film Competition is now closed. 

Submissions for the 2024 Festival will open April 2, 2024. For full information on the film competition visit our FilmFreeway page.

 

Why Enter Banff?

A World-Class Reputation

After 48 years, the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival has a proven track record as one of the most prestigious and largest mountain culture festivals in the world. Located in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, the Festival is a programming-driven, competitive event bringing together the best films and books on mountains and the spirit of adventure from around the world. The 2024 festival will be a combination of in-person theatre events and virtual online screenings.

An Opportunity to Network

The festival in Banff offers you the chance to meet other filmmakers and industry professionals to exchange ideas and collaborate in a highly creative and inspiring atmosphere. It’s also a great opportunity to connect with leaders in the outdoor adventure field, including climbers, mountaineers, gear manufacturers, potential sponsors, and journalists. 

Film finalists are invited to join us at the Festival and as special guests, you will receive: 

  • An opportunity to introduce your film on stage and represent your film
  • Access to our guest-only screening theatre 
  • Invitations to networking and social events 
  • One hotel room for three nights during the festival

 

World Tour 

Films entered into competition will also be considered for inclusion in our World Tour programs that reach a global audience of over half a million people through screenings in approximately 50 countries. Short films are particularly popular for the programming flexibility they provide so if you are submitting a longer film, you may wish to also enter a shorter version in competition for both Festival and World Tour consideration (World Tour programs are typically 2 hours long and contain 5-9 mixed films). If your film is selected for the World Tour, our team will contact you to arrange a separate licensing agreement.  

Awards & Prizes

Grand Prize: $5,000  
Best Film, Adventure: $3,000 
Best Film, Climbing: $3,000 
Best Film, Environment: $3,000 
Best Film, Mountain Culture: $3,000 
Best Film, Mountain Sports: $3,000 
Best Film, Snow Sports: $3,000 
Best Short Film: $3,000 - Under 20 minutes in length (including credits)
Best Feature Film: $3,000 - Over 70 minutes in length (including credits)
Creative Excellence: $3,000 - Awarded for showcasing creativity and the arts in exploring the spirit of adventure
Audience Choice Award: $3,000 - Chosen by the Festival audience

• Entries are not limited to one award. 
• Awards may be presented to the director or the producer of the film. 
• In the spirit of being a true Audience Choice award, votes are cast by virtual and in person festival ticket holders only. If person(s) in connection to your film are found to be sharing information on how to vote (via social media or otherwise), your film will be disqualified from receiving this award. 
• Prize amounts listed are in Canadian dollars. 

Winners will be announced during the film awards ceremony on Sunday, November 5th 2023. The jury reserves the right to not present an award, and its decisions will be final. 

Technical Requirements

Pre-Screeners:
Filmmakers are required to submit their completed film for pre-screening at the time of entry via FilmFreeway. If you are using a secured link, keep your submission updated with any changes to passwords.  If English is not the original language of the film, it MUST be entered into competition with burned-in English subtitles as part of the video image, or be dubbed in English. We recommend a sans-serif font with maximum readability against both light and dark backgrounds. Your FilmFreeway entry must remain active for viewing until November 6, 2023.   

Finalist Masters:
If your film is selected as a finalist, you will be required to provide a high resolution master via Signiant Media Shuttle. We accept finalist masters as either Avid DNxHD or Apple ProRes 422 codecs at 1920x1080i/p in a .mov or .mxf wrapper and our preference is to use the 10bit codecs (example: ProRes 422 (HQ) or Avid DNxHD HQX). We request finalists to submit their master film with the frame rate that it was edited in, to a maximum of 30 frames per second. Audio should be uncompressed PCM, .wav or .aif at 24bit, 48kHz. If you’re also including 5.1 surround tracks, in addition to the stereo full mix, please include a track listing. Finalists will be contacted by the festival with instructions on how to upload.

Note: The Festival Producer will have the option to conform the content to broadcast-quality standardization or, alternatively, to charge a fee (in consultation with entrant) for Banff Centre in-house corrections in the event of substandard submission. 
 

Accessibility:
If applicable, thoroughly check subtitles for quality (translation and typos) and readability. We recommend a sans-serif font using white text on a black background, and make sure the font size is accessible. 
If selected as a finalist, we will request a caption file (SRT) and an audio descriptive track (if available). We strongly encourage you to include caption and audio description files as a standard piece of your post-production and have them ready to provide festivals.
 

Promotional Materials:
If your film is selected as a finalist, you will be asked to provide a variety of formats and sizes of images from the film to be reproduced, published and/or exhibited for promotional purposes as they pertain to the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival, World Tour, and the associated Mountain Film Competition at the Banff.  Details of requirements will be sent to film finalists.

Film Competition Sponsors:

Logo for Dona Paula Wines          A lopsided turquoise star and blue crescent shape make up the Aurora Expeditions logo.

 
Helly hansen logoBuff Logo