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Submitted by Sonia Zyvatkau… on
English
Terri-Lynne Brennan

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As an inter-cultural planner, Dr. Terri-Lynn Brennan combines a 30-year professional career in the social sciences and education, from anthropology to public policy, with national to global experiences living and working on four continents and across 12 countries. With a lens rooted in social equity, Terri currently services clients as a consultant through her company, Inclusive Voices Incorporated, and holds the position of Executive Director for the national Indigenous-led charitable not-for-profit LodgePole Arts Alliance, of which she is a founding member. Terri continues to hold a role as a national sector trainer for the Cultural Human Resource Council of Canada in Maintaining Respectful Workplaces in the Arts, while continuing to support various cities and municipalities across Canada in their development of Cultural Plans, Public Art Plans and intentions to build Indigenous relationships based in reciprocity. Terri proudly identifies as mixed, Ohnkwehon:we/Kanien’kehá:ka/ Skaru:reʔ (Original Peoples/Mohawk/Tuscarora) and British descent where her people come from Six Nations of the Grand River, Ireland, and England. She currently lives on her ancestral land within the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Covenant Treaty on Wolfe Island in Ontario with her partner, ornithologist Mark Read and their Portuguese water dogs Higgs & Gauge Boson’s.

Faculty

Submitted by Sonia Zyvatkau… on
English
Kelly Wilhelm

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Kelly Wilhelm (she/her) is a consultant and executive with more than 25 years’ experience leading policy and innovation in government, the arts, media, creative industries, and the not-for-profit sector.

As an independent consultant, Kelly leads a portfolio of projects, and is a sought-after speaker and facilitator. She is an Adjunct Professor and Head of the Cultural Policy Hub at OCAD University, a new partnership to build a national network to build informed, inclusive and integrated cultural policy at all levels in Canada. She is a member of the Global Creative Economy Council, an international forum to advance global collaboration, policy and research on the creative economy supported by the UK Creative Industries Policy Evidence Centre and the British Council.

Previous roles include Chief of Staff to the federal Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency for the regions of Quebec, Chief Strategy Officer at the Canada Media Fund, Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and Director of Policy, Planning and Strategic Foresight at the Canada Council for the Arts.

Kelly and her family live in Ottawa, on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation, whose presence on these lands reaches back to time immemorial
 

Faculty
Description

Step into an evening of imagination and discovery with this Literary Cabaret, featuring resident writers from the Early Career Young Adult and Children’s Books Residency. They will share works-in-progress — from heartfelt stories of belonging to bold new adventures — offering audiences a glimpse into the creative process behind literature that inspires and delights young readers.

Acclaimed young adult author and faculty mentor Tanya Boteju — writer of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens and Bruised, with forthcoming titles Messy Perfect and a nonfiction book on allyship — will host the evening and share from her celebrated work.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., presentations begin at 7:00 p.m., and you’re invited to stay and mingle with artists and faculty until 9:00 p.m

Photo of program faculty, Tanya Boteju, relaxed and smiling, leaning forward with coffee mug held in both hands
Page Summary
Tanya Boteju, author of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens and Bruised, hosts readings on belonging and discovery from resident YA writers.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Age Restrictions
Ages 14 and over
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

Doors open at 6:15 p.m. 

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1764900000
Event Subtitle
Hosted by Tanya Boteju
Description

Celebrate fresh perspectives in children’s and young adult literature in this Literary Cabaret, as resident writers from the Early Career Young Adult and Children’s Books Residency share original works exploring themes of identity, imagination, and resilience.

Poet and faculty mentor Jordan Scott — award-winning author of I Talk Like a River, a New York Times Best Children’s Book translated into 19 languages — will host the evening and share from his acclaimed work.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., presentations begin at 7:00 p.m., and you’re invited to stay and mingle with artists and faculty until 9:00 p.m.

Jordan Scott
Page Summary
Jordan Scott, poet and award-winning author of I Talk Like a River, hosts resident writers exploring identity, imagination, and resilience.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Age Restrictions
Ages 14 and over
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

Doors open at 6:15 p.m. 

Computed Sort Date
1764727200
Event Subtitle
Hosted by Jordan Scott
Description

Celebrate the next generation of storytellers in this Literary Cabaret, featuring the Early Career Writers of the Young Adult and Children’s Books Residency.

This showcase features original works by resident writers, with stories that range from heartfelt coming-of-age journeys to wildly imaginative adventures for young readers. Short readings and reflections on works-in-progress reveal process, voice, and craft across children’s and young adult literature.

Acclaimed young adult author and faculty mentor Jen Ferguson, Governor General’s Award winner for The Summer of Bitter and Sweet and author of Those Pink Mountain Nights, will host the evening and share from her own celebrated work.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., presentations begin at 7:00 p.m., and you’re invited to stay and mingle with artists and faculty until 9:00 p.m.

Jen Ferguson
Page Summary
Jen Ferguson, Governor General’s Award-winning YA author, hosts readings by resident writers exploring fresh voices in children’s and young adult literature.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Age Restrictions
Ages 14 and over
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

Doors open at 6:15 p.m. 

Computed Sort Date
1764295200
Event Subtitle
Hosted by Jen Ferguson
Description

Visit the studios of the Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR) Fall 2025 participants and see how they pushed creative boundaries during their five weeks at Banff Centre.

BAiR is a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators at any stage in their careers.

Open to visual artists working across mediums, BAiR combines the artistic freedom of a self-directed residency with the supportive benefits of an organized program. As well as having the space to create, research, and experiment, participants are part of a community of emerging artists committed to developing and expanding their practice.

This is an exciting opportunity for the artists to share their work, and for the public to ask them about their processes. Artists, art appreciators, and curious first-time viewers alike are encouraged to attend.

Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.

Wei Li, participant, The System and Other Universes 2024.
Page Summary
Visit the studios of participants and see how they pushed creative boundaries during their five-week residency.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Event Tags
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

4-7 PM
Cash Bar in Glyde Hall

Location
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1764802800
Description

Join us for an afternoon presentation with Tate Modern curators Bilal Akkouche and Alvin Li as they reflect on how institutional frameworks shape curatorial practice and artist relationships—and how curators working within these frameworks can navigate, question, and adapt them to help foster a more pluralist, habitable art ecology.

Drawing on their work at Tate Modern, a major collecting institution, they will share insights into acquisitions, committees, and the inherited systems of value and visibility that inform curatorial decisions. These experiences will be contrasted with approaches from non-collecting institutions, such as the Barbican in London and Para Site in Hong Kong, to explore how structural differences influence not only what is possible, but also how curators think.

Akkouche will reflect on his experience with the Middle East, North Africa, and Africa Acquisitions Committees, while Li will draw on his background in writing and critical theory to consider a curatorial approach attentive to context, complexity, and ambivalence. Together, they will ask how tools such as art history might be used to connect rather than canonize.

This presentation is not a one-way conversation. Artists are invited to share their perspectives: What kinds of curators have enabled the most generative encounters? What do artists most need from institutional or independent curators today?

Akkouche and Li are faculty members for the Fall 2025 Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR)—a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators at any stage of their career.

This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.

Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.

Headshots of Bilal Akkouche and Alvin Lee
Page Summary
Bilal Akkouche & Alvin Li discuss frameworks, relationships, and imagining more inclusive art ecologies in their talk titled, Curating in Context.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

4-5:30 PM

Computed Sort Date
1764284400
Event Subtitle
Curating in Context: Structures, Relationships, and Shared Experiences
Description

Join us for an afternoon with Brandee Caoba, artist, curator, writer, and cultural activist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In this talk, Caoba reflects on her curatorial work at SITE Santa Fe, a contemporary art space known for its experimental programming. She offers a model for curating as a form of connection, catalyzing empathy across divides. Approaching exhibitions as porous and evolving structures shaped by dialogue, community, and time, Caoba considers how they can serve as sites of civic connection, social repair, grief, ceremony, resistance, and joy.

Caoba is a faculty member for Fall 2025 Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR), a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators at any stage of their career.

This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.

Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.

Brandee Caoba
Page Summary
Curator Brandee Caoba explores exhibitions as evolving spaces for empathy, dialogue, and social connection in this Visual Arts Open Lecture.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

4-5:30 PM

Computed Sort Date
1762470000
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Image from the film Underland
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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).

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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 

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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 

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