Bring a blanket and the whole family for this first of two nights of inspiring mountain films under the stars! 

These inspiring fan-favourite films from the 2025 Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour wll take you on a journey spanning ski slopes, bike trails, glaciers, and beyond. 

Cold Calls - Japan (Tour edit) USA, 2025, 6 min
The Hive Architect UK, 2025, 12 min
Best Day Ever USA, 2025, 47 min
2025 Audience Choice Award Winner
Deluge Canada, 2025, 2 min
A Baffin Vacation, Love on Ice Canada, 2025, 26 min

This event is free and all are welcome. Cash bar available. 
In case of inclement weather, this outdoor screening will take place in the Max Bell Auditorium.
 

In celebration of National Indigenous History Month, watch a curated lineup of short films from Indigenous filmmakers sharing Indigenous cultures, stories, and voices, from the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival.

These films will be available online from June 21-27 | FREE

Borrowed from the Earth – 15 min (USA) 
Throughout their respective histories, both horse and Indigenous people have been corralled. Fences put horses in pens and the Blackfeet on reservations, but the centuries-long attempts to subdue both was also successful in strengthening the connection between horse and man.

En Plein Air – 15 mins (CAN)
Two decades after the expedition that launched his art career, Indigenous painter Alfred Villeneuve returns by canoe to paint in the wilderness, where nature is both subject and guide.

The Hard Way – 16 mins (USA)
Matt Mendes, is a Warm Springs tribal member and guide whose life is intertwined with the cycles of the Deschutes River. Taught by his grandfather, the first Native American guide on the river, Mendes has spent years carving his own path—one defined by patience, hard work, and an unshakable connection to the water and land.

Iikaiksimatsa’pao’p (Grateful to Be on the Land) – 13 mins (CAN)
Cassie Ayoungman, founder of Soul of Miistaki and member of the Siksika nation, embarks on a journey to bring the healing power of the mountains to those within her community. Breaking down barriers to climbing, and integrating Indigenous teachings and land-based learning, she raises questions about representation and redefines what it means to be on the land.

Shaped by Land – 16 mins (USA)
Adam Kjeldsen is one of the only Inuit ski guides operating in Greenland, a destination dominated by foreign operators. Shaped by Land follows his pursuit of a more sustainable vision for ski tourism—rooted in deep connection to land, community, and culture.

Join Banff Centre throughout the month of June for National Indigenous History Month. Other free events include jewelry and dance workshops, storytelling, and a Virtual Art Marketplace. 
 

Join us to learn how to make mini-moccasins during National Indigenous History Month with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and artists Elder Ekti Margaret Cardinal and MJ Belcourt. 

Please join us for Day 1 of creativity with Ekti Margaret Cardinal. Together you will make small smoked native tanned deer hide moccasins with the optional embellishments. The purpose of these moccasins are for safe travels, offerings and prayer! Kits will be provided! 

Registration required. Availability is limited, as there are supplies for 8 participants. 
Open to all ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience. 
 

Join Banff Centre throughout the month of June for National Indigenous History Month. Other free events include a dance workshop, storytelling, online film screenings, and a Virtual Art Marketplace.
 

Come learn the basics of Indigenous pow-wow dance with artists Olivia Tailfeathers, Julien Tailfeathers, and Stephanie Braverock—all familiar faces at Banff Centre.

This fun, celebratory community program digs into key dance techniques, with dance instruction centred around Indigenous ways of knowing and being. This workshop is open to all backgrounds and experience levels, and is free with pre-registration.

Join Banff Centre throughout the month of June for National Indigenous History Month. Other free events include jewelry workshops, storytelling, online film screenings, and an Indigenous Virtual Art Marketplace. 
 

Hear stories connected to the land and Indigenous history of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain, with knowledge keepers Anders Hunter, Duane Mark, and Suzan Marie.

Hosted by Deborah Green, this storytelling panel with Suzan Marie and Duane Mark elevates the voices of our local storytellers, knowledge keepers, and elders for a warm, community-based gathering. Anders Hunter will introduce this story sharing session.

Join Banff Centre throughout the month of June for National Indigenous History Month. Other free events include dance and jewelry workshops, concerts, online film screenings, and a Virtual Art Marketplace. 

Go behind the scenes in Banff Centre's beautiful dance studios while witnessing the creative process of the participants and faculty of the Indigenous World Dance residency.

The three-week Indigenous World Dance residency brings together Indigenous dancers from around the world to deepen their artistic practice and connect in a supportive, collaborative environment.

Faculty members Peter Rockford Espiritu, Taane Mete, and Santee Smith will lead you from studio to studio as the dancers perform short but impactful choreographic excerpts.

In this Open Studios event, their time at Banff Centre—which has involved workshops, daily warm-ups, and one-on-one mentorship—culminates by inviting the public to view their works-in-progress.

Experience powerful Indigenous storytelling in an intimate environment.

This casual event features the faculty and participants from our three-week Story Sharing residency, which supports Indigenous storytellers in deepening their creative practice among a supportive, land-based, and peer-informed environment.

Join these artists in Banff Centre’s newest venue, CLVB ’33, to celebrate a new generation of Indigenous storytellers.

The sharing is hosted by faculty member January Rogers, a Mohawk/Tuscarora writer and media producer. She lives on her home territory of Six Nations of the Grand River, where she operates Ojistoh Publishing and Productions. Her video poem Ego of a Nation won best music video at the American Indian Film Festival 2020, and her audio work The Battle Within won best experimental audio at the imagineNative International Film + Media Festival in 2021.

Join us for a conversation with Jules Koostachin and Shane Belcourt, Indigenous filmmakers who have paved the way for the next generation.

Koostachin, Cree from Attawapiskat First Nation, is an award-winning filmmaker who completed her PhD at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia. Her expansive media arts practice involves film, photography, documentary, creative writing, and installation. Her work is deeply influenced by her ancestral ties to the MoshKeKo AsKi.

Belcourt, Métis from Lac Ste. Anne, is a four-time Canadian Screen Award-nominated director, with award-winning narrative and documentary works in both film and TV. He has directed three narrative feature films: Tkaronto, Red Rover, and Warrior Strong. 

Facilitated by Janine Windolph, Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre, the session includes a presentation by Koostachin and Belcourt, followed by a discussion and a Q&A. This conversation will be live-streamed and recorded, with the recording shared following the event. Sessions may include sharing experiences and asking difficult questions.

About the Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series

The Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series is a bi-monthly conversation session inviting leading Indigenous Art creators to discuss their practices and processes. The series engages an Indigenous lens across various art forms, including Literary Arts, Film and Media Arts, Digital Media, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts such as Theatre, Dance, and Music. These sessions offer a space to explore and deepen your understanding of how Indigenous artists use their disciplines as tools to decolonize artistic processes and creation.

Join us for a conversation with Catherine Blackburn, a multidisciplinary artist and jeweller who addresses Canada’s colonial past through personal narratives, mixed media, and fashion. Her work has been shown internationally, from galleries to fashion runways.  

A member of the English River First Nation, she has received a Governor General’s History Award and the Melissa Levin Emerging Artist Award. In 2019, she was longlisted for the prestigious Sobey Art Award.  

Facilitated by Janine Windolph, Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre, the session includes a presentation by Blackburn, followed by a discussion and a Q&A. This conversation will be live-streamed and recorded, with the recording shared following the event. Sessions may include sharing experiences and asking difficult questions.

About the Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series

The Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series is a bi-monthly conversation session inviting leading Indigenous Art creators to discuss their practices and processes. The series engages an Indigenous lens across various art forms, including Literary Arts, Film and Media Arts, Digital Media, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts such as Theatre, Dance, and Music. These sessions offer a space to explore and deepen your understanding of how Indigenous artists use their disciplines as tools to decolonize artistic processes and creation.

Join us for a conversation with Marina Alefosio, an Aotearoa-born Samoan spoken-word poet whose work bridges creative expression and community empowerment.  

Alefosio hails from the villages of Mulifanua, Leauva’a, Faleasiu, and Falefa in Samoa, and works across the Pacific at the intersection of arts, culture, and wellbeing.

Her practice spans spoken word, hip-hop, theatre, songwriting, and mentorship, centring Pasifika and Indigenous voices while exploring themes of identity, justice, and collective healing. Her creative journey began on local and international stages, including the Nuyorican Poets Café in New York (2012) and TEDx Auckland (2013). She has since performed at significant cultural events such as the Dawn Raids Apology Ceremony in Auckland (2021) and the Toronto Writers Festival (2021).

Marina’s contributions have been recognized through numerous poetry anthologies, residencies, and fellowships, including the Banff Centre (2019 and 2024), the Tautai Pacific Arts Trust Fale-ship Residency (2021), the Rhodes Poetry Retreat (2023), and the Creative New Zealand Creative Fellowship Fund (2024), which supported the publication of her debut book to siva inside a circle. Drawing on these experiences, she co-designed a spoken-word residency in Mulifanua, Samoa, with her father and tulafale, Savaiinaea Palenapa Alefosio, creating space for Oceania writers across disciplines. 

Facilitated by Janine Windolph, Director, Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre, the session includes a presentation by Alefosio, followed by a discussion and a Q&A. This conversation will be live-streamed and recorded, with the recording shared following the event. Sessions may include sharing experiences and asking difficult questions.

About the Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series

The Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series is a bi-monthly conversation session inviting leading Indigenous Art creators to discuss their practices and processes. The series engages an Indigenous lens across various art forms, including Literary Arts, Film and Media Arts, Digital Media, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts such as Theatre, Dance, and Music. These sessions offer a space to explore and deepen your understanding of how Indigenous artists use their disciplines as tools to decolonize artistic processes and creation.