Adventure & inspiration

MountainFilm Festival comes to Whitefish with six films on Friday night

The Daily Inter Lake

Adventure filmmaking will be on display Friday at the MountainFilm Festival in Whitefish.

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation and the Telluride MountainFilm Festival hope to both inspire and educate as they bring six films to the O'Shaughnessy Center.

The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. with the first film beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the festival can be purchased in advance at the White Room in Whitefish or Rocky Mountain Outfitter in Kalispell for $10. At the door, tickets cost $12. Drinks and desserts also will be available for purchase.

Throughout the evening, door prizes and raffle prizes will be given away, wrapping up with a grand prize of a guided fall fly fishing trip for two into the Bob from Spotted Bear Ranch.

This year's movies explore social and cultural stories from mountain environments around the world.

"Zoltan," a look at a man's passion for inner tubing, won a prize for humor while "Antarctica" was named Best Environmental Film at Telluride.

One movie, "Trout Grass," follows the transformation of bamboo from a vibrant plant on the hillsides of southern China to a featherweight fly rod on a Montana river.

"Paving Shangri-La" travels 100 miles through the Himalayas by mule train and yak caravan to chronicle local traditions threatened by the construction of a military highway.

Seen through the eyes and voice of a 13-year-old boy, "Antarctica" looks at how climate change and human impact are affecting the frozen continent.

The films vary from five to 49 minutes long and also explore the fight to save the Grand Canyon during the 1950s ("The Good Fight") and the ancient tradition of building homes on the steppes of Mongolia ("Mujaan").

All proceeds from Friday's event

will benefit the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation.

Each year, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation leads volunteer trail crews in the wilderness and surrounding areas, providing more than 300 miles of trail maintenance. This summer, the foundation will offer 17 volunteer projects for all levels of experience.

The MountainFilm Festival is sponsored in part by Mills Wilderness Adventures of Montana, Spotted Bear Ranch and First Interstate Bank. Questions about the event or the foundation can be directed to Carla Belski at 253-4421.

For more information on the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, go to www.thebmwf.org.

For more information on MountainFilm, go to www.mountainfilm.org.

Antarctica (10 minutes)

Seen through the eyes and voice of a 13-year-old boy, Antarctica looks at how climate change and human impact are affecting the frozen continent.

Trout Grass (49 min)

Written and narrated by celebrated author David James Duncan, this documentary follows the transformation of bamboo from a vibrant plant on the hillsides of southern China to a featherweight fly rod on a Montana river. In a lyrical cinematic journey, Trout Grass reveals a century-old method of connecting with the natural world and proves, once again, that fly-fishing can be about much more than just catching fish.

Paving Shangri-La (15 min)

An annual visitor to the Annapurnas, author and photographer Andrew Stevenson uses a video camera to record a way of life that will soon fade into the lost horizon of a forgotten time. Walking 100 miles in the middle of winter through the Himalayas, Andrew stays in the homes of locals he has befriended over the last two decades. These spectacular images of mule trains, yak caravans and local traditions depict the cost of completing this military highway.

The Good Fight (20 min)

Environmental crusader Martin Litton, now 90, details his role in saving the Grand Canyon during the 1950s, as well as his current campaign to save the last remaining giant sequoias in California.

Zoltan (5 min)

Not all sports are created equal. Follow one man's journey to bring to the sport he loves, inner tubing, the respect he thinks it deserves.

Mujaan (25 min)

On the distant steppes of Mongolia-using only simple tools, strength and ingenuity-a nomad builds a home much the way his ancestors have for the past 1,000 years. Mujaan (The Craftsman) is a vivid window to a disappearing way of life in a pristine wilderness and an education in building a ger 101.