That’s me, suspended from a narrow highline anchored by two balloons floating high above the clouds.
My heart was pounding. It was the adrenaline that I truly craved. I inched my feet, one in front of the other, with eyes locked straight ahead. I could not look down. The air was cold, but I could feel the propane burning and its smell grew in strength. My peers cheered from both balloons. Suddenly their voices fled along with my grip and it felt like I had been falling forever.
I had become another victim to Mountainfilm on Tour, an initiative that brings inspiring short films to viewers all across the world.
Local Tour Host Cindy Johnston, could not have explained the initiative better when she quoted its mission statement verbatim: “Mountainfilm is dedicated to educating, inspiring and motivating audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving, adventures worth pursuing and conversations worth sustaining.”
The films range from four to 25 minutes in length and cover all types of genres from outdoor adventure, sustainability and pure adrenaline. For 2014, there were 10 shorts that included skateboarding, mountain biking, highline and personality stories. These dialogues were given a proper introduction that encompassed awareness and culture.
“Most people expect big adventure,” said Johnston. “And we give them exactly that.”
However, Johnston went on to explain that action can get boring after a while because it is the people who make up the stories. In this view, Mountainfilms is able to “showcase different personalities” and leaves viewers with a “different outlook,” added Johnston.
Johnston brought up several accounts where viewers approached her the next day, week or month after the film. After two girls viewed a film about an unicyclist riding on aggressive mountain bike trails, they each bought the other unicycles for Christmas, recalled Johnston.
“It made them feel like they could do anything,” added Johnston.
Mountainfilms have been inspiring people since 1979 after its birth in Telluride, Co. It was created by a group of climbers who wanted to climb all day and watch videos of climbing at night, a simple idea that blossomed into so much more.
It speaks for itself as one of America’s longest-running film festivals. For 35 years, Mountainfilms has hosted single event and multi-day shows in schools, colleges, communities and theatres which reach an estimated 40,000 people in over 100 locations on five continents. Furthermore, the festival continues to reduce their footprint by creating “as near zero waste as possible,” according to mountainfilm.org.
In 2009, Mountainfilm on Tour began to work with the Fairfield Theatre Company and continues to bring jaw-dropping shorts to the community. Where else can you go on a weeknight to “hit the alps” or free fall from the Karsts of China?
The Karsts of China. Contributed by Mountainfilms
Additionally, Mountainfilms is sponsored by the Outdoor Sports Center in Wilton, Conn. and the Long Trail Brewing Company. As you walk into FTC, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, you will be in the midst of the action. The latest equipment will be on display by Outdoor Sports Center and beer tasting to follow.
Don’t worry, because Mountainfilms on Tour is only the beginning. There are several 35 to 45 minute films that are equally inspiring, but are too long. On Nov. 23, there will be a Gravity Ski film and in the spring a Gravity Mountain bike series. Johnston explained that these will consist of two longer-length films and two shorts.
All of the films are “underlined with indomitable human spirit,” said Johnston. They address how we are going save the world and simultaneously make us feel good. That is the power of these films and nobody is safe from its ability to suck you right into the eyes of the adventure-seeker himself.
Mountainfilms has granted all Fairfield University students member pricing to this event. Use the promotion code ‘stags” (all lower-case) when purchasing your ticket online or at the FTC box office.
Still not sure: watch Danny Macaskill in #TheRidge where he ‘climbs aboard a mountain bike and returns to his native home of the Isle of Skye in Scotland to take on a death-defying ride along the notorious Cuillin Ridgeline’ (youtube)
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