By David F. Rooney
Hard on the heels of their eagerly anticipated two-night screening of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour at the Roxy tonight (Tuesday) and tomorrow, the Friends of Mount Revelstoke and Glacier will present a special showing of the 2003 film, Touching the Void, on Thursday as a gesture of appreciation to its many supporters.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, with Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron and Richard Hawking, Touching the Void is the true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. This is a spectacular and compelling film that earned 8.1 stars out of 10 from viewers who voted for it on imdb.com. (Please go to www.imdb.com/title/tt0379557/ to learn more.)
If you haven’t seen Touching the Void, you definitely should. Based on an international bestselling book by Joe Simpson, it counts the story of his and Simon Yates’ near-fatal climb of 6,344 metre (20,813 foot) Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. The book won the 1989 NCR Book Award in the United Kingdom. The film, directed by Kevin MacDonald, won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2003 BAFTA Awards and was featured at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Joe Simpson is also a motivational speaker presenting his story, Touching the Void, to audiences around the world.
This should be the perfect way to cap two days of fantastic mountain films. The annual Banff Mount Film Festival’s World Tour is here a couple of months early (it has traditionally been shown here in November) but it brings you all the exciting and absorbing adventure films you’re used to seeing. As of 1 p.m. today (Tuesday) there were only about 20 tickets left for each night so if you want to see the World Tour you had better get on the stick and purchase those tickets now.
Touching the Void starts on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the Roxy Theatre. Admission is $6 for FMRG members and Banff Mountain Film Festival ticket holders and $8 for the general public.
