And the winner is.... well that may not be exactly what's he's saying in this shot, but Friends of Mount Revelstoke Executive Director Neills Kristensen was definitely pleased with the group's first Mountain Roots Film Festival. David F. Rooney photo
The last act of the Revelstoke Spirit Festiva was played out on stage at The Roxy as the Friends of Mount Revelstoke and Glacier presented the awards for what was their very first film festival.
“We learned a lot,” said Neills Kristensen, executive director of the Friends. “We’ve started out small and now we’ll see where it takes us.”
The Mountain Roots Film Festival offered movie-goers 20 films, including entries from as far away as Quebec, that showcased different aspects of mountain culture.
The films shown were not just extreme skiing or mountaineering flicks. This year’s grand prize winner was Fold and Unfold directed by Rob Buchanan, Parks Canada and Francois Desrosiers. The film featured the story as countless school children and people in communities across Canada and countries as far away as Japan and Australia folded cranes to commemorate the victims of the 1910 Avalanche Accident in Rogers Pass. Over 17,000 cranes were folded and within these cranes was the wish to never see such a tragedy again.
This year’s award winners include:
Best Feature-length Mountain Culture Film: 2 Frogs in the West directed by Dany Papineau Best Professional Film: La Vie de Guy Lacelle directed by Alex Lavigne
Best Short Mountain Culture Film: Our Bus directed by JoAnne Alaric
Best Novice Film: Squatter Man directed by Glen Kaleka
Best Youth Film: Stopping to Smell the Glacier Lilies directed by Alex Burr, Parks Canada
Best Short Film: Extreme Tobogganing directed by Florina Beglinger
People’s choice Film: Our Bus directed by Joanne Alaric
Jury Special Mention—
The Fallen Feather directed by Randy Bezeau & Jannica Hoskins
Flying WithoutWings directed by Rob Buchanan, Parks Canada
All ThingsGo directed by Kaleb Weston & Cam Kaegi
That wasn’t the only thing going on Sunday. The Revelstoke Museum and Archives held its third annual Chinese New Year’s Luncheon, this time at the Hong Kong Restaurant.
And there was a snowman-making contest and chili cook off downtown. You can see a few images from the day’s event below:
The Revelstoke Museum's third annual Chinese New Year Luncheon kicked off with participants roaming the exhibits in search of the clues to a Chinese riddle. David F. Rooney photoMary Kwong (front left), Leslie Savage (front right), Lidy Mohr (back left) and Laura Stovel make their way to the Hong Kong Restaurant for the luncheon. Many of the guests carried traditional Chinese paper lanterns and parasols to the luncheon. David F. Rooney photoSteven reaches for a porcelain Chinese puppet so he can demonstrate how it works. David F. Rooney photoIn his typically understated style, Steven demonstrates the proper use of a Chinese puppet. David F. Rooney photoSteven's entertainment value aside, this is what people at the luncheon really wanted: Peking duck, steamed buns, dim sum, pork dumplings, vegetables, spring rolls, spicy clams and friend rice. David F. Rooney photoAfter the banquet Museum Curator Cathy English publicly thanked the Hong Kong's Paul Wu and his wife Zoë Situ and their son Victor for a terrific feast. David F. Rooney photoLola graces the front of the Revelstoke Museum during the Spirit Festival Snowman-Making Contest and Chili Cook Off Sunday afternoon. David F. Rooney photoDelaney Bos offers up some of the chili whipped up by kitchen staff at the Grizzly Sports Bar just across the street from the museum. David F. Rooney photoLola also proved to be a real draw for fun-loving Revelstokians. Here BR Whalen and Joe Verbalis pose with the voluptuous snow girl. David F. Rooney photoThere was plenty of chili and snowman action over at Shelley Gibson's Main Street Cafe. David F. Rooney photoThe Last Drop's staff were also serving chili. That proved to be a popular stop as hungry diners gazed in awe at their Easter Island snow head, green Buddha and a quirky clown wearing a fright wig that looked suspiciously like the one Gabriel Giroux wore during the Top Bloke Contest on Friday. David F. Rooney photoHey! If you were desperate to win you could chow down on some of Lori Townsend's chili at the Regent and then challenge these snow guys to a cool game of billiards. David F. Rooney photo