The third annual Cumberland Mountain Amateur Film
Festival was successfully held recently at the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland.
Tickets were quickly sold out to a eager crowd, who enjoyed a night of outstanding films. Further, the festival helped to raise over $2,100 for the Cumberland Community Forest Society.
According to Andrew Nicoll, president of CCFS, "This, along with other recent donations, is very much appreciated as we are about to kick off a major fundraising campaign to expand the Cumberland Community Forest."
The festival began with a film by talented filmmaker Aaron Larocque, starring Jarret Moore and Dean Tennant as they mountain-biked the challenging trails of Victoria.
The film festival included a wide range of film topics for everyone to enjoy, including: mountain biking, kiteboarding in extreme weather, beautiful scenic paddling, talented trials biking, wet winter kayaking, high performance surfing, technical skateboarding, crafty artistic videos, ice climbing, handcrafted surfboard making and dangerous backcountry skiing. Various films stood out as crowd favourites and the high calibre of quality filmmaking across the board was evident.
Filmmaker Mark Wyatt and artist Randy Weflen submitted a wonderful film showcasing Randy handcrafting beautiful custom hollow cedar surfboards known as Wefi Surfboards in Lantzville.
Quebec connection Gabriel Cote Valiquette and Raphael Boudreault Simard took a break from their local environment and set out on a mission to kayak the cold, challenging rivers of Vancouver Island. They clearly enjoyed their three-week kayaking
trip and had a rare opportunity to take full advantage of the beauty Vancouver Island has to offer.
Local characters Mike Waters, John Waters and Curtis Lyon displayed their talented skills by creating a technical film featuring ice climbing at Boston Falls near Mount Becher. Their experience and skills made for an ‘’on the edge of your seat’’ film and the crowd was relieved to see they finished their day safely and successfully.
The closing film, Here to There, was created by filmmaker Jan Erik Blomberg from Finland featuring himself, Arto Majava and Jani Nygard on an epic ski adventure visiting various ski locations around the world and local areas such as Mount Cain.
The Cumberland Mountain Amateur Film Festival team consisted of: Genevieve Burdett, Leon James Davies, Kevin McPhedran, Adam Silverstein, Rachael Black, Darcy Lefebvre, Mike Morris, Jane Podmore, Neil Borecky, and Emily Oriss.
For more information or to submit a film for next year’s Cumberland Mountain Amateur Film Festival, contact cumberlandfilmfest@gmail.com.
— Cumberland Mountain Film Festival