Kayaking, rock climbing and hiking through the Zion Canyon—these short films took over the Forest Grove Theatre Friday Sept. 11 when Adventures Without Limits and Outdoor Pursuits held their annual Banff Mountain Film Festival Radical Reels for the first time in Forest Grove.
Whether it’s in intense river currents or in multiple feet in snow, Radical Reels is an annual film festival tour that focuses on people performing high-adrenaline activities.
And both the community and the students made a great turnout last Friday night.
“For the first year in Forest Grove, we weren’t sure how it was going to be, “ Outdoor Pursuits Director Phillip Friesen said. “And we were so excited. I think we [had] over 100 folks at the event, and hopefully we can keep building off that in future years.”
Outdoor Pursuits worked with fellow recreation provider, Adventures Without Limits, to make the film festival possible in Forest Grove.
“We’re based out of Forest Grove, this is our community, and we have a great partnership with Pacific, so it was the perfect fit,” Adventures Without Limits’
Assistant Executive Director Larz Stewart said. “The goal is to have half students and half the community, and everyone’s here, and bring it all together.”
The festival had opened up with Skip Armstrong’s short film, “DREAM.”
In this film, a novice kayaker admires the other kayakers and dreams about being as good as them.
Next was Keith Ladzinski’s film, “Desert Ice,”0 where two ice climbers explore the great canyons in Zion National Park.
The festival also showed the talents of Pacific students.
Senior Taylor Humphrey has been working as an Outdoor Pursuits videographer for the past two years.
“My Outdoor Pursuits Reel opened up for it, so it’s kind of like repeating on the screen before the show starts at 7:00 p.m.,” Humphrey said. “We include all sorts of videos. For example, we’ll have an overarching video to show off the entire program, like rafting, climbing, to backpacking. We’ll also do particular videos for certain things that we’re doing. Recently, we have had different people in the program using GoPros.”
Outdoor persuits plans to hold similar events in the future. Hopefully, the success Forest Grove received last Friday is the start of even greater success for the following year.
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