The Backcountry Film Festival is coming up later this month. The film festival is on Feb. 26 and is put on by the Friends of the Rossland Range.
The festival is now in its third year and has been an all-ages event since the start.
“It really is an all ages event,” said Sheree Sonfield, an organizer of the festival.
“We don’t serve alcohol and we’ve set it up to encourage families with young children to be able to come.”
She said they do that in several ways. One way is by having an admission charge of only $5.
“You can’ t beat that and under 12 are free,” she said. “So a family with two young children, for instance, could come for 10 bucks.”
The second thing they do is to consciously sort the films that meet their guidelines by putting the shorter ones first and the longer, more in-depth ones at the end.
“We put the shorter films before the intermission, which is usually an hour and a half in,” she said.
“So again, that’s supporting all-ages, because younger kids sometimes have to be home a little earlier.”
The longer movies: The Winters of my Life and the Berber Turns, the short version of Solitaire are after the intermission.
Before the intermission, they are showing the Kokanee Glacier Adventure 2011, made by local families the Robines and the Moshers.
“It’s really sweet, it’s very endearing,” she said. “It’s eight minutes and it’s from the eyes and the viewpoints of two 12 year olds in Kokanee Glacier.”
The other end of the spectrum is Ski Bums Never Die. That is a short film about some 75 year olds who still backcountry ski in the Whitewater area.
“I’s the other end of the spectrum enjoying the backcountry and all it has to offer in a non-motorized way,” she said.
“For five dollars it’s quite a variety. We hope everyone finds something that they will enjoy.”
Refreshments will be served by donation at the intermission and is being run by the Rossland Rotary Interactors which is a high-school rotary program.
The Interactors do a lot of things around town like this, from delivering phonebooks to doing coat checks.
The then use the money they earn to do charity work.
“They’ll go somewhere like Roatan to help people in an AIDS clinic there or do a community project in Rossland,” she said. “We’re supportive of that and they’re supportive in kind to us.”
Sonfield said that it’s a wonderful thing to be able to call them and, as an event co-ordinator, ask if they can bring “some wonderful homemade baked goods and juice and things like that” and have them say, “Of course, no problem.”
The price of admission also includes annual membership to the Friends of the Rossland Range.
“That is very valuable to us, because then we can keep in contact with people a few times a year and share with people what’s going on with the Friends of the Rossland Range.
Tickets for the event on Feb. 26 are at Butch Boudry’s. Get them quick, because they tend to sell out. The show begins at 7 p.m.