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Ice in Iceland was screened earlier this year at the Banff Mountain Film Festival and is making the rounds in "the best of the festival" tour. A n o t h e r candidate for the Vancouver Mountain Film Festival is Skullduggery, a The Vancouver Film Festival the Centennial the showing to 50 minutes shows presented John Kurtyka, International runs February film It's a unique type of climbing film, Blumel says, and certainly not one that is seen often. A n ardent rock climber, Blumel gets some of his best ideas from his rock-climbing trips. "Climbing attracts strange people. You meet all kinds," he laughs. His film is different, he notes, but not t o o different, referring to Spike and Mike's Festival of Sick and Twisted Animation:"lt's not sick and twisted." Mountain 25 to 28 at to from slide 5 Scene from the shooting local Karen of filmmaker Duthie's you up on the big peaks has a shot at being in the festival. The jurors consist of film critics, filmmakers, and sports enthusiasts. W h e n examining the films, it's vital to have both a climber's perspective (is it unique? fresh? difficult?) and a filmmaker's view (the editing, the story). Formanek is aware of past criticism at other festivals which suggests that simply filming a good climb does not necessarily a good story make. Mannix, w h o has filmed several mountain films in the past, agrees. "You've got to bring the t w o worlds together. It's always a challenge." There's a lot to do and a lot to think about, all while you're holding a camera. Very few people can do this type of work, says Mannix, noting that you need to be both climber and filmmaker simultaneously. "I know how far I can push these people.We're up on the [mountain] face with them, we work with the climbers.We don't get in their way and they're not intimidated by us." Although he filmed Gadd and Czizmazia's climb, Mannix was not the producer o r the director of the film and therefore had no say in the final cut. "But when you're out there, you're everything," he notes, adding that he picked all of the angles and all of the shots. Mannix was happy after seeing the final cut. pointing out that his films have historical value. "It's not 'jocks on the rocks,'" he says, referring to an expression his wife, also a filmmaker, coined. six-minute animated short by N o r t h Vancouver resident Jeremy Blumel.The film was Blumel's final project in the animation program at Emily C a r r Institute of A r t and Design. He needed a solid story for his project and so he turned to what he knows well. "Climbing is what I love to do, and so something I know is climbing." Eight months and 3,000 drawings later, Skullduggery was born. It was a huge undertaking, taking six months just to draw the characters. Blumel calls it a surrealistic film based on two characters--an ogre and a small boy--in a competition of sorts to climb a large desert tower. There are no voices in the piece but there are "vocal noises" and music: "There are grunts and groans. It's surreal." Theatre. In addition of 25 films (running each), there will be Psycles, o short stort of women's tion to the sport of initia- by Don Serl, Bachar, Christian Richard Griffith, Rock Wheater, Voytek Climbing Climbing and the Regional at the Edge Competition Centre There (call (604) 984-9080 mountain biking. screen the MTB Feb. Photo Marcello Garrissi 25. by On during day, for details). Mountain Polish is also a Polish hosted by Film Retrospective, Anna filmmaker Pietraszek. films, event exact The final lineup times, of selected and dates of each will be announced. A full festival tickets pass costs $45; single tickets day are $12. Advance go on Equipment and 984- sale January Co-op, 15 at Mountain Centre, ([604] the Edge Climbing Theatre the Centennial 4484).0 Karen lance Segal is a North writer. Vancouver free- by «iuslc X aXr-i-CK. u n d Soui ture a mighty game of death and chance when both tport pairs of undsrpante on up the wall epurned by a dare clinblng on boldly treading lightly aa air running time: 6:30 Cover image of i r o d u c e d E . C . X . A . D . © 1 9 9 8 a t Skullduggery by Jeremy Bfcime», 1988