NZ Mountain Film Festival: National Tour bringing inspiration to Rotorua

2022 Festival Image - Lukas Kirchner enjoys the view of La Perouse and the West coast from Middle Peak Hotel on Aoraki Mt Cook. Photo / Gavin Lang

Slide, glide, or hike to the Harvest Centre Auditorium for an inspiring night out watching a collection of unique adventure and award-winning films.

The 2022 New Zealand Mountain Film Festival's 'National Tour' is on show at the centre on Tuesday, July 26.

Local organiser Brett Cotter says, "This programme with four mesmerising films has something for everybody, whatever your adventure is."

The grand prize-winning film, 'House of the Gods' follows UK adventurer and climber Leo Houlding and his team on their real-world quest through 100km of untracked jungle, into a unique slime forest and up the steep cliff of Mount Roraima, which soars from the depths of the Amazon rainforest like the prow of a gigantic ship.

Shrouded in cloud, drenched by torrential rain and guarded by vertical jungle, deep mud and overhanging cliffs, this distinctive landscape was the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World and the Disney/Pixar animated movie UP!

Also in the line-up is 'We Don't Usually Have Ice Creams', the winner of the Spirit of Adventure Award, which showcases a group of Wellington over-65s that go tramping every Wednesday.

They don't believe in tracks or bridges. They scale untracked ridges, ford or swim rivers, scramble up waterfalls, abseil over bluffs and seldom get home before dark.

The Best Snow Sports Film Award winner is 'Ô'Parizad', an adventure combining skiing and mountaineering with four skiers chasing their goal to return on the trail of their pioneering ski ancestors to ski an 8000m Himalayan giant - Gasherbrum II.

Winner of the Hiddleston/MacQueen Award for Best NZ-Made Film is 'Traversing the Night'.

It documents "four New Zealand alpine kids" (as they call themselves) as they set off from Arthur's Pass with a dream to traverse the spine of the Southern Alps for the next three months until they reached Fiordland.

Brett says, "Our local audience savour this annual adventure film fest; what could be better than sitting alongside fellow outdoor enthusiasts letting your imagination go wild and planning your next adventure?"

The details
What: NZ Mountain Film Festival 'National Tour'
- When: Tuesday, July 26, 7pm
- Where: Harvest Centre Auditorium
- Tickets: $22 for adults, $17.50 for under-17s, and $13.50 for under-12s; available at www.trybooking.co.nz and on the night at the Harvest Centre