Photo: Abby Zieverink

By Shane Clausing

banff centre mountain film festival

New dates and venue announced for 2022 Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival

Mar 15, 2022 | 6:00 AM

The Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival is returning to Grande Prairie this spring after it was postponed earlier this year because of COVID-19 concerns.

Initially, the festival was supposed to be held Jan. 14-16 at the Douglas J. Cardinal Performing Arts Centre at Northwestern Polytechnic.

“Unfortunately, with restrictions and such and precautions being taken by a lot of facilities, we were not able to host the live in-person show at the Grande Prairie Regional College (Northwestern Polytechnic) as was previously planned,” said festival co-host Geo Rawlings.

“We had to scramble a little bit, wait for restrictions to be lifted as well as for the number of cases in Alberta and Grande Prairie to decrease before we felt comfortable rescheduling the performance for our film festival tour.”

Because of the rescheduling of the festival, Rawlings and the other organizers were forced to search for new dates and a new venue to host the event.

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After searching for a little bit, organizers determined the best place to hold it was at the St. John Paul II Performing Arts Theatre from Apr. 22-24.

“It’s a smaller venue, only 300 seats, but we are expecting to have a sellout crowd this year because it is a smaller venue,” Rawlings explained.

“With the new dates, we are hoping there will still be a big buzz before everyone gets excited about summer activities. I think we’ve got the best time available to put on the show again for people in the Grande Prairie region.”

Rawlings says he expects there will be an energetic crowd despite the smaller venue.

“A smaller venue we’ll still be able to get that good feel of an energetic crowd watching these films. We expect that things aren’t fully rebounded to what they were pre-pandemic. A smaller venue is going to be a lot of fun for us. Something new and exciting.”

Over the three nights, Rawlings and his team will be showing various films that focus on the mountains and the role they play in our world. Each night will feature a different program.

Those interested in purchasing tickets can do so by contacting the Grande Prairie Live Theatre box office by calling 780-538-1616.

The festival is also used as a major fundraiser for the Wapiti Nordic Ski Club to help keep it operating year-round.