Get the popcorn ready: the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) is coming to your living room. The 2021 edition of the festival runs from February 19 to 28 streaming online. It includes over 50 films, three interactive workshops, and three live panel discussions about outdoor adventures across the globe.
Until further notice, in line with the public health order, non-essential travel into, within, and out of BC is not recommended. BC residents, let’s do our part by continuing to stay small and support local with your immediate household, in accordance with the latest guidelines.
Tickets and Passes
There are three different ways to get tickets. You can buy an all-access festival pass that gets you into all of the films, all three panels, and all three workshops. There’s also a film-only pass that includes all of the films and panels, but not the workshops.
If you only want to see a few films, you can also purchase individual show tickets for 17 different themed shows including the Climbing Show, Mountain Culture Show, Womxn in Adventure Show, and more.
Pro tip: Buy your tickets or passes in advance since prices go up once the festival starts.
How to Watch
Once the festival is live on February 19, you’ll receive an email with links to stream the films you purchased passes for. You will have access to the films for thirty days and can watch the films as many times as you want. That way you can organize your own mini-film festival for members of your bubble!
Festival Highlights
The collection of eight films at the Canadian Show celebrates home-grown adventures. Soak up local stories and scenery from Vancouver’s North Shore Mountains, Tofino, Squamish, the Chilcotin Mountains, the Yukon, the Canadian Rockies, and Saskatchewan.
A still from Silks. Photo: VIMFF
Hillary: Ocean to Sky
Sir Edmund Hillary is best known as one of the first two people (along with Tenzing Norgay) to climb Mount Everest. Ocean to Sky is a feature-length film that tells the story of one of Hillary’s lesser-known expeditions: a journey by jet boat along the entire length of India’s Ganges River, undertaken soon after the tragic deaths of Hillary’s wife and daughter. Told through historical footage and contemporary interviews, it’s a wild and emotional ride.
A still from Ocean to Sky. Photo: VIMFF
Indigenous Identity in the Outdoors
The Indigenous Identity in the Outdoors Show is also a fundraiser for Indigenous Women Outdoors, an organization that helps Indgienous women living on unceded Sḵwx̱ú7mesh, Líl̓wat, səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territories connect with the land and each other by creating safe opportunities that eliminate barriers to getting into nature. It includes a panel discussion as well as four films about indigenous people in the outdoors.
A still from In the Footsteps of our Ancestors. Photo: VIMFF
Family Show
Watch the seven films at the Family Show with your kids and get inspired to plan your next family adventure. You’ll watch kids shred on mountain bikes, head out on canoe trips, and learn to whitewater paddle. Little explorers will also love The Great Milestone, a quirky and cute animated film about mountaineering, and Trail Floof about rescue pups in North Vancouver who love to go mountain biking.
A still from The Great Milestone. Photo: VIMFF
