Banff Centre Film Festival returns to Logan
Ready for a mountain-filled movie night? On Feb. 5-6, the annual Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival & World Tour is set to make its return to the Ellen Eccles Theatre, celebrating Banff Centre’s 50-year history of mountain-based storytelling.
Spanning over 50 countries and reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers, the touring film festival was created by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada with the purpose of highlighting the adventure, culture and significance of mountain life. The event serves as an extension of the center’s annual eight-day festival, which took place in Nov. 2025. This year’s festival featured 87 films. For the Logan tour stop, 16 of those films will be presented to audiences, including award-winners “Best Day Ever” and “Old Man Lighting.”
Directed by Ben Knight and Berne Broudy, “Best Day Ever” is a documentary that tells the story of two adaptive mountain bikers, Greg Durso and Allie Bianchi, who experience the power of nature and community as disabled athletes. The piece won Best Film in the Mountain Sports category as well as the Audience Choice Award. According to film festival tour coordinator Heather Walter, it’s for good reason.
“It’s a beautiful film,” Walter said in an interview with The Utah Statesman. “It helps, I think, viewers and audiences really get insight of an adaptive sport athlete, or athletes in this case, and how challenging their lives can be — but incredibly rewarding when a community comes together to support them.”
The winner of Best Film in the Climbing category, “Old Man Lightning,” promises to make audiences “laugh and cry and maybe piss yer pants,” according to the center’s website.
“It’s described by the filmmaker as ‘Rocky’ meets ‘Monty Python,’” Walter said. The piece was directed by Dawn Kish, and while its official description doesn’t reveal much about the plot, it claims to be “the best climbing, comedy, comeback ever made.”
Also among the films presented on the Logan tour stop are “The Finisher” directed by Julia Marie Campanelli and Drew Darby, “Dissidence” directed by Rama Dio Syahputra and several shorter films.
In order to ensure each stop on the tour delivers on the festival’s standards, the tour coordinators — known to festival fans as “road warriors” — travel and collaborate directly with local organizations to prepare for each showing.
“We’ve been very committed to maintaining a standard that is consistent, and it’s high-quality,” Walter said. “People know when they come to a show that they’re going to get a professional presentation.”
According to Walter, the Logan tour stop is no exception. Coordinators from the center work directly with Utah State University representatives each year to select films they believe will resonate the most with their audience. For the five tour stops in Utah, this audience consists mainly of college students.
“Large numbers of college students attend this event each year,” said Sheri Jardine, the content manager for UtahPresents at Kingsbury Hall, which hosts the Salt Lake City tour stop. “Because the films are so exciting, with a wide variety of sports and world locations, the event appeals to college students who love adventure films as well as those interested in world cultures.” The tour is slated to move on to Salt Lake City directly after its Logan engagement.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the festival. When asked what keeps people coming back year after year, Walter gave credit to the talented filmmakers and creators who submit their work. The festival received more submissions this year than ever before, and according to Walter, the films slated highlight more cultures, genders and backgrounds than ever before.
“It’s become much more diverse. We see films that are, as they say, representing many more cultures, many more perspectives, many more women. It’s a night that will inspire, it will make you smile and laugh, it will make your jaw drop,” Walter said. “Most importantly, it’s an opportunity to be together with other people who value outdoors, the environment, the culture of mountain life and the opportunities that the great outdoors provides to all of us.”
At the time of publication, further information and tickets for the Logan tour stop are not publicly available.