SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: Nick Bennett, marketing manager of Cape Union Mart and organiser of the South African leg of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour 2013, announced the local winner of the competition and spoke about the event that screens countrywide from Friday 25 October at select Ster-Kinekor theatres.
“The winning entry to the Cape Union Mart Adventure Film Challenge is a short film called Path into the Future. It is a film about vulture conservation, and features a South African female narrator, Kerri Wolters, paragliding with the endangered Cape Vulture,’ says Nick Bennett.
He continues: “The content of the South African entries was extremely varied and included fishing, hiking, mountain biking, travelling, longboarding, conservation and climbing.’
According to Bennett, Banff averages a 95% attendance rate. “In 2012, we sold out at three of the four cinemas. It is extremely popular. We most often receive complaints… that tickets sell out too fast!’
He says Cape Union Mart’s preferred film at the festival is entitled Crossing the Ice. “It is a magnificent film that follows two Australians as they try to become the first expedition to walk to the South Pole and back, unassisted.
“We like it so much because it is the quintessential “man vs. nature’ narrative, and because the two heroes of the expedition are so likeable,’ concludes Bennett.
Report by Martie Bester
