Edinburgh Film Fest Seeks Films

It might seem ludicrously early to start bigging up the 2006 Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival - it doesn't happen until 20-22 October if you were wondering - but the organisers are already looking for submissions from film-makers.

The deadline is 16 July 2006 and both professional and amateur contributions are welcome. To give you an idea, Festival Director Stevie Christie describes 'Cano Bagging', the winning film from last year's successful event:

"It was a 15 minute film which told the story of 3 local guys who skied the extinct volcano of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh one winter's day. They got a taste for what they called 'Cano-Bagging', so spent the summer skiing volcanoes in New Zealand. It was a great story, complemented by superb footage of fairly extreme skiing in an unusual setting - a great adventure."

Stevie's keen to stress that not all the films are that extreme, erm, dude. One of last year's films was a debut effort that documented a group of friend's on an unremarkable trip to a remote mountain bothy. The film, the director's debut, captured the unique experience of bothying in Scotland and evoked nostalgia amongst enchanted audiences.

"There are no strict rules to the types of films we show, as long as they evoke the spirit of adventure", explains Christie. "We've previously shown films featuring skiing and snow-boarding, white-water kayaking, BASE-jumping, ski-mountaineering, mountain biking, as well as all disciplines of climbing. Shorter films up to 15 minutes are especially welcome, and we're always on the look out for films which are a little bit different!"

To spice it up, for the first time, there's a cash prize on offer for the winning film. You can find full details of how to submit films at www.edinburghmountainff.com

Watch Out For...

Watch out too for a series of 'Best of the Fest' film nights to be held in March 2006, details to be confirmed.