This year’s Banff Film Fest is going virtual

One of the films featured in the Sapphire collection is about a piano tuner who delivers a 100-year-old upright piano to a remote mountain village. Photo courtesy Banff Mountain Film Fest

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is going virtual in 2021.

That means instead of putting on my best hiking boots and pants and hanging out at the Paramount Theater with my hiking, biking and paddling pals for two consecutive nights in April, I’ll be curled up on my couch at home, watching the year’s best outdoorsy films from a nest of blankets on my sofa.

The Virtual Banff World Tour is offering four, two-hour collections of films. It costs $15 to rent a single collection for three nights, or $28 to access two collections for 14 days.

I’ve been attending the festival since it first came to Austin, and while I love the adrenalin-fueled films about extreme kayaking, cycling, skiing and mountaineering, my favorites are usually the less heart-pounding ones. This year’s selection includes a film called “Piano to Zanskar,” about a 65-year-old piano tuner faced with the task of transporting a 100-year-old upright piano from downtown London to the heart of the Indian Himalayas. Other films focus on the art of aerial silk performance, 10-time world dogsled racer George Attla, a mountain bike race in Bhutan, and one-star reviews of national parks.

To read more about what films each two-hour collection (titled Ruby, Sapphire, Amber and Onyx) features, or to rent the films, go here.

Me? I think I’m ordering two – Sapphire and Onyx. I’ll miss seeing my friends at the Paramount, but look forward to sharing thoughts on this year’s films right here.