BMC ShAFF 2019 Winners Announced along with Immersive 360 Programme
Press Release / 21.03.2019
Ahead of this weekend's festival, the winners of the BMC Sheffield Adventure Film Festival 2019 have been revealed. ShAFF has also announced a programme of immersive 360 content, making them one of the first mountain & adventure film festivals in the world to delve into the world of Virtual Reality.
â— Sheffield Adventure Film Festival winners announced ahead of this weekend's festival. â— With an immersive Adventure VR Programme, ShAFF is one of the first mountain & adventure film festivals in the world to delve into the world of Virtual Reality. â— ShAFF is presented in association with the British Mountaineering Council, who this year are celebrating their 75th birthday with 15% off all tickets for members. â— From mind-blowing immersive VR, to adventure activism-inspired interactive film sessions, plus a full programme of films and activities for Young Adventurers. Check out the programme on the ShAFF website & book your tickets now. â— Bringing the wild outdoors into the heart of the city, ShAFF returns to the Showroom Cinema from 22-24 March, screening a carefully curated 3-day programme of the latest outdoor adventure films, with more than 100 films across 5 big screens for 1 awesome weekend!
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BMC ShAFF 2019 Festival Winners Announced
Ahead of this weekend's festival at the Showroom Cinema, the winners of the BMC Sheffield Adventure Film Festival have been revealed. ShAFF organisers announce the winners a week before the event so festival-goers can make sure they see the best films of the year, and decide whether they agree with the judges! A selection of the award winning films will be shown at the Best of ShAFF screening at Cycle to the Cinema on 20 March, on Saturday 7:30pm [SOLD OUT] & Sunday 8:30pm at ShAFF .
A ShAFF panel of industry experts led by writer and filmmaker Claire-Jane Carter scored entries to the festival, watching more than 100 of the best new adventure films. The 12 categories of the ShAFF 2019 awards distinguish achievements in all aspects of filmmaking, including Best Film, Best Soundtrack, Best Artistic Film, and unique to ShAFF, the 'Spirit of Adventure Award', celebrating those films that best capture the core adventure theme of the festival. This year a new Adventure Activism award has been introduced, recognising films that inspire viewers to take action for our planet and our future. The theme is reflected throughout the festival in the programme of adventure activism-inspired interactive workshops for water lovers, runners, and young people.
The winner of the Best Activism Film was Sacred Strides, described by judge Paul Hodgson as a "Powerful, beautiful and entertaining film about Native Americans using running to inform both spiritual experience and political activism." Lead judge Claire Jane Carter said, "This year at ShAFF we have seen adventure defined by an exciting constellation of individuals, using their bodies and minds together to push into the unknown. It's an uncomfortable time; as one of the protagonists of Sacred Strides says; 'There's no time to be scared in this world,' and overall the jury were inspired to think about courage in a different light. Some of the winning films this year demonstrated exactly how we use adventure as a tool to overcome literal, political and emotional adversity.
Activism was an important theme and we were stunned to see so many films, from the light hearted and relatable 'Mile an Hour', encouraging us to use our time for good, to the just awe-inspiring personal achievements of Clare and her community in Reach, demonstrating how adventure and activism have such parallels.
The winning film 'This Mountain Life' gave us an insight into the multiplicity of attitudes and engagement with mountains, Ascending Afghanistan reminded us of the metaphor of a mountain, as much as the reality, and Zabadast demonstrated cutting edge filmmaking and endeavour with it's alpine style ascent and descent of one very intimidating mountain.
Aside from these three films we enjoyed visiting every landscape we could think of, desert to ice cap to building-block stair-cases to boulders. ShAFF manages an incredibly diverse programme, and we hope this year's awards reflect the growing diversity both of the individuals, their talents and their communities that the films encompass." ShAFF is presented in association with the British Mountaineering Council, and this year the BMC are celebrating their 75th birthday with 15% off all tickets for members. Winning films include: This Mountain Life - Grand Prize for Best Film, Spirit of Adventure Award sponsored by Sidetracked Magazine - Traces, Made in Sheffield sponsored by Buffalo Systems - Reach. The People's Choice, sponsored by Street Food Chef is voted by festival-goers and will be announced the week after ShAFF. Full details of this year's awards can be found here.
Alex Messenger, BMC Head of Communications, said "The BMC is proud to return as Presenting Sponsor for ShAFF 2019. We're excited to mark our 75th year with a series of special events at the festival, and to celebrate we're offering BMC members 15% off all tickets." A programme of immersive 360 content to blow your mind!
ShAFF is excited to announce that we have teamed up with Limina Immersive to bring a round-the-clock programme of VR sessions during the festival, featuring eight short films from the leading exponents of 360 film, Red Bull, GoPro, Salomon, National Geographic and The Guardian. Come along and see National Geographic's short immersive film of Alex Honnold soloing El Cap with a headset with 360 footage and amazing sound (from the Award-winning film Free Solo). These sessions are sponsored by the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, who are also bringing their mobile interactive truck, which will be located outside Sheffield Station for the weekend.
VR tickets are available via the ShAFF website. ShAFF Festival Director Matt Heason says: "We're more than a little excited to delve into the world of Virtual Reality. From mind-blowing immersive VR, to adventure activism-inspired interactive film sessions, plus a full programme of films and activities for Young Adventurers, there's so much to get involved in and make a weekend of it at ShAFF this year." ShAFF is a headline event of The Outdoor City Festival of the Outdoors, a month long celebration of Sheffield's unique outdoor communities, promoting fun, adventure and participation for all.
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