The backcountry film festival is a pre winter institution in Melbourne. We have been screening the festival each year since 2011. The program is put together by Winter Wildlands Alliance, and celebrates the power and spirit of humans in winter.
This is a first announcement for the 2025 screening and a call for local backcountry films to be included in the festival.
The festival features 13 films over 2 and a half hours.
The festival will happen on the afternoon of Sunday May 11, 2025.
The festival format
We are going for a slightly different format this year, with a late afternoon/ early evening screening on a Sunday on May at RMIT on Swanston street.
The program
Arrive from 4pm for yarns, merchandise, info stalls - from MSC, POW, Liebe Skis and more
The program kicks off at 4.30pm: starting with a few speakers from groups like Mountain Safety Collective, Protect Our Winters and the Victorian Backcountry Festival, and a mini launch of this year's Mountain Journal print magazine, then
at 5pm, we will screen the program that is put together by the US-based Winter Wildlands Alliance (check below for the listing of films, there will be a brief interval half way through)
Followed by a selection of other backcountry films, including Papsura: Peak of Evil and Alpine Odyssey, which covers Huw Kingston's winter crossing of the Australian Alps
Finish by 7.30pm
The festival is organised by Friends of the Earth Melbourne, with support from RMIT Outdoors Club.
All funds raised after costs will be used to support FoE's forest campaign in the Victorian high country.
A full line-up of films will be announced in the next few weeks.
The venue will be on the RMIT in central Melbourne/ Naarm. It is room 80.01.02 (Building 80 level 1 room), 435-457 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000.
There is a facebook event page available here.
Tickets
You will also be able to buy tickets on the night (cash or card).
Do you have a backcountry film you would like screened?
Then please get in touch! Sooner would be good so we can include you in all the festival promos.
Stalls
If your group or business would like to have an info or merch stall you are most welcome to do so. There is no charge for this. Please get in touch: [email protected]
Film lineup for the WWA program
(local films to be announced shortly).
Presented by Winter Wildlands Alliance, the annual Backcountry Film Festival celebrates the power and spirit of humans in winter.
SURVIVING OUR STORY - 2024 Human Powered Film Grant Winner
24:33 minutes
By Connor Ryan and Isaiah Branch Boyle
For two skiers caught in back-to-back Colorado avalanches, surviving the accident is only the beginning of the journey to reclaim their lives and find their way back to the snow.
DRAWN IN
7:33 minutes
By Jessa Gilbert and Justin Taylor Smith
Artist Jessa Gilbert finds inspiration, lines in the snow, and a beginning at the bottom of the world.
A ROSE FOR ALL
6:00 minutes
By Chris Kitchen, KGB Productions
Half an hour from downtown Reno, Nevada, lies a public gateway to wild snow. But can we make room for everybody?
SVEN – A LIFE IN FRONT OF THE LENS
16:05 minutes
By Gabe Rovick, F4D Studio
Veteran cover boy Sven Brunso may just be the most photographed man in backcountry skiing. Will he ever give up?
THE GLIDE - Backcountry Film Festival Jury Award Winner (2024)
3:00 minutes
By Luc Mehl
After several close calls in avalanches, Winter Wildlands Alliance’s Alaska-based ambassador Luc Mehl wanted to explore some different terrain.
A LINE IN THE SNOW
14:02 minutes
By Ryan Rumpca, Manifested Moose Media
Professional arctic explorer Annie Aggens, her daughters and their four-legged friends go winter camping in the wilds of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters.
THE POWER OF FOUR
7:33 minutes
By Forest Barton
Spandex, skinny skis, struggle and redemption in the headwaters of the Roaring Fork.
NOVELTY LINES
4:42 minutes
By Anthony Cupaiuolo, First Tracks Productions
Splitboarder Claire Hewitt-Demeyer pushes the limits of human-powered type 2 fun for a surprising first descent.
ON THIN SNOW
9:22 minutes
By Jonah Rafael and Kalef Steinberg
Avalanche scientist Brian Lazar digs into the increasingly variable snowpack in Colorado to see what climate change means for backcountry skiing.
NISEI
7:36 minutes
By Iz La Motte, Sierra Schlag
In the tension between her Japanese and American heritage, pro-skier Sierra Schlag finds graceful lines through deep powder.
SONG OF ICE
2:26 minutes
By Arthus Kauffeisen
A lyrical dance through frozen mountain landscapes with very earnest voiceover.
Papsura: Peak of Evil
Tucked deep in the Indian Himalaya is a 21,165-foot behemoth called the Peak of Evil, the face is split by a line so perfect and massive it pushed the skills of even the most renowned ski mountaineers. Papsura: Peak of Evil follows professional snowboarders Nick Russell and Jerry Mark from California’s Sierra Nevada to this remote corner of the world’s greatest mountain range as they harness years of experience in pursuit of the biggest line of their lives.
DIRECTED BY Morgan Shields
CONCEPT BY Nick Russell
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Monika McClure Alex Lowther Kristo Torgersen Colleen Quigley
FEATURING Nick Russell Jerry Mark Jim Morrison Jeremy Jones Jim Zellers Hilaree Nelson
35 minutes.
Presented by PATAGONIA.