ELORA – The Elora Adventure Film Festival is growing, tickets are selling fast, and now that Ian Evans has a team behind him, he couldn’t be happier.
“I think we have established ourselves as a community event and hope we are for years to come,” said Evans, festival founder and an adventurer himself.
This will be the third edition of the festival, which runs Nov. 6 to 9 at two locations: the Gorge Cinema and St. John Anglican Church.
Evans and his wife Elizabeth Walter have selected 22 short adventure films from 13 countries that will have viewers “riding the roller coaster of emotions,” he said.
“Sometimes you’ll laugh, sometimes you’ll cry. We think you’ll come away inspired.”
The festival is family-friendly and the films profile the adventures of children as young as two all the way up to adults as old as 100.
“People think adventure film festivals are all testosterone, with guys skiing down mountains at 100 miles an hour. But that’s not what we are,” Evans continued.
“Our vision is to inspire and entertain audiences of all ages by showing ordinary people achieving extraordinary things.”
The festival will also feature three speakers:
- Jill Heinerth, a Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, author, photographer and filmmaker. A documentary about her, Diving into the Darkness, will be screened at her speaker’s event on Nov. 7 at 7pm;
- Ken McGoogan, a Canadian author and adventurer with a fascination for the Arctic explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries, will be speaking on Nov 8 at 2pm; and
- Adam Shoalts, a professional explorer and author who, among other feats, completed a nearly 4,000km solo journey across Canada’s Arctic. His talk in Nov. 8 at 4:30pm.
“It’s a pretty good lineup of speakers,” Evans said.
“They are world class adventurers and it’s a rare opportunity to see them in person and have the opportunity to interact with them.”
The films are organized into two programs, each two and a half hours long, and each program will be shown at both the Gorge Cinema and St. John’s church.
While the Gorge Cinema is often the preferred venue, Evans hopes people will give the church a chance too.
The windows will be blacked out, there’s capacity for 200 people there, and the pews are padded, so it should be comfortable, he said.
“And the acoustics are incredible. It’s got a really good atmosphere.”
The church is also where the speakers will share their stories.
Magic Pebble bookstore will be selling the speakers’ books at the events and in the store.
Tickets are $25 per program. Tickets for each of the speakers are $20.
Every ticket holder will receive a $20 voucher for the Elora Mill restaurant and a 15 per cent off coupon at the outdoor store Sail. There will also be door prizes at some of the screenings.
The festival will also donate a portion of ticket sales to the Centre Wellington Community Foundation’s Elma and David Jack youth recreation fund, which provides children from low-income families with the opportunity to play sports and do outdoor activities.
That’s a good fit with the vision of the Adventure Film Festival, too, Evans said.
“It will enable kids to do outdoor activities and maybe get them inspired for a life of adventure.”
And that’s really why Evans is so passionate about the Adventure Film Festival in the first place.
“I want people to come to the festival and recognize themselves on screen. And then go out there, push it, and do something extraordinary for themselves,” he said.
“When we explore our boundaries, we find out about ourselves. You become a different person.”
For more information and to order tickets, visit eloraadventurefilmfestival.ca.
