Elora Adventure Film Festival meant to inspire, motivate

ELORA – Ian Evans is feeling optimistic about this year’s Elora Adventure Film Festival, which runs Nov. 5 to 8.

It’s the fourth year for the festival that he founded and already 50 per cent of tickets are sold.

“I’m excited with what’s happening with the festival,” he said. “I think it’s becoming a permanent fixture in Elora.”

This year the festival features 30 films of varying length from 13 countries that will be shown at the Elora Centre the Arts and St. John’s Anglican Church in Elora.

Both venues have recently completed renovations and Evans said they are ideal for this type of event.

The films are divided into three programs, each about two to two-and-a-half hours long with an intermission, and are curated to go together well.

They feature regular folks doing extraordinary things, Evans said. He is careful not to give away too much about the films, though there are brief descriptions on the festival website, such as “outside your comfort zone,” “not a normal dog’s life,” and “life behind a diving mask.”

Each program is offered a few times over the weekend, so it is possible to see all the films if carefully scheduled. 

Two speakers are coming as well. Kevin Callan, better known as the Happy Camper, will tell his “hard-won tales from a lifetime of paddling Canada’s rivers,” according to the website description. His talk is 3pm on the Saturday.

John Geiger is the CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and he’ll talk about how the society located the wreck of SS Quest, the ship Sir Ernest Shackleton was on when he died in 1922. Geiger’s talk is at 5pm on the Saturday.

Both talks are at St. John’s church.

And new this year is a fourth program geared to children and families. It starts at 9:30am at the arts centre and after 30 minutes of films, there will be 30 minutes of outdoor adventure time.

“We want kids to experience adventure and then go out there and do it,” Evans said.

Adventures sound big and often expensive, but they doesn’t have to be, he added.

One of the children’s films is about a boy who explores the bugs and insects in his own backyard.

“These are the things that keep me motivated,” Evans said. “I want people to go away inspired.”

Evans said adventures keep him young at heart and in good physical shape.

“As you get older, having adventures keep you younger mentally and physically. It’s important to do that and it’s really rewarding when you’ve done it,” he said.

“In these films, people overcome incredible adversity. That’s inspiring too.”

Tickets for each program are $25 and $10 for the children’s program. Ticket holders also get a $20 voucher from the Elora Mill to use in the restaurant and 50 per cent off a purchase from Sail, the outdoor adventure store.

To book tickets, view a trailer and learn more, visit eaff.ca.