JACKSON, Wyo – Alpinist Magazine-a quarterly publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing-announced today that surf legend Mickey “The Mongoose” Munoz will present Surf Night for The Second Annual Barry Corbet Film Festival (BCFF) on Friday, January 20. When Gerry Lopez, the scheduled speaker for Surf Night, bowed out of the BCFF due to family emergency, Munoz, a fixture in the surf scene for more than fifty years, agreed to take his place. One of the original Malibu “hotdoggers,” Munoz has been described as both the “surfer’s surfer”- he won the first professional surf contest and pioneered Hawaii’s Waimea Bay-and the “designer’s designer”: he has shaped thousands of boards throughout his career. “Munoz [is] a great choice,” said Lopez. “[H]e has a helluva lot more history in surfing than I do!” Munoz will be joined on stage during Surf Night by friend and surf partner Yvon Chouinard as the two icons present their perspectives on modern surfing.
On Friday, January 6, The New York Times (circulation: 1.5 million) published an article, “Adventure Film Festivals: Would-You-Dare Movies,” that featured The Barry Corbet Film Festival as one of a growing number of adventure film festivals. “In these cinema events,” according to the Times, “hard-core and armchair athletes watch scenes of jaw-dropping athletic feats and daring natural exploration, all in celebration of life on the edge.” The Times quotes the BCFF’s founder and Festival Director, Christian Beckwith, as saying, “Anyone can pull together a montage of images with a pounding soundtrack and call it a film. We’re trying to showcase films that find an appreciation for aesthetics and a story line-films that show both the reverence and irreverence of what we call lifestyle sports.” The article continues, “In Teton Village, cocktails and conversation begin flowing before the screenings, and the after-hour parties… are not to be missed.”
Films accepted for the BCFF will be eligible for the People’s Choice Award in each evening’s category of Snow, Surf and Stone. Awards will be decided by an audience ballot vote and announced at the next evening’s presentations. An award for Best Film will be made at the conclusion of the festival; this Grand Prize will carry with it a cash award of $500.
World premiers to debut at the BCFF now include Why He Skied, a 2005 film by director Per Saari, that explores the life of Exum Mountain Guide Hans Saari and chronicles a brother’s search for peace in the aftermath of his death. My First Everest Expedition, a 2005 comic short out of Great Britain, features Mary Woodbridge who, at age 85, and accompanied by her dachshund, Daisy, will embark on a new route in a single push to the apex of the world. And award-winning director Peter Mortimer will debut The Obscurist, a short segment from the upcoming Sender Films release about the agony and ecstasy of one man’s quest to climb the best undiscovered upside-down offwidth roof crack in Yosemite Valley.
The Second Annual Barry Corbet Film Festival will take place January 19-21, 2006 at the Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Central Asia Institute (www.ikat.org) in support of their Education Disaster Fund (EDF) for “on the ground” relief efforts following Pakistan’s catastrophic earthquake. Advanced tickets and a complete listing of films can be found at www.alpinist.com.
Doors open each night at 7:00 p.m. for pre-film cocktails. Films begin at 8. Afterhours parties on Friday and Saturday nights at Vertical are included with tickets. Tickets ($12 each night) are available at Teton Mountaineering, Skinny Skis, Tobacco Row, Summit Surf, Wilson Backcountry Sports and the Village Cafe, or by calling Alpinist at 307-734-0600.
The Barry Corbet Film Festival is supported by Patagonia, Exum Mountain Guides, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and a number of Valley businesses and individuals. It is powered by Base Camp Communications.
About Alpinist Magazine: Hailed by Italian climbing legend Reinhold Messner as “The best climbing magazine in the world today,” Alpinist Magazine is an archival-quality, quarterly publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing. The pages of Alpinist capture the art of ascent in its most powerful manifestations, presenting an articulation of climbing and its lifestyle that matches the intensity of the pursuit itself. Alpinist has been awarded two Maggie Awards, for Best Quarterly/Consumer Division and Best Overall Design, and was featured in a seven-page article in Outside Magazine (“The Purists”) in March 2005. The magazine’s editorial and publishing offices are based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and online at www.alpinist.com