Arts This Week: Banff Film Festival at the Paramount
By Sage Tanguay
Sage Tanguay 00:08
The Shenandoah National Park trust will host the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival on March 7th, 8th, and 9th at the Paramount Theater. For Arts This Week, we spoke to the Trust’s Executive Director.
Jessica Cocciolone 00:19
I’m Jessica Cocciolone. I’m the Executive Director for Shenandoah National Park Trust. Shenandoah National Park Trust is the official philanthropic partner for Shenandoah National Park so we raise money from communities to give to the park for programs and initiatives that are happening in the park. That could be from the education programs where about 10,000 kids are served every year. We support about 90% of that budget. Could be the hiking trails that many of us use every day, the Dark Skies programs. It could be visitor center services, education/interp — We really touch every aspect of the park that you as a visitor would experience.
Sage Tanguay 00:58
You all have a film festival coming up soon. Could you tell us a little bit about that?
Jessica Cocciolone 01:03
March 7th, 8th, and 9th. We host the Banff International Film Festival. This will be our 10th year, and it’s a action packed, heart stopping, heart pounding, short films about outdoor adventure. It’s pretty cool.
Sage Tanguay 01:17
Could you tell us about some of the films?
Jessica Cocciolone 01:19
Yeah, the films vary, but are all focused on outdoor adventure. So there often is, like, high altitude skiing, you know, where they’re in those, like, high peaks, really dramatic. There’s mountain biking often, and really high I think one of them this year is in the dolmites in Italy. It’s pretty, like, scary to me, but also really thrilling. A lot of rock climbing, and some have been historically, they’ve been, you see Half Dome climbs and just really obscure, remote places that throughout rock climbing. And there’s stories of people biking across like, three continents. You know, it’s very, very awe inspiring stuff that people are doing and pushing your body to the extreme. So it’s fun. They’re all documentaries. Some of them are short, like, five minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and there’s usually like a hour long film in there each night, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the films will all be different. So when a viewer comes on a Friday night, they and they want to come back on a Saturday. They’re all different films. Well, you can get your tickets at the paramount, it’s where it’s hosted. You just go on their website and purchase their $25 a night. It generally is a sold out show. So I recommend getting your tickets early. The Film Festival has actually been hosted in Charlottesville for like, 30 years, so it’s truly a community event, and people come year over year. It’s really high energy. It’s very exciting. Come early to get your seats because it’s not assigned seating, and then we always encourage you to hang out down on the mall and have local food.
Sage Tanguay 02:46
Awesome. Is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to about this year’s festival?
Jessica Cocciolone 02:56
This is the first time we’ve hosted three nights. Historically, it’s always been a two night film festival, and so I’m looking forward to seeing a whole nother round of crowds. You know, it’s like 1000 people that come to that theater every night. So it’s just a lot of energy. We do have a new superintendent at Shenandoah National Park. He’ll be there on Saturday night speaking to the crowd, and so that’s exciting. This will be his first like entree to the Charlottesville community. This is a fundraising event for us, so we we take all the proceeds that come from this event and put it right back into Shenandoah National Park. So it’s like having fun, going to see some really great shows, and also doing some really good things with it. So
Sage Tanguay 03:30
Perfect.
Jessica Cocciolone 03:31
Come out and see us.
Sage Tanguay 03:32
What is your favorite part of Shenandoah National Park?
Jessica Cocciolone 03:36
I love Mary’s rock. That’s a really one of my favorite trails. But I also just love just how passionate the employees are, the staff you know that are there, and how enthusiastic they are about sharing their mission in the park with community members and visitors. It’s it’s quite remarkable.
Sage Tanguay 03:54
The Banff Film Festival will be at the Paramount Theater on Friday, March 7ththrough Sunday, March 9th. Tickets are available at theparamount.net
Arts This Week is supported by the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College. PVCC Arts presents a rich array of dance music, theater and visual arts programming. Learn more at pvcc.edu
