In the Banff Mountain Film Festival, I watched some of the most exhilarating short clips I have ever seen. The common theme in all the clips is to explore nature and  inspire the viewer.

In one clip, a son took on a boating journey in the path his father (now old and unable to boat) used to take would take rekindle memories.  Another clip was about two women who broke a rock-climbing record on a Yosemite cliff. Interestingly, that was the only clip with women involved; there surely are more female adventurers out there so I hope future festivals show more journeys involving women. In another clip, several guys boated along 5 rivers in North America as part of a movement to prevent development along the watershed. It was inspiring to learn at the end of the clip that their activism helped in the passing of a bill to disallow development along 80% of the watershed in the Ukon region. In another clip, a few skiers went to an abandoned skiing town in northern Norway to watch an eclipse. After a lot of hardships, they succeeded in seeing the eclipse without cloud cover, and the scenery was also amazing with the Northern Lights that look so alien and unique to most of us. Overall, I was really impressed with the amazing cinematography, the compelling human stories, and the inspirational explorations and boundless variety and beauty of nature that was exhibited in all these short movie clips. There is definitely immense power in good storytelling centered around majestic natural scenery and human endeavors. One cannot help leave being immensely inspired with a positive attitude towards life!