Reviews

European Outdoor Film Tour: Side-Splitting Hilarity

The 18th annual European Film Tour hits its stride, inspiring and cracking up thousands in 300 venues across 15 countries.

For my first experience at a European Outdoor Film Tour event, I expected to see short documentary films about inspirational daredevils conquering fear itself and performing at the absolute peak of their sport. What I did not expect was the consistent comedy amidst the extreme in POV. Anyone standing outside the theater would think we were screened an advance release of Pineapple Express 2. Side-split and gut-busted, I returned home pleasantly surprised.

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Now in it’s 18th year, the E.O.F.T presents a roundup of some of the most outstanding outdoors and adventure films of the year. The inclusion of an experienced host, who introduced each of the eight films over the course of three hours, generated a film festival atmosphere, as if I was attending the premiere of each film.

Launching in more than 300 venues across 15 countries, the EOFT promotes the spirit of adventure. There is no script, no actors and no CGI - only true stories of accomplishment and overcoming the odds.

Luxembourg Screening

With a packed house, the Luxembourg community showed its appreciation for the event. The Luxembourg screening took place at Rockhal, one of the top entertainment venues in the country. Situated in a former industrial site, with megalithic steel structures juxtaposed with futuristic architecture, Rockhal feels like some off-world planet in the Blade Runner franchise. However, the screening room itself did not quite live up to a cinema experience due to its smaller screen, uncomfortable chairs and painfully long concession lines. I’d vote to move the screening to Kinepolis movie theatre next year.

Rockhal, an industrial business and entertainment park in Luxembourg

The EOFT is a family-friendly event with mostly G-rated inspirational content. The only distressing scenes of the entire event were a relatively minor injury and the emotional story of Tom Belz’s struggle with cancer before attempting to summit Kilimanjaro.

The Lineup

From mountain biking in the Arctic Circle, to roller-skiing the length of North America, to world-record paragliding in Pakistan, the film compilation spanned the globe.

North of Nightfall

North of Nightfall started the show. A group of elite mountain bikers travel to Axel Heiberg Island, Canada's seventh largest island that lies north of the Arctic Circle, in search of bottomless descents.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFM_5CJe5Uc]

A to B Rollerski

A to B Rollerski stood out as my favorite. From the flamboyant 80’s fashion to Raimonds Dombrovskis’ bold personality, this is the one I’ll be re-watching every year on a creaky, scratched-up DVD. Raimonds Dombrovskis repeats the longest training run of his biathlon career, which covered 6,700 kilometers from the northern tip of Canada down to the Mexican boder, on rollerskis. As an added bonus, the director traveled to the event to answer questions and speak about the film in person.

Raimonds Dombrovskis rollerskis across North America to train to represent Latvia in the Olympics in biathlon.

Mbuzi Dume - Strong Goat

Perhaps the most inspiring film of the day was Mbuzi Dume - Strong Goat. The film follows Tom Belz’s journey to summit Kilimanjaro one-legged, as Tom's left leg was amputated when he was just eight years old. Very skillfully and nimbly, and with exceptional grit, Tom uses crutches to traverse a variety of mountainous terrains.

Cancer survivor Tom Belz sets his sights on Kilimanjaro.

8000+

What stunt could be more ambitious or risky than paragliding among the Karakorum mountains in Pakistan for three weeks, alone? Antoine Girard defly maneuvers the upwinds with the aim to set a new altitude record in paragliding above the 8,000 meter mark.

Antoine Girard paraglides through the Karakorum mountains in Pakistan.

Viacruxis

After a 30 minute intermission, the show continued with Viacruxis, a hilarious stop-motion animated film depicting a mountaineering duo wordlessly toiling towards the summit through thick fog, falling rocks and butting egos.

This stop-motion animated film is the only unreal action of the tour.

The Frenchy

It’s impossible not to be charmed and won over by The Frenchy. 82 year old Jacques Houot is still an adamant multi-sport racer who has escaped death more times than you can count on two hands.

82 year old Jacques Houot’s stays young and fit by competing in downhill bike and ski competitions.

The A.O.

The lineup of films was presented as a crescendo leading up to the climactic climbing documentary of Adam Ondra (cue the debate between Adam and Alex Honnold here). Adam devotes himself completely, body and mind to accomplishing the first 9c difficulty level climb. We get a behind the scenes look at the non-traditional methods Adam experiments with to solve such a grueling problem. This film featured some of the most unintentionally funny scenes out of the evening’s lineup, with Adam mentally visualizing the route while groaning on the floor.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peCat3RfEAM]

Frozen Mind

Feeling a bit out of place, the showrunners screened one more film after The A.O. that was by far the least engaging of the day with cliched narration. Victor de le Rue and Pierre Hourticq navigate narrow crevasses - skiing down with their shovels - in Charmonix.