Adventure took to the big screen as the NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival opened in Wānaka last night.
The festival, which features a lineup of award-winning films and world-class speakers, has been a fixture on the calendar of artistic adventure enthusiasts for more than two decades.
The festival runs in Wānaka until Tuesday before heading to Queenstown for two days.
Many of the film-makers featured would be introducing their own films at the festival, festival director Mark Sedon said.
"The main reason we started the festival 21 years ago, back in 2002, was to bring people together and to inspire them to undertake their own adventures and that’s still our main aim."
The festival had built a reputation for attracting top international speakers and this year he was "thrilled’’ to have American climber and skier Brette Harrington as a keynote speaker.
Harrington will be speaking at three of the festival shows.
Secondary school pupils will hear Harrington and her climbing partner Christina Lustenberger speak as part of the festival’s free schools’ programme.
The NZMFF Charitable Trust is also providing free one-hour film sessions for families in Wānaka, Lake Hāwea and Queenstown.
