Gear up for the Adventure Film Challenge

Gear up for the Adventure Film Challenge

Calling all adventure-loving filmmakers!

It’s that time of the year again where South African filmmakers and adventure enthusiasts are given the chance to showcase their skills and passion for the outdoors. The annual Cape Union Mart Adventure Film Challenge, now in its 7th year, invites aspiring and professional adventure filmmakers to submit their 5-minute short films celebrating the beauty of South Africa’s natural landscape and the spirit of our thriving outdoor culture.

The challenge was created to shine a spotlight on local filmmakers, with the winning film being featured in the BANFF Mountain Film Festival, one of the largest mountain festivals in the world. The festival draws some of the world’s best filmmakers and accomplished outdoor heroes to celebrate adventure, the environment, mountain culture and the outdoors through film.

A platform for aspiring and professional filmmakers

The Cape Union Mart Adventure Film Challenge aims to not only showcase the country’s natural beauty but to get adventure-loving filmmakers recognised in the industry. Over the past few years since it was launched, interest has grown exponentially and so has the quality of the short films. By including categories for both aspiring and professional filmmakers last year, the Adventure Film Challenge has become a platform for every level of filmmaker to get involved.

This year, Cape Union Mart has collaborated with numerous well-known South African adventure filmmakers, outdoor enthusiasts and influencers to encourage others to partake in this exciting initiative. Several established mentors are also on board to review submissions, including sports radio presenter Jeff Ayliffe, adventure photographer and author Jacques Marais and Instagrammer and social media strategist Hloni Coleman.

Creativity and originality wins the day

In addition to the winner’s work making it onto the big screen, there are incredible cash prizes up for grabs as well. ‘Professional’ entrants will compete for R10 000 and K-Way gear to the value of R5 000, while ‘Aspiring’ filmmakers are vying for R5 000 worth of gear. Submissions in this year’s challenge will be judged on storyline, creativity, originality, visual composition and technical execution, along with editing, sound, music and overall impression. Films must be no longer than five minutes (300 seconds), including titles and credits.

Last year’s winner, Timothy Hay, offers some stand-out advice, “Future filmmakers should follow a number of great content creators online and learn from them. This world is full of amazingly creative people that don’t just create new and crazy editing styles but also show passion for their work. I love a good passion project, and look forward to entering this year’s competition!”

Entries for the Adventure Film Challenge close on Sunday, 13th September 2020.

For more information, visit https://www.banff.co.za or www.capeunionmart.co.za