A dose of armchair adventure to cure winter blahs

With temperatures taking their usual January plunge, it's easy to get a case of the winter blahs.

But Jim Little, program co-ordinator of the Outdoor Adventure Leadership Program at Laurentian University, thinks he has the perfect remedy.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival world tour — featuring a selection of some of the globe's best adventure films — makes its annual stop in Sudbury on Jan. 22.

The event, which takes place at Laurentian's Fraser Auditorium, is a fundraiser for the Outdoor Adventure Leadership Program. Revenues go to third-year students' canoe trip — they're taking on the Coulonge River in Quebec next spring.

A perennial favourite with Sudburians, there usually aren't many empty seats in the auditorium during the festival.

“I think it's popular because it shakes up the winter a little bit,” Little said. “It rekindles our love of being active and getting outside. You can get these winter blahs. But just showing some of these adventurers go through their trials and tribulations, it stimulates people to get out there and be adventurous in whatever capacity we can.”

Little has just finalized the festival lineup, and said this year's edition is looking fantastic.

The main feature film is Unbranded, about four young Texans' plot to adopt, train, and ride wild mustangs 3,000 miles from the Mexican border to Canada. The film won the people's choice award at the 2015 Banff festival.

Also being screened is Eclipse (no, we're not talking about the third installment in the Twilight film series). It's about a Squamish, B.C. photographer trying to capture a picture of a skier on a slope in Norway silhouetted by a total solar eclipse.

There's also a couple of films with a feminist bent, including Project Mina, about a woman involved in competitive bouldering, and another called Pretty Faces, about female downhill skiers.

The festival evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with exhibits by local vendors in the Fraser foyer. The films start at 7 p.m.

Tickets to the festival, which cost $20 each, are available at Ramakko's, ARC Climbing and Fitness, Outside Store, Adventure 365 and online at adventureleadership.ca.