Exhilarating film festival in Harrogate may change your life

This year’s mammoth international tour of often spectacular short films arrives in Harrogate next month after several years of gasps and dropped jaws – and soldout notices.In total eight films featuring the world’s greatest explorers – famous and not, able and disabled - will play at the Royal Hall on Thursday, February 22.Tour director Neil Teasdale is convinced this year’s will be the best.He said: “This is the first time the tour has topped 100 shows in the UK and Ireland, which is really exciting.“Audiences here have a huge passion for adventure, so we’re delighted to share these amazing films and their intrepid real-life characters.”The Banff Mountain Film Festival’s selections are chosen from hundreds of films entered each year into the event of the same name in the stunning British Columbia resort in Canada.As well as inspiring awe, the screenings often bring audiences together as a community, from the real outdoors enthusiasts to people who prefer their experience of danger to be on the big screen.The tour always travels with two programmes.The Harrogate Advertiser can reveal the audience at the Royal Hall will be treated to the ‘red’ programme.Among the eight short films will be:Into Twin Galaxies –a Greenland Epic. Top adventurers Ben Stookesbury, Sarah McNair-Landry and Erik Boomer’s journey across 1,000km of Greenland Ice cap on kite skis to reach the northern-most river ever paddled.The Frozen Road. Yorkshireman Ben Page embarks on a solo bikepacking journey in the Canadian Arctic, travelling alone in -30c conditions.Stamped. Born with her lower arm missing, climber Maureen Beck hasn’t let her disability stop her pursuing her passion, including tackling the tough 5.12 grade.