Jackson, Wyoming – January 10, 2008 – Organizers of the 2008 Alpinist Film Festival announced today the details of the People’s Choice Award-winning packages. Each winner of the Festival’s individual Snow, Surf and Stone nights will receive a Patagonia gift certificate worth $750. The Festival’s grand prize winner, which will be chosen at the conclusion of Sunday’s People’s Choice Ceremonies at the Center for the Arts in Jackson, will receive another Patagonia gift certificate worth an additional $1,500. The Grand Prize winner, which will be announced Monday, January 21 on www.alpinist.com, will thus receive Patagonia gift certificates worth $2,250.
The People’s Choice Ceremonies will begin with the signature Alpinist Film Festival party at 5 p.m. in the Center for the Arts’ Theater lobby. The evening’s films will start at 6. Surfer Dan Malloy, a Patagonia athlete and star of the surf film Sliding Liberia, the world premiere of which will screen on Friday’s Surf Night, will present the awards on behalf of Patagonia each evening.
“Patagonia was honored when Alpinist offered us an opportunity to recognize the winners of the People’s Choice Awards,” said Patagonia Representative Kristo Torgersen. “The only thing we love more than a film that inspires us to drop in, rope up or paddle out is getting out of our seat and doing just that. Although we believe the honor of being recognized and awarded by a community of one’s peers is reward enough, we figured a new wardrobe for staying warm and dry on their next film project wouldn’t hurt. We call it ‘the icing on the cake,’ and these filmmakers deserve it.”
Patagonia has been the presenting sponsor of The Alpinist Film Festival since its inception in 2005. In 2008, the outdoor clothing company, long known for its commitment to protecting the earth’s undomesticated lands and waters, increased their support by underwriting the costs associated with offsetting the Festival’s carbon footprint.
AFF Film Coordinator Conor Miller said, “The momentum this Festival is gaining is exciting, and it would not have been possible to stand where we do today without Patagonia’s help. Their generous donation of the award packages will certainly raise the suspense of this year’s Festival, especially on Sunday night. With a Patagonia catalogue in hand, filmmakers are sure to be drooling over those gift certificates.”
The 2008 Alpinist Film Festival will feature its signature Snow, Surf and Stone nights January 17-19 at Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, Wyoming. The party begins every night at 5 p.m. with tunes by DJ Rocky Vertone and beer by New Belgium. Special matinees will screen at 2 p.m. on Friday and Sunday afternoons at the Walk Festival Hall and the Center for the Arts respectively.
Tickets for The 2008 Alpinist Film Festival are $18 for the Snow, Surf and Stone nights and $20 for the People’s Choice Ceremonies. Tickets and additional information can be found online at www.alpinist.com/film_festival. To date, every event in The Alpinist Film Festival’s three-year history has sold out.
About The Alpinist Film Festival
The Alpinist Film Festival celebrates the adventure lifestyle across disciplines and generations with three nights of film in skiing, surfing and climbing. The Festival’s mission is to advance the art of cinematographic storytelling as it underscores the unity among the adventure lifestyle communities. A portion of every year’s proceeds are donated to charities that help preserve the places of our inspiration. Because one of these places is our planet, beginning in 2008, the Festival will purchase carbon offsets to counteract its carbon footprint.
About Alpinist Magazine
Hailed by Italian climbing legend Reinhold Messner as “The best climbing magazine in the world today,” Alpinist Magazine is an archival-quality, quarterly publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing. The pages of Alpinist capture the art of ascent in its most powerful manifestations, presenting an articulation of climbing and its lifestyle that matches the intensity of the pursuit itself. Alpinist has been awarded three Maggie Awards, for Best Quarterly/Consumer Division, Best Overall Design, and Best Electronic Newsletter, and was featured in a seven-page article in Outside Magazine (“The Purists”) in March 2005. The magazine’s editorial and publishing offices are based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and online at www.alpinist.com.