Bill Kerig '80 Women’s Ski Jumping Documentary Wins Prestigious Banff Film Festival Award
The documentary film Ready To Fly has been awarded “Best Feature-Length Mountain Film” at the prestigious Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.
“This is the greatest honor of my filmmaking career and I’m in debt to the entire Ready To Fly team for helping make it happen,” said Kerig, who was in Banff, Alberta on Nov. 4 to receive the award. “We’re thrilled to be recognized among this excellent line-up of mountain films. We hope Lindsey’s story continues to resonate and inspire people around the world to never give up on their dreams.”
Ready To Fly, written and directed by William A. Kerig (KUA '80) of Salt Lake City, Utah, follows 2009 World Ski Jumping Champion Lindsey Van and her ski jumping peers as they fight for inclusion in the Olympic Winter Games.
“This is the greatest honor of my filmmaking career and I’m in debt to the entire Ready To Fly team for helping make it happen,” said Kerig, who was in Banff, Alberta on Nov. 4 to receive the award. “We’re thrilled to be recognized among this excellent line-up of mountain films. We hope Lindsey’s story continues to resonate and inspire people around the world to never give up on their dreams.”
Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival started 37 years ago and showcases the world’s best films, books, and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment, wildlife, exploration and adventure, and sport. The 79 films chosen as finalists this year were selected from 370 films entered in competition from 34 countries.
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“This was probably the hardest category to judge, but in the end, one film overwhelmed us with its superb storytelling, inspiring characters and — most importantly — had the judges cheering at the finish,” said Banff jury member, Kathryn Bonnici. “The filmmakers spent years following this story, the pacing was spot on, and the images simply beautiful.”
On Oct. 12, Ready To Fly also won “Best Documentary” at the popular Carmel Art & Film Festival. Ready To Fly was released in Salt Lake City in February and test-marketed as part of the 10th anniversary of 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. It had its World Premiere at the MountainFilm Festival in Telluride, CO in May and has appeared in film festivals this fall throughout the U.S. including the Adventure Film Festival & Tour in Boulder, New Hampshire Film Festival, Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival, and Twin Cities Film Festival.
Ready To Fly will screen in two more film festivals this year:
• X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival
1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8
Salt Lake City, UT
The Depot, 400 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Tickets: http://x-dance.org/xd13-schedule/
1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8
Salt Lake City, UT
The Depot, 400 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Tickets: http://x-dance.org/xd13-schedule/
• Whistler Film Festival
12 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 2
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
More info: http://whistlerfilmfestival.com/
12 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 2
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
More info: http://whistlerfilmfestival.com/
ABOUT READY TO FLY
Film Website: http://www.readytoflyfilm.com
Media Contact: Whitney Childers, Associate Producer, 801-503-6099, wc@readytoflyfilm.com
Film Synopsis: Since childhood, as a wide-eyed 7-year-old ski jumper with a dream of Olympic flight, Lindsey Van, of Park City, Utah, has been an outsider in a man’s world. Thrust into a fight that’s far bigger than her dreams, larger than ski jumping or even sport, Lindsey and her ad hoc women’s ski jumping family battle entrenched attitudes and seemingly omnipotent gatekeepers to prove that women deserve to compete at the highest level: in the Winter Olympics. This powerful true story tells a tale of sacrifice and determination, of pluck and tragedy, as a very special group of unlikely heroes triumphs over massive obstacles to achieve a dream and change the world for other women in the process.
Written/Directed: William A. Kerig, of Salt Lake City — director of the acclaimed 2009 big-mountain ski film, The Edge of Never.
Produced: Scott Zeller and William A. Kerig
Editor: Steve Haugen
Director of Photography: Peter Pilafian
Executive Producers: Kimberly Brown, Susan Morrison, Geralyn Dreyfous, Jacki Zehner, Kathy Schlein
Produced: Scott Zeller and William A. Kerig
Editor: Steve Haugen
Director of Photography: Peter Pilafian
Executive Producers: Kimberly Brown, Susan Morrison, Geralyn Dreyfous, Jacki Zehner, Kathy Schlein
