Be inspired for your next adventure at the 5th Annual SOAR film festival, which runs Nov. 13-16 at Sudbury Indie Cinema.
SOAR brings Northern Ontario the best and latest in adventure and wilderness travel film.
Opening the festival, on an added Thursday night, is a talk with Kielyn Marrone, an Arctic survivalist, wilderness guide and History Channel’s Alone Season 7 finalist.
An Espanola local and Laurentian University outdoor adventure leadership alum, Marrone will join Beth Mairs, a veteran of outdoor travel herself, in conversation about her recent adventures, her one of a kind expedition company, Lure of the North and what it was like to be on TV out in the wild.
“It’s amazing to me that SOAR Film Fest, born during the pandemic, is now five and in that short time has become Eastern Canada’s answer to Banff Mountain Film Festival,” says festival co-founder, Beth Mairs.
What started as a unique partnership between Sudbury Indie Cinema and Laurentian University’s Outdoor Adventure Leadership Program, SOAR has grown into the largest outdoor adventure film festival in Eastern Canada.
“It’s thrilling to bring another stellar slate of the world’s best adventure films to the region,” Mairs said.
The festival features personal documentaries about adventurers and enthusiasts.
Audiences will climb mountain summits, paddle Patagonian rapids, live off the land, and more. Uniting the 25 films is a passion for the wilderness and a sense of belonging in the outdoors.
Headlining feature films include the three-time award winner Road to Patagonia, Iron Winter coming straight from Banff Mountain Film Festival (‘25), and Snow Leopard Sisters (Hot Docs ‘24), and the free-climbing barrier-breaking story, Girl Climber.
Trixie Pacis (Wildflowers, SOAR ‘24) is returning to the festival this year with her mid-length film Ahon.
“Ahon (which means ‘to rise’ in Tagalog) uses climbing as a metaphor for the obstacles that immigrants must overcome in foreign lands,” the filmmaker says. “My hope for this film is that, through a common love for mountains, we can share Filipino culture and perspectives with fellow Canadians from all backgrounds...it means the world for our film to screen at SOAR.”
“SOAR is proud to deliver these award-winning films to a city and region with a great culture of love for the outdoors and all that it offers,” said festival director Simone Widdifield of SOAR’s fit to its host region. “Through SOAR, we are able to inspire the many adventures to be had and sights to be seen in Northern Ontario.”