The Kendal Mountain Festival is an annual festival held in November in Kendal, Cumbria on the edge of the English Lake District in the UK and is one of the most diverse festivals of its kind in the world, attracting film premières from around the world. The current festival patrons are Sir Chris Bonington and

Leo Houlding Leo Houlding (born 28 July 1980) is a British rock climber and mountaineer. Early life Houlding began rock climbing at the age of 10. In 1996, he became the British Junior Indoor Climbing Champion. He spent the summer of 1997, aged 17, living in ...

. As a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, it celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020 in a completely online event.

Description

Filmmakers, TV producers, adventurers, top brands, athletes and speakers gather to take part in four days of films, talks, books and exhibitions covering all aspects of mountain and adventure sports culture. It is also the main social event for outdoor enthusiasts in the UK. The

British Mountaineering Council The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the national representative body for England and Wales that exists to protect the freedoms and promote the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, including ski-mountaineers. The BMC ...

states that it "is by far the largest and most varied event of its type in Europe and it's the main social event for outdoor enthusiasts in the UK.""Kendal Mountain Festival 2010"
thebmc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2011 The heart of the programme is the International Film Competition where 100 films are screened (from 400 entries), with thirteen category prizes available. The genres include culture, environment, action sports, exploration and short-form documentaries, as well as a comprehensive speaker programme of over 100 guests each year. Other events that form part of the festival include the Kendal Mountain Literature Festival; speakers focus on mountains, landscape, nature and the sense of place in the only festival of its kind in the UK. The festival also hosts the

Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature is an annual prize of £3,000 awarded by the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust to an author or authors for "an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature". The pr ...

. The festival invests money into its community outreach and schools programme, such as remote screenings, Kendal for Schools programmes and free family adventure programmes. Extra expenditure into the local economy generated by the Kendal Mountain Festival has been independently calculated to be in excess of £4m. The festival has even been cited by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'' as one of the reasons young people are attracted to Kendal as a place to live. The Kendal Mountain Festival 'mission' is 'to inspire more people to explore, enjoy and represent mountains, wilderness and their cultures'. Robert Macfarlane, the festival patron, states: "The Festival celebrates the relations between people and places – between landscapes and the human heart – as they play out in culture and especially in literature. Its many and varied events seek to emphasise connection and community in an age of division."

References

External links

* *https://vimeo.com/mountainfestival *https://filmfreeway.com/festival/KendalMountain *http://www.openadventure.com/kmf/ Climbing in England Festivals in Cumbria Film festivals in England Kendal Mountaineering festivals Mountaineering in the United Kingdom {{UK-festival-stub