Women, adventure and filmmaking go hand-in-hand, even if the world doesn't often recognise it. The best surfing and skydiving movie ever made — that is, the original Point Break — was directed by a pre-Oscar-winning Kathryn Bigelow, for example. At the Women's Adventure Film Tour, she has plenty of fantastic female company.
Australasia's first film festival dedicated to inspiring ladies doing exciting and extraordinary things, the cinema showcase launched across the ditch in May, and now it's hitting the road in New Zealand. On its national trek, attendees can expect a high-octane onslaught of documentary efforts from Telluride's Mountainfilm festival, all highlighting real stories about women.
This year's tour includes 12 short films, half of which feature local adventurers. Attendees will witness the grit and determination of Australia's best female rock climber, the youngest Australian to summit Mt Everest, and New Zealand Olympic skiers Anna Segal and Janina Kuzma.
The fest's selection also draws from a variety of cultures, touches upon a range of sports from around the world, and shows ladies either going full daredevil or stepping beyond their comfort zones — because adventure means different things to different people. A collaboration between Mountainfilm and female-fronted collective She Went Wild, it stops by Newmarket's Rialto Cinema for three nights this November and December.