Wednesday 12 June / 21:00 / Peak Cavern

Join Sheffield Doc/Fest and ShAFF at Peak Cavern, Castleton, for an adventure into outdoor cinema as we transform the cave into a cinema for a very special screening of The Summit: the story of the most dangerous and deadly mountaineering mission on K2, hailed as the climbing film of the year. Turn up early and have your own adventure by exploring the cave and inner cavern...

Tickets cost £6 or It's free if you have a full festival pass. 

BUY TICKETS

(PS I recently read the book Tom Allen's written and it's outstanding.  I adored the film and wondered if it would be worth reading his story as well having watched it but it adds a whole other dimension.  Click here to buy the book & DVD) 

Crossing The Ice

Australian adventurers, James Castrission and Justin Jones, dare to tackle the perilous journey across Antarctica to the South Pole and back again, completely unassisted — just two men dragging their food and shelter across 1140 kilometres of barren ice. Many have tried;, all have failed. After much planning and preparation, Cas and Jonesy arrive to tackle one of the last great Antarctic odysseys, but discover an eerie similarity to Captain Scott’s race to the South Pole: there’s a Norwegian on the ice. He’s more experienced, he’s tackling the same record, and he has a head start.

You can read a review of Crossing the Ice on Outdoor Times

Journey On The Wild Coast

A young couple sell-up to spend a year trekking the coast from Seattle to Alaska. Proof you don't need a Hollywood budget to make a great adventure film - just a shared sleeping bag, toothbrush and plenty of cheese.
 

Castleton YHA (Castleton, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S33 8WB) - Saturday 27th April 2013 7.30pm
Tickets: £8 / £6 concessions (under 16s, OAP & students).

(Lucy images ©Tim Glasby)

“Having seen the trailer for SHAFF and your brochure I am assuming that women do not have adventures?  You have no images of women in the brochure and about 2% in the trailer.  Who exactly are you trying to appeal to?  Certainly not me.”  Pip Mactaggart
 

Pip’s email dropped into my inbox the day before this year’s Sheffield Adventure Film Festival started.  I was frantically busy.  The event ‘organisation’ is basically me working part time with festival founder Matt Heason and an amazing team of volunteers.  Plus, it’s a bit of a bubble burster when you’ve spent all winter watching well over a hundred films and you’re working like a dog.  And I was really proud because we’d actually got more films featuring female athletes than ever before.

So I dashed off a reply listing my case for the defence: We’d held a Women’s Climbing Expert Night with 5 female climbers; I’d interviewed film-maker Jen Randall about her film ‘Push It’ for SportSister; I’d press released all our films with female athletes; two women runners were speaking at the festival; the trailer’s made 4 months in advance and film-makers don’t send high res images in time for the brochure; two of four our judges (Trail Running Editor Claire Maxted, and eight times British climbing champion, Lucy Creamer) are female; and we don’t control the film-makers or the sponsorship budgets.   In essence - don’t shoot the messenger. 

We ended up having our most successful year ever with ticket sales up by nearly a third.  Job done as the festival PR.  But Pip’s email’s nagged away at me.  Are we honestly doing enough?  Yes, we had more films featuring female athletes but that was still only 10-15% of the total and only a handful starred women and several parents told us they’d have liked to have seen more girls featured in our Young Adventurers’ sessions.  What’s the answer?

Jen Randall (pictured left), whose debut film ‘Push It’ focuses on the story of her and a friend climbing the 1000m El Capitan rock face, says:  “I don't think there's a simple answer really. There are certainly fewer female adventure filmmakers around, in the UK at least, so that's a starting point. I'm not sure why that is though”.  She says there are more female oriented films by female film-makers coming through - like surf film ‘First Love’ which featured at ShAFF.

Sometimes it does seem it’s a case of outright prejudice.  Jen told me:  “I was pretty stunned to be told last year by a dude-who-shall-not-be-named that as a female I would never find myself being invited to film on expeditions because a woman would upset the dynamic of a male team to the point of those men not knowing how to act...!”

A big limiting factor though appears to be women’s own attitudes.  British snowboarder Jules Pickering - the first woman to climb and board down the three highest mountains in Arctic circle, whose film ‘Taming the Bear’ charts the first descent of Alaska’s Mt Bear, told me:  “I honestly find it very difficult  to find other women to do these types of expeditions. There are some amazing women rocking it in the park, pipe and freeride competitions on skis and snowboards. But when it comes to camping in seriously cold temperatures to climb and ride a big mountain in an extremely remote environment, I struggle to find other girls wanting to do it.  As in ‘Taming The Bear’ I am often the only female.”

That chimed with an interview I’d done with Lucy Creamer (pictured right © Tim Glasby) ahead of our Women’s Climbing Night.  “As women generally we’re not as gung ho as men. I remember early on in my climbing going to the climbing wall and having sessions with people down there and obviously most were men and what I noticed was they’d just throw themselves at something and I’d just hold back even though I was one of the better climbers in the group I’d think ‘I won’t be able to do that’ and they’d wander off to the next one and I’d sneak a little try when noone was looking.  And I thought ‘What am I doing, they’ve tried and failed and nobody cared?’.   I kind of got over that but I definitely remember that at the start.  It’s why I really liked climbing with men – they just tried things, didn’t care how they looked or what people were thinking – they just had a go and it was quite a good lesson early on.”

Lucy believes the fear of failure is too often an attitude that’s instilled in girls from childhood.  She says, “You look at young kids together and it’s naturally assumed a boy can just have a go at something.  You’ll see adults say to boys ‘Go on, give it a go’ even if they don’t want to but with a girl adults are a lot more inclined to say ‘If you don’t want to, you don’t have to’.  It’s almost like girls are encouraged to not to try whereas boys are encouraged to try.  And if you grow up in a society like that men feel they can try things whereas women don’t feel so confident.” 

Jules also questions whether the sexualisation of women in adventure sports is a problem.  “A certain popular online adventure film website frequently features stuff that encourages the idea that women should be hot, blonde and in a bikini to make it in this genre. This stereotype is often placed in girls heads at a very young age. They are not exposed to strong women breaking the mould in an expedition environment.”

I have to confess I was really reluctant to watch ‘First Love’ having seen the press images of three lithe, blonde teenage surf chicks in their bikinis.  But I was blown away by this deep, considered, beautifully crafted film about the pressures of learning to compete at the highest levels which challenged all my own preconceptions.  Yet - hypocrite that I am - it didn’t stop me using the bikini shot on our website.    

As with all sports, money is a big driver.  Jules says, “There's also less women's specific kit available. It's a vicious circle that if the women aren't out there doing it then brands don't want to put money into creating and marketing it and then there isn't the advertising or promotion of female role models to encourage or inspire women. I know Berghaus is seeing a rise in female clothing sales and is actively working to improve on what's out there for us. I'm sure other brands are doing the same but at the moment it still a small but importantly growing market.”

There are certainly some physical limitations.  Lucy’s fellow judge, sports writer Nik Cook (who’s also my other half) argues top female cyclists like Tracy Moseley in the blockbuster bike films like ‘Strength in Numbers’ are impressive but he says, "Run a men's World Cup winning downhill run side to side with a women's and, even with the helmet and all the padding, you'll be able to tell which is which. For filmmakers after the biggest and gnarliest tricks and jumps it's the guys who can physically deliver on the big screen.  That said, the welcome trend towards more creative story-telling and less extreme action means I hope we'll see more women in adventure films."

Jules wonders if the pressure to do what the boys are doing in the big budget, ‘action’ movies like last year’s ski/board blockbuster ‘Art of Flight’ is putting women off.  For her, the answer isn’t to try and compete.  “I feel our niche is to do it in only a way girls can. We want to get out there and show off our talents because we love to do it and its fun rather than a series of one upmanship, trying to kill ourselves with more and more extreme feats.  I’m not digging at the boys of course - more perhaps the way they are all too often portrayed.”

Jen says she understands what I mean about challenging my own preconceptions.  “I think we partly expect films about women doing sports to be basically an excuse to look at hot girls because that's has been the case in the past sometimes. What I think is changing is that story-driven films about female athletes are now appearing, like ‘First Love’. It took me more than a year to start filming ‘Push It’.  I knew I wanted to make a film about women climbing but didn't want it to be novel just because it was women instead of men.  Then I realised it would work if we just didn't make a big deal about it - it could be a story about people trying to do something hard for themselves, who happened to be female.  I think that's why it worked in the end, we just let the girls be themselves and get on with it.”

Jules, Jen and Lucy all agree that things are changing.  Lucy told me: “In climbing it’s just fantastic – there’s a real forward momentum”.  Jules says “There are gradually more women out there wanting to do it and will start appearing in more films. Bibi Pekarek has recently become the first woman to appear in a film by [big mountain snow-boarder] Jeremy Jones but filmmakers need to be careful of using women as a ‘token female’ - my running joke nickname in Alaska.”

Jen says she’s had a great response to her work and has specifically been invited to film on occasion because a female perspective can offer a different angle to the adrenaline-filled world of adventure sport films that have been made by guys for years and years.  But she’s also wary of tokenism.   “It's a fine line to tread - you don't want to make an adventure film about women just for the sake of it being about women, and you don't want to screen an adventure film by a women just because it was made by a woman.  The quality of the film and story need to be just as strong as the competition or what's the point?”  And though she’s realistic, she’s also optimistic:  “There are just fewer women out there filming and crushing but it’s changing and I think it's an area that is about to explode.”

I think the winds of change are blowing through the industry.  Listening to British bouldering champion Shauna Coxsey and World Paralympic Champion Fran Brown at our climbing night, the message they’re shouting is that women need to have a go, not be afraid of failure or embarrassment and just try harder. 

My personal resolution is to take Jen’s message on board and push ourselves to look harder for more female film-makers and athletes.  My colleague, Festival Director Matt Heason says,  “A number of folk pointed out to me that there were no women featured in the two sessions of Young Adventurers films. This was’t deliberate, but I can’t honestly say that I was looking for a balanced programme. I was driven more by finding the best films that I thought kids would enjoy and be inspired by. That won’t happen again. I shall be searching harder for films featuring men and women, boys and girls as I really think that inspiring the young folk is the best way to make things change.” 

For me talking about this article with my female fell-running films has fired us up to try and put together a short stills film up on the hills to try and capture the essence of why we run.  Jen’s film title sums it up: ‘Push It’.  (PS Pip - I hope this is a better answer to your question.) 

Read more in the 2013 ShAFF Report and watch our video report and read what our sponsors say about working with ShAFF over the past 8 years.

If you are interested in sponsoring ShAFF 2014 please drop us a line. 

2013

“Last year ShAFF was good, this year it was in a totally different league. You expect great films, it's in the name, but with the takeover of the Workstation and the addition of the open-air cinema it achieved the kind of feel you get at Kendal that this is something BIG, feeling as though the whole city centre is ShAFF.”  Dave Mycroft, MyOutdoors (Read full review).
 

“For me, Saturday demonstrated what can be delivered when two parties pull whole heartedly in the same direction.” Robbie Henderson from Red Bull, host of ShAFF Cityscape Cinema.

2012

Ged Holmyard, Promotions Department, Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op:  "I am writing to say that I appreciate the exposure Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op gained through our sponsorship of the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival.  We appreciate the fact that ShAFF attracts a demographic who might be very interested in our offer.  The site of our banners outside The Showroom cinema on Paternoster Row made us proud.  What really impressed me was your creative use of social media and the fact that you took the time to mention our support and feature our logo at every opportunity.  The friendly ShaFF staff wearing T-shirts featuring our logo on was a nice touch.  I would go so far as to say that you have been among the most professional and easy to work with partners I have had the pleasure to work with in my 28 years with Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op."

James MacKeddie, Brand Manager, Madison:  “As a first timer to the festival [in 2012], I have to say I was truly impressed.  The amount and quality of films was staggering, there was always something to do in between films, whether it be relax in the bar with live music, which I'll add always had a great atmosphere, to looking round at kit.  The venue is great, easy to get to from the motorway or especially via train. Furthermore considering the unseasonal weather on the Sunday, we still had plenty of people coming in to see the films and experience.”

2011


Rob Sykes at Mammut (2011 sponsor):  “We were delighted to be involved in SHAFF 2011.  With an exciting programme of films, speakers, events and competitions, ShAFF has firmly established itself as a major player in the adventure festival world.  Sponsorship offered Mammut both a cost effective branding opportunity but also the chance to meet and speak to visitors directly.”

Si Homfray, Creative Director, Hammer Design:  "We enjoy working with ShAFF as a team, but also as a commercial exercise we enjoy the privileges of such an association. Hammer Design clients and customers share much in common with the ShAFF ethos and it is a fertile ground for building our business."
 

Stuart Hale & Debs - Accelerate Running Store:  "Top event and proud to be associated. Top job."


Brian MacAlinden - General Manager at The Climbinig Works:  "A fantastic film festival that highlights all the reasons why Sheffield is the centre of UK outdoor adventure sports. Films and lectures to inspire and help push our own limits in our local environment."

Ellie Barker, Silva (a leading International mobile lighting specialist which pioneered the award winning light distribution technology, Silva Intelligent Light), said:  "We create cutting edge designs for the most demanding outdoors pursuits. Silva are delighted to support ShaFF's Expert Night Biking Event, top experts Nick Craig and Nik Cook and our fellow bike enthusiasts."

Ben Winston, photographer and journalist:  "I loved the SHAFF trailer so much that I've been through and watched the ones for the past few years. They're amazing - really get the adrenaline flowing. And I love that snowboard thing..."

Linda Cooley, Friends in High Places (for Edale Mountain Rescue Team):  "Watching the films at ShaFF is fascinating. It's great to see how folks set themselves such challenges: there are people crawling deep inside the darkness of mountains, battling up their sheer sides, and skiing down them when they're transformed into a wonderland of snow. There are even people practically somersaulting through forests on bicycles (I'd never even imagined such a sport until I saw it at ShaFF!). A wonderful event. But do spare a thought from time to time for those who are there to help when things go wrong out on those hills and mountains that we love so much."
 

Simon Jacques - our Music Man:  "Everyone I know who went said they had a great time and I've not received anything good stuff about the music. I think we got it spot on this year."

Some feedback from Martin, our Volunteer Coordinator:  The Volunteers seemed to enjoy the experience and there were some nice (unsolicited!) comments - for example:
“I thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to come back next year.....I think everyone thought it was a top weekend”
“The volunteer experience was positive for me.  I particularly appreciated the friendly and relaxed manner in which the festival was managed.”
“I’ve really enjoyed myself.  It was great meeting all these lovely welcoming people......!
I think it’s important it is a good volunteer, as well as audience experience.
 

2010

Jenny Johnson - South Yorkshire Orienteers: "We really enjoyed Adventure Medley and Climbing 2 and the kids seemed to really enjoy the orienteering even if it was slightly manic!"

2009

Mick Ryan, UKClimbing:  "UKClimbing.com are proud to be supporting ShAFF again as a sponsor, indeed any events that Matt Heason organises.  We believe that climbing and mountaineering culture lags only just behind actually climbing in importance in the life of climbers."

"Full credit to Matt for his energy and creativity in organising ShAFF, he's stuck with it and it gets better every year. I'm particularly looking forward to Ed Douglas interviewing Ron Fawcett, one of the greatest climbers to touch rock and put on the spot by one of the UK's finest outdoor journalists. And I won't be missing the Chris Sharma lecture."

Alan James, UKClimbing:  "As a Sheffield-based business, UKClimbing.com is proud to be the media sponsor for ShAFF. This event has now grown in stature to be one of the main Outdoor-oriented Film Festivals in the Country. It's diversity in including all adventure sports enables those who tend to get very single-minded about their own activities to witness the amazing achievements of others who push adventure to the limits."

Andy Bowman, Big Stone:  "Number one for me, I feel Bigstone and our brands Arcteryx, Edelweiis Ropes, Smartwool and 5.10 need to support local "core" events, in essence put something back in.  Number two, Shaff represents cutting edge activities and issues, we are and have to be associated with them."

Tom Briggs - Jagged Globe:  "We feel that Sheffield deserves a top rate mountain festival, and are really excited to be a part of helping to grow ShAFF. This year, there's a superb line up of speakers, including some of the top names in climbing and mountaineering, We hope that the Jagged Globe Lecture Series will complement the brilliant programme of adventure films."

Steve Hodgeson - Hallamshire Physiotherapy:  "ShAFF is an excellent, well organised event that we are proud to sponsor.  We have sponsored ShAFF since the inaugural event and we find it helps raise our profile with our patients-many of whom partake in outdoor events and activities."
 

Brian McAlinden - The Climbing Works:  "The Climbing Works is very happy and proud to be a supporter of ShAFF as it is hosts a selection of adventure films & events that would otherwise never been seen by the public. Sheffield is a city that is at the heart of many extreme sports in the UK and ShAFF helps improve and enhance that reputation."
 

David Roberts - Silverworks:  "Why do I support ShAFF?  I know, because of Matt's determination and passion, that ShAFF will become the ‘DEFACTO' adventure film festival for the United Kingdom, and possibly beyond. The quality of films screened at ShAFF is World-Class and there is always a fantastic atmosphere at the festival, something that makes all the difference - it's exciting!"

Ben Doung - The North Marketing Agency:  "The North Marketing Agency are pleased with be able to work on the 4th ShAFF. There seems to be a excellent line-up of films and speakers this year and there's definitely a real buzz building up to the event. It's a great festival and deserves all the support it can get. And the fact that it's in Sheffield is even better!"

The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show:  "The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show is delighted to support ShAFF once again in 2009. With such a fantastic line up of films and speakers, the festival is sure to inspire visitors to get outside, improve their skills and embrace a life of adventure!"

Hayley Lever - aitchelle sports development consultancy:  "As a Sports Development consultant, and someone who'd been along to Shaff over the last three years, I could see great potential for inspiring young people to get into sport through this festival. The films are high quality, and really exciting. My company is supporting a promotional tour of the youth programme, as I want to see the films reaching a wide audience from all backgrounds and all ages. We are doing a small tour of schools and community venues this year, as a pilot. The response has been really positive. Hopefully next year there will be an even bigger programme, and perhaps we'll be inspiring the next generation of climbers, skiers, and extreme sports enthusiasts!"

Sarah Stirling - Sarah Stirling PR:  "I am very proud to be supporting ShAFF and promoting the event within the outdoor and adventure world. And who, with an interest in that world, wouldn't want to be there? It's a top event on the mountain calendar, with a brilliant range of top quality inspiring films, speakers and fringe events and it gets bigger and better every year. I can't wait!"

Iain Whitehouse - CragX:  "We're supporting SHAFF because it is an important local event for climbers and seems to generate a real buzz each year. Although local climbing competitions are popular they tend to attract a specific subset of climbers. Very few climbing-related events seem to draw enthusiastic climbers from the full spectrum of climbing activities the way SHAFF does."
 

2006

Shane Ohly, Director of planetFear:  "As the title sponsor of ShAFF we were extremely impressed with the organisation of the event and the publicity it received. For a film festival to generate that much interest and crucially ‘bums on seats’ in its first year bodes well for the future. I’m looking forward to next year already!"
 

We've produced a short video report for sponsors and partners featuring the trailer soundtrack 'Summer Somewhere' by Sheffield six piece Screaming Maldini which our brilliant videographer Matt Kerfoot has integrated into footage of the the band singing live.

There's a general release version without the stats & graphics:
You can also download our sponsors report in pdf format here:

Stills images by the very talented Jake Thompson from LW Images are on our facebook page.

These are a few of the key figures:

• Now in its 8th year, for the past seven years 100% of the audience said they’d come back again and recommend it to a friend.  ShAFF 2013 was our best ever year with a 29% increase in ticket sales – that means our ticket sales have trebled over the past three years.  (2013 – 3,753 - 29% increase; 2012 – 2,908 - 44% increase; 2011 – 2,024 - 77% increase)
• 23% of visitors stayed in Sheffield because of the festival for 1.8 nights each. That’s 1,554 bed nights.
• 3,300 people visited our Workstation Exhibition Centre making the MyOutdoors' gallery the UK’s biggest outdoors photography exhibition this year.
• 150+ piece of media coverage
• 20,000+ unique website visits
• 32,000+ trailer views

Analysis of feedback by 300 of our visitors showed ShAFF visitors say being a festival sponsor:

a. Effectively gains my attention and increases my awareness of an organisation? 89%
b. Provides a more positive image of the organisation? 94%
c. Increases the premium image of the organisation? 83%
d. Encourages me to buy or use the sponsor’s main products/services? 78%

Testimonial quotes:

“Last year ShAFF was good, this year it was in a totally different league. You expect great films, it's in the name, but with the takeover of the Workstation and the addition of the open-air cinema it achieved the kind of feel you get at Kendal that this is something BIG, feeling as though the whole city centre is ShAFF."  Dave Mycroft, Managing Editor, MyOutdoors.  (Read the full review on MyOutdoors)

“For me, Saturday demonstrated what can be delivered when two parties pull whole heartedly in the same direction.” Robbie Henderson from Red Bull on Cityscape Cinema

"I think they're a really good way of getting youngsters into doing something active.  You see a film, you're inspired, you go out and try something.  Yes, we're already talking about next year - doing something bigger, so we're already thinking about it!" Alistair Boyd, Castleton Youth Hostel manager

"We've got our logo up on the majority of films, we've got the stand and been able to bring the bike in.  It's been such a great experience we'd like to do it again next year without a doubt.  The atmosphere, the people and the quality of films has been brilliant."  Martin Rescorle, owner of Over-Ride Cycleworks, Shalesmoor, Sheffield