Monday, 10 June 2013 03:47

ShAFF from the other side

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Over the last few years another side of ShAFF has been steadily growing. Alongside an increasing number of films at the festival the kit sale and photo exhibition have grown into distinctive features of the weekend while the expanded film schedule saw the Pennine Theatre called into use as an extra venue. With the new ShAFF Industry Hangout in the cafe, the festival, much like Kendal before it, has become far more than film festival but a full on adventure festival.

It's grown tear on year, now filling the Showroom and Workstation for the weekend along with the Pennine Theatre and the open air Cityscape and alonside the films there's talks andd forums, bike rides and kids indoor adventure courses. Despite 100 films across 7 screens just metres away this other side of ShAFF was my world for the weekend and despite having the Access All Area Pass of a red "Event Crew" T shirt I can count the number of seconds of film I saw on a single finger.

Ground Floor of the Worstation - the other side of ShAFF

The ShAFF Lowepro Adventure Photo Exhibition

3 years ago Dan Lane hung a few selected pictures outside the screens of the Showroom and in doing so unwittingly kickstarted what's become probably the biggest and best adventure photo exhibition in the country. From half a dozen images it's grown into a major exhibition featuring internationally respected photographers alongside established and up and coming adventure photographers. There's even a wall set aside to promote young adventure photographers!

The highlight of this year's exhibition was an exclusive and rare exhibition by Alastair Lee. Al doesn't do exhibitions so for him to agree was a real honour, particularly given the unfortunate circumstances in the immediate lead-up to ShAFF. Not surprisingly the stunning collection of images from 4 continents was a real crowd puller throughout the weekend.

Alastair Lee exhibition

 

Alongside Alastair Lee's exhibition Dan Arkle shared the ground floor wall space with a range of images from his diverse collection; although none of the famous naked Crib Goch pictures. The centrepiece of a full panorama of Stanage was particularly popular, drawing crowds of climbers picking out lines.

Dan Arkle's Ground Floor exhibition

 

Upstairs Dan Lane completed 3 years at ShAFF with his biggest collection to date alongside Mike Hutton, Andy Nelson and Daniel Wildey with Jamie Shipton launching the Young Adventurer wall with a collection of urban bike scene images.

Daniel Wildey exhibition

Dan Lane's exhibition

Andy Nelson exhibition between Daniel Wildey and Mike Hutton's

Jamie Shipton exhibition

With the support of Lowepro, who were also on-site showing their range of photographer's packs, the exhibition has become a real showpiece for the adventure photography sector and this year's exhibition pulled in over 3000 visitors despite a slow Sunday with difficulties getting to the venue during the Sheffield alf Marathon debacle. 

 

Hangout and Film School

While the photo exhibition has been a case of year on year growth the introduction of the Industry Hangout was more of an instant success. A last minute addition to the schedule the idea of the Hangout only came up a few weeks before this year's ShAFF so it was very much an experiment; but one that really worked. With several of the film makers showing films at this year's ShAFF choosing to attend the festival ShAFF's Director, Matt Heason, came up with the notion of bringing them together to meet both fellow film makers and potential backers. From a possible 12 -15 people it suddenly grew, with the scheduled 7:30 close running on to 8:45 as 40+ film makers, distributors, photographers and media representatives made new contacts and set up possible deals.

Sunday morning was dominated by the city's alf Marathon, which hit the national news as a lack of water led to the last minute cancellation - which was promtly ingnored by several thousand runners. The traffic chaos that ensued from the on-off-on status of the race essentially cut off access by car to the city centre and the Worstation and Showroom were almost deserted for the majority of the morning - Festival Director Matt Heason instead manning an impromptu water station for the dehydrated runners passing the main doors.

ShAFF Water Station

When the morning finally got underway it did so in a big way to a select audience of around 20 as Paul Diffley, fresh from the launch of WideBoyz II and another multiple award winning weekend, presented his 60 Minute Film School. Part of the Industry Hangout programme and filmed for future release on YouTube the audience got a master class in the art of film making from techniques to the all important "Making a Living".

Paul Diffley's 60 Minute Film School

The kit sale, meanwhile, saw more individuals bringing their unused kit than ever and a box full of excess gear donated to Gift Your Gear and while a large collection of plastic mountain boots failed to go Edale Mountain Rescue Team received a good stock of walking ice axe unsold from the Jagged Globe stock. From the confines of Screen 5 just a couple of years ago the kit sale has become a major part of the festival, filling the Mezanine completely. That the festival can find room for a second hand kit sale which benefits the buyer, seller and the environment is a real bonus and compliments the photo exhibition in terms of bringing people into the building.

Post WideBoyz II party

It was a very long weekend, not hitting the pillow befor 3:30am on the Friday night following the post WideBoyz II premiere party and not that much earlier on Saturday night and the nearest I got to seeing a film was the cover of a DVD but it was worth it! A year ago I was writing how I couldn't see it getting any bigger; the space alone wouldn't allow expansion, but here we are now with more films, more venues and a whole new Industry Hangout. Maybe next year I'll get to see a film.