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London Mountain Film Festival 2024 Award Winners
As we approach the launch of LMFF 2025, we wanted to reflect on our winners from last year, to remind ourselves of the brilliance to come. All featured at a number of our community events, and you can find these and more in our new filmography and follow the links to watch the films and learn more about their makers.
Who will be our winners next year?
Best Action Film
Flow (11mins) directed by Andy McCandlish, who said:
"Certain projects come along now and again that are life affirming to be part of. This was one of them, with the whole family's energy and commitment to their chosen sport being both inspiring and infectious. Documenting it felt like a real privilege and to be recognised by the likes of the LMFF, that was just the icing on the cake."
Riding and racing mean everything to Nathan and Ruben (The Trailrippers) and this short film tells their family story with the help of their mum, Ina. Together, they tell us how they first got into riding and then racing and the benefits and challenges that neurodivergence brings to their riding and how riding bikes helps them regulate their lives. Flow sees The Trailrippers riding on their home trails, at Dyfi Bike Park and the Glencoe round of the British Cycling National Downhill Series in 2023.
Festival Wildcard Award Winner
Let it Baern (11mins) directed by Hannes Tell, Alice Martin, Lando Pföst
Says Hannes: "In Bouldering we experience a unique playfulness and curiosity that is a essential to climbing. When we were discovering the underground urban bouldering guide of Bern, with all its resistance to dead and joyless cities nowadays, our hearts leapt. Like often, what we search for is hiding in plain sight. To see fellow climbers in Bern, but also in London for example with its vibrant urban bouldering scene, we were immediately as intrigued as you should be. Following Dr. Bäri and Dr. Bomb into the Banksy-esque rabbit hole, we all re-discovered our own reasons behind climbing."
An underground bouldering scene is hiding in plain sight from climbing on the big World Championship stages in Switzerland's capital Bern. Let It Baern invites us to discover an underground movement that wants nothing less than reclaiming the streets and urban playgrounds. We get taken along from the two Banksy-esque phantoms and guide book authors Dr. Bäri and Dr. Bomb for a concrete ride.
Best Mountain Film
Adra (53mins) directed by Emma Crome (Coldhouse)
Climbers Zoe Wood and Lewis Perrin Williams take us on a nostalgic journey, exploring how Llanberis, North Wales, has impacted the lives of those who have lived, worked, and played in this beautiful corner of Cymru over the last century. Featuring interviews and archives from some of the most prolific and colourful characters of UK climbing, Adra gently gifts us a sense of home, community, belonging and the spirit of ‘hiraeth.’
Listen to our Emma Crome Podcast
Best Short Film
Light Beams for Helena (9mins) directed by Kirk Horton (Littlebear Creative)
Helena Bourdillon has pushed her limits in the freediving world, using a single breath to dive to seemingly impossible depths. But her path to discovering her diving potential started 20 years ago, when she was on the verge of suicide. Light Beams For Helena explores her journey with depression, her ongoing mental health efforts, and what diving into the darkness of deep water has taught her about life and light.
Listen to our Kirk Horton Podcast
Best Living World Film
Puffling (20mins) directed by Jessica Bishopp
Every summer 18-year-old Birta and 16-year-old Selma rescue pufflings (young puffins) at night on a remote island off the coast of Iceland. The pufflings leave their nests for the first time, following the light of the moon to make their journey out to sea and transition into adulthood. Unfortunately, the pufflings get lost in town, mistaking the harbour lights for the moon. Over one night Birta and Selma take it upon themselves to counteract the human impact on nature, exchanging night-time parties for puffin patrol, in a coming-of-age story of young adults and pufflings alike.
People's Choice Award Winner
Access Land (7mins) directed by Mark Vaughan (Lightshed Productions)
A young woman's adventure with her grandfather is cut short by the law in this dramatised story which highlights the purpose of the Right to Roam movement. The film received the most votes in our 2024 festival, striking an Award Winner chord with our audiences.
Listen to our Mark Vaughan Podcast
