Backcountry Film Festival Audience Award Winner: “A Baffin Vacation, Love on Ice”
Honoring the film that melted hearts, sparked adventure dreams, and earned the most love on the 21st Annual Backcountry Film Festival tour.
Over 2,000 votes are in from Backcountry Film Festival audience members around the world! We’re thrilled to announce that “A Baffin Vacation, Love on Ice” has won the Audience Award for the 21st Annual Backcountry Film Festival!
With a backdrop of ice and isolation, renowned explorers Sarah McNair-Landry and Erik Boomer set out across Baffin Island, Canada, testing the connection between endurance, trust and love. Backcountry Film Festival audiences adored trekking with Erik and Sarah over their 69 day holiday. Kite skiing along the coast, skiing mountains, climbing an epic big wall, and crossing a glacier in search of new rivers to white water kayak.
From its premiere in Boise, Idaho to stops all across the snow belt, this part expedition, part love-story film, had everyone laughing and stoked for winter adventure!
Congratulations to Sarah McNair-Landry, Erik Boomer, and the entire film team! And thank you to everyone who voted, showed up at your local screenings, and helped shape another incredible season of connection, community, and winter celebration. You made this year’s tour unforgettable.
Missed it? You can still watch “A Baffin Vacation, Love on Ice”—and the entire 21st Annual Backcountry Film Festival lineup—now streaming virtually, anytime, anywhere.
Behind the Scenes
Q+A with filmmaker, Sarah McNair-Landry
How did this trip come about? What inspired you to make A Baffin Vacation, Love on Ice?
On a previous expedition, Boomer and I had dog sledded past Kangiqtualuk and caught a glimpse of the stunning fiord. Since then we had been dreaming of going back with more time to enjoy the region.
Access to these remote fiords is the biggest challenge, especially during the summer months as the ice starts to break up and it makes it extremely difficult to travel into these areas. So the plan was to kite ski into Kangiqtualuk early June just before the sea ice started to break up. And essentially get “stuck” until the fiords would be ice free sometime in August – giving us over two months to kite ski, ski, climb and kayak.
Was there a moment during filming that really stuck with you?
The biggest challenge was filming as a team of two, as the entire expedition was self filmed. The drone was a great asset, as we could capture scenes with the two of us – however it also used a lot of batteries. To charge our cameras we had a small solar panel set up – so we had to use our drone sparingly to conserve batteries.
Filming the waterfalls that Boomer paddled were the most challenging to capture, as there were no re-takes. I managed several cameras at once; I had a film camera on a tripod, a drone in the air, plus a photo camera as well. Filming the climbing wasn’t easy either, as one of us was always belaying the other climb – so we had to be creative.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
I hope that our film inspires people to get outside on adventures, big or small.
What does “keeping winter wild” mean to you?
Protect our wild spaces and the animals that live within them.
What was the most unexpected or challenging moment behind the scenes?
Our initial plan was to get picked up by some friends sailing through the NorthWest Passage. After two months on expedition, we got a message from them, telling us that there was still too much ice to access the fiord to pick us up. Which left us with an unexpected 7 day paddle and portage back to the nearest town.
Any favorite moments that didn’t make it into the final cut?
One of the biggest challenges was to cut 69 days of footage into a 26 min film. A lot of moments didn’t make the final cut, but Rush Sturges and Skip Armstrong did an amazing job on the edit, and they were able to pack in most of the funny moments into the final film.
What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects we should keep an eye out for?
I am just getting back from an amazing ice climbing trip with Boomer on the east coast of Baffin. Boomer is still up there climbing a big wall.
And we have some future plans for Baffin Vacation 3 🙂
Meet the Cast
Join us in celebrating their win and our partnership by learning more about the faces and skills you will see on screen!
We can’t wait for you to experience more of their powerful stories.
Credits:
Filmed by:
Erik Boomer
Sarah McNair-Landry
Directed by:
Skip Armstrong
Rush Sturges
Produced by:
Rush Sturges
Erik Boomer
Sarah McNair-Landry
Executive producers:
Galen Knowles
Sean Richard
Erik Boomer
Sarah McNair-Landry
Editor:
Skip Armstrong
Additional Editing:
Rush Sturges
Aidan Hayley
Darby McAdams
Graphics:
Austin Baker
Garrett Baker
Music Supervision:
Back Forty Management
Bodie Johnson
Original Score:
Cyrus Reynolds
“Mrs. Bean”
Performed by The Essex
Courtesy of Bank Robber Music
And Merge Records
“Foundation”
Performed by Bronson
Courtesy of Ninja Tune BMG
And Red Light Management
“Colorful State”
Performed by Kishi Bashi
“Call it Off”
Performed by Kishi Bashi
Courtesy of Joyful Noise Recordings
RUSH STURGES
DIRECTOR
Rush Sturges is an acclaimed adventure filmmaker and professional Whitewater kayaker. Rush has spent equal time in front of and behind the cameras, direction and producing projects like “The River Runner” as well as branded content for companies like Ford, Mexico Tourism, National Geographic, and Polaris.
SKIP ARMSTRONG
DIRECTOR
Skip Armstrong has worked in film for over 15 years as a Director, Director of Photography, and areal DP. Skip is the consummate perfectionist and prides himself on environment adaptability, good humored fun, and above all else, creating exceptions images. His films and contributions have received awards from major international film festival including Telluride Film Festival and Banff Mountain Film Festival.
SARAH MCNAIR-LANDRY
FILMMAKER
Sarah works in film and has directed and produced many documentaries, from adventure films, to environment documentaries, to experimental art installations. When she is not filming, she is a polar guide and arctic adventurer. The first woman to be recognized by the International Polar Guides Association as Master Polar Guide, Sarah grew up with the Arctic Ocean and team of dogs in her backyard. No stranger to the cold, she is the youngest person to travel to both the North and South Pole, has traversed the Greenland Ice Cap five times, kite skied the Northwest passage and spent 120 days circumnavigating Baffin Island by dog team. She owns and runs NorthWinds Expeditions.
ERIK BOOMER
FILMMAKER
Erik Boomer specializes in adventure photography and film in the most hostile environments, from the Tajikistan to Antarctica to the Canadian Arctic. When not behind the camera, Erik Boomer kayaks some of the world’s toughest rivers. He has since branched out into polar expeditions – in 2011 Boomer became the first to circumnavigate Ellesmere Island on a 100-day ski and sea kayak expedition. Since he has embarked on a 120-day dog sledding expedition around Baffin Island and has crossed Greenland towing his kayak to access to source of a remote white-water river.
@erikboomer
