Sunshine Coast student and filmmaker Daniel Kingsbury, 15, will reach new heights next week when he comes to the Banff Mountain Film Festival. His seven-minute film, The Essence of Adolescence, is a festival finalist this year and will screened over the weekend. The film features teens skateboarding, skiing and mountain biking,

Kingsbury will be competing against veteran filmmakers. His entry was one of 11 selected as a finalist in the Best Film on Mountain Sports category. This year, 263 films representing 31 countries were received for the 2002 competition. The Banff Mountain Film Festival takes places October 29 and November 1-3 at The Banff Centre.

"It’s incredible," says Kingsbury about the opportunity to come to Banff and make some industry connections. "It’s my big break. I feel very lucky." His film will be shown during daytime screenings on Saturday, November 2 and Sunday, November 3 at The Banff Centre.

Kingsbury, a grade 10 student at Chatelech Secondary School, started making films three years ago using the family’s digital video camera. He taught himself an editing program on his home computer and produced his first film "Black Mask" with friends for a school project.

Since then he has gone on to produce and sell videos for weddings and anniversaries. He has also made promotional videos for companies in Vancouver. He is currently working on his next film Bardo that focuses on the themes of death and reincarnation.

Looking ahead, Kingsbury says he sees a future in filmmaking and would like to either direct or edit films. His dream would be a filmmaking expedition to Nepal.

An international jury will meet during festival week to select winners in the six prize categories and to choose a Grand Prize winner. The 2002 jury includes Jean Afanassieff (France), Gerhard Baur (Germany), Piers Handling (Canada), Roger Payne (U.K.) and Valeriana Rosso (Italy).

To order tickets for festival events, contact the Banff Centre Box Office at 403-762-6301 or 1-800-413-8368.

View a listing of Film Entries from the 2002 Banff Mountain Film Festival