As much as anything, the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival is a celebration of British Columbia itself—its filmmakers, its adventurers, and its incomparable geography. Here are five shorts that do right by beautiful B.C.

“We’re Going Where?”

Easily one of the most visually exciting of this year’s shorts—which is saying something—“We’re Going Where?” ditches the Coast Mountains for Peru, where a group of Whistler mountain bikers challenge themselves to go “higher than before, further than before, and ride where no one has ridden before”. Cue the endlessly alien topography of the Andes, including the mind-blowing Rainbow Mountain (matched to an equivalently alien soundtrack of Explosions in the Sky and Faroese artist Eivør Pálsdóttir, among others). Included in the tour is a little-known high-alpine detour to Machu Picchu, dotted with backcountry huts, some of it stretching across crumbling cliff face. So, yes, “rideable” if you have nerves of steel. A sequence captured on the salt-covered dunes of Paracas is unspeakably exciting.

Mountain Bike Night, Centennial Theatre, February 23 (7:30 p.m.)

“Echoes Across Seymour”

In varying states of decay, some 300 abandoned log cabins lie hidden within the forests of Mount Seymour, traces of the “Seymour pioneers” who tamed the area in the ’30s to create the resort we have today. Inhabiting one of the 10 that are still usable is “Uncle Al” Douglas, who’s spent four decades exploring the parts of Seymour history has forgotten, visible sometimes only in rusty bedsprings poking through the soil or a corroded old pulley concealed in a tree. He’s our guide in this charming nine-minute short, although he’s competing with some fabulous archival 8mm footage from a time when a ski trip to Seymour meant an overnight stay.

Beautiful British Columbia, Cinematheque, February 25 (7:30 p.m.)

“Way of the Hunter”

In this characteristically solid effort from the NFB, the hunter is Robert Moberg, better known as a wildlife photographer who disavowed the sport, haunted by the call of a grieving moose while he gutted her calf. Moberg describes his childhood in rural Alberta before he takes to the placid waters around Alert Bay, Williams Lake, and the Great Bear Rainforest with Mike Willie of the Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nation, the two of them discussing their drive to protect the grizzly as they go. Of note: as with “Choose Your Own Adventure” (see below), there’s an underlying critique here of our brave new digital world, specifically the screeching Thunderdome of unreason we call Facebook.

Beautiful British Columbia, Cinematheque, February 25 (7:30 p.m.)

“A Social Backcountry”

Recipient of 2018’s ARC’TERYX Adventure Film Grant, this no-frills effort makes its point as efficiently as it can: population growth in the Sea-to-Sky corridor, coupled with social media, means massively increased tourism. Mountain enthusiast and author Matt Gunn takes filmmaker Heather Mosher off the beaten path while pondering the issues arising from this, litter not being the smallest, with further thoughtful input coming from activists like Steve Jones and disquieted veterans of Squamish Search and Rescue. It might leave some viewers with another reason to hate Instagram, but the cruel and obvious paradox is that you’ll also want to drop everything and go see Internet sensation Joffre Lakes for yourself.

UBC Ski Night, Frederic Wood Theatre, February 27 (7:30 p.m.)

“Sound Water”

Drew Copeland goes out in pursuit of “the narratives of a place” in this lovely 12-minute short, which begins with the amiable self-styled “Traveller of the Hills” air-dropping with his friends into the Elaho Range for a God’s-eye view of Howe Sound. Moving on down the Squamish River, we’re introduced to Squamish Nation councillor Deanna Lewis—“We called our canoes our Cadillacs and the Howe Sound our highway,” she says—and finally arrive at Bowen Island, where artist-composer Pauline LeBel speaks of “the genius of Howe Sound—the water”. Then she reminds us that “we are water.” All travelogues should be as sweet and soulful as this winner of 2018’s MEC Adventure Grant.

MEC Canadian Adventures, Rio Theatre, March 1 (7:30 p.m.)