The 24th Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival is being held from19-28 February with an array of screen offerings covering everything from impressive physical feats to environmental issues and animated films.

Meanwhile, the VIMFF announced its awards prior to this year’s festival.

The top award went to the French documentary “The Horse Tamer”, in which director and ethnographer Hamid Sardar follows an intrepid horseman who pursues horse thieves across Mongolia.

VIMFF 2021 jury member Peruzzo de Andrade explained the reason why the jury chose this film for the prize.

“It is clear that the production of this film required the director to seek meaningful relationships and act with integrity and cultural resonance,” de Andrade stated. “Folded into an examination of human limitations and possibility, Sardar achieved an outstanding production which the jury determined the recipient of the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival Grand Prize.”