Huw Miles’ 10-minute film Jerry on the Jerry will have its world premiere at the local festival’s ‘Pure NZ’ session on June 26.
It follows a team of packrafters as they make a second attempt at the first descent of the remote Jerry River, in northern Fiordland.
Miles says his fellow guide at Queenstown Packrafting, Jeremy Platt, attempted the river with a slightly different team in 2024.
However, it turned into a "horrific" trip after they were hit by a "Fiordland weather bomb", forcing them to exit the area via a different route than planned.
He joined Platt and three others for a second crack at the river in December, when a "new plan, new crew, different time of year and different approach" helped them successfully navigate the Jerry over eight days.
Miles, who often works on film productions during his winter offseason, says he’s made his films with a "cheap, hand-me-down camera" he got from a friend.
"It’s been a case of learning as we go, figuring it out and making lots of mistakes."
He hopes Jerry on the Jerry will inspire other packrafters to plan their own forays to wild rivers.
"I guess it’s about opening up routes and possibilities and sharing with people.
"Some people might say ‘wow, that looks like a trip I want to try and do’."
The festival, now in its 24th year, comes to Queenstown on June 25 and 26 after a five-day run in Wānaka that begins next Friday.
The organisers received 266 submissions for this year’s festival, including 30 from NZ film-makers.
Of those, 63 films have been selected for the final programme, including 18 by Kiwis.
The first day of the Queenstown programme features guest speaker Sebastien Montaz-Rosset, a French mountaineer, film-maker and adventurer.
He’ll be followed by a screening of the festival’s Grand Prize-winning film, K2 — Chasing Shadows, about an oxygen-free assault on K2 that ends in a paraglider flight from the summit.
The second film is Mountain Of Mystery, in which a group of friends ski, kayak and surf their way through wild country in British Columbia.
The programme at the Queenstown Memorial Centre is: June 25 (7.30pm till 10.30pm, tickets $30) and June 26 (3pm till 6pm, tickets $20), with tickets (youth discount $5) available from mountainfilm.nz
