It took a few years for Trevor Bryan to attract the Banff Film Festival World Tour to Rapid City, but since he got it here, the festival of outdoor-oriented films has become the root from which the larger Dahl Mountain Culture Festival has grown.

The tour is based on the Banff Film Festival sponsored by National Geographic and the Banff Centre, an arts, cultural and educational institution in Alberta.

Bryan attended the festival in Banff while he was a mass communications student at Black Hills State University in Spearfish.

"I wanted to look at it for opportunities for maybe a career after college, and I wanted to see the quality of outdoor nature videos and extreme videos," he said.

After he finished college, he tried to bring the festival tour to Rapid City, but found that selling South Dakota as a mountain area was tough.

"If they haven't been to the area, they have no idea what the Black Hills are," Bryan said.

He sent Banff organizers tourism information about the area to explain that western South Dakota isn't just open prairie.

"We're out here in the Black Hills; we're not in North Dakota," Bryan said. "I have kayaked here, rock climbed down by Sylvan Lake. I've grown up in Rapid City, so I've had a lot of friends that are into the outdoors. I guess it was more of a gut feeling that I thought it was made for the town."

Bryan brings the film festival to town each year now for what has become the Dahl Mountain Culture Festival.

"We've just seen the community really embrace it," Bryan said. "If it wasn't for Rapid City getting behind me, I think this thing would have died a long time ago."

In the five years since the Dahl festival started, a widening range of events has been added - concerts, a photography competition and speakers among them - to make it a monthlong celebration of mountain culture.

"Last year, we brought in a climber from Rapid City, who climbed Mount Everest," Bryan said. "This year, we have an astronaut, John Herrington."

Proceeds from the various festival events support arts programs at the Dahl.

"All the events have kind of been people volunteering their time. Our local banks, our local newspaper, our local climbing shops and sports shops - everybody said, 'hey we want to be a part of this,'" Bryan said.

If you go

What: Banff Film Festival World Tour

When: Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26

Where: The Elks Theatre in Rapid City

Tickets: $12 Dahl members, $14 in advance, $16 day of show (prices are for one night)

Schedule of films

SATURDAY, APRIL 25

"The Red Helmet" (six minutes) FOCUS: Multiple action sports. RATING: General, no advisory. Overcome with fear, a young boy runs into the forest where he finds a magic red helmet and goes on the adventure of a lifetime. Slowly building his courage, he is transformed and returns to confront his boyhood fears.

"Mountain Town: The Cowboy and the Park Goddess" (13 minutes) FOCUS: Culture, skiing, snowboarding. RATING: General, no advisory. Isabelle Fallardeau's passion for snowboarding and penchant for power tools has led her to a career as one of the world's only female terrain park builders. Mac Smith is a lifelong rancher, environmentalist and ski patrolman who experienced personal tragedy and triumph developing Aspen's Highlands Bowl.

"The Fine Line" (25 minutes) FOCUS: Skiing, snowboarding, safety. RATING: General, no advisory. A cinematic journey that combines unites the cutting edge of winter action sports with education about responsible backcountry usage, "The Fine Line" features epic riding, amazing visuals and stunning true stories of avalanche survivors.

"Dosage Volume V: Meltdown" (12 minutes) FOCUS: Rock climbing. RATING: General, no advisory. Beth Rodden makes the first ascent of Meltdown, one of the hardest traditional routes in the world.

"Journey to the Center" (55 minutes) FOCUS: Exploration, BASE jumping, culture. RATING: General-No Advisory. Journey with three world-renowned BASE jumpers as they travel 10,000 miles to confront the mist and mystery of an old cave, an ancient culture and their own demons.

"The Last Frontier - Papua New Guinea" (18 minutes) FOCUS: Kayaking, culture, environment. RATING: General, no advisory. Experience Papua New Guinea's island of New Britain's pristine water, habitat and intact indigenous culture through an exploratory caving and kayaking expedition.

"The Sharp End: Lisa Rands" (six minutes) FOCUS: Bouldering. RATING: Parental guidance, coarse language. Lisa Rands shows the drive, talent and courage needed to climb challenging and scary "highball" boulder problems.

"Crux" (12 minutes) FOCUS: Trials biking. RATING: General, no advisory. Combining sheer difficulty with creative style, three athletes execute mind-bending feats of bike mastery and redefine technical riding standards.

SUNDAY, APRIL 26

"Under the Influence" (12 minutes) FOCUS: Skiing. RATING: Parental guidance, coarse language. Follow the mind-blowing efforts of today's top riders in the amazing conditions that emerged from one of the deepest winters in recorded history, featuring the relentless powder in Jackson Hole and incredibly steep spines in Alaska.

"Papiroflexia" (three minutes) FOCUS: Environment, animation. RATING: General, no advisory. An origami tale of a skillful paper folder who could shape the world with his hands.

"Seasons" (25 minutes) FOCUS: Mountain biking, stories. RATING: General, no advisory. Some of the world's best mountain bikers share their personal challenges, victories and adventures through the course of four seasons of one year.

"Red Gold" (54 minutes) FOCUS: Environment. RATING: General, no advisory. Native, commercial and sport fishermen oppose a proposed mine that may require the largest dam ever constructed. At stake is a unique way of life that would not exist if the sockeye salmon didn't return with Bristol Bay's tide.

"The Sharp End: Eastern Europe" (17 minutes) FOCUS: Rock climbing, tower jumping, culture. RATING: Parental guidance, coarse language. A talented group of climbers explores the unique history, culture and danger of one of the world's most remarkable climbing destinations.

"The Unbearable Lightness of Skiing" (14 minutes) FOCUS: Backcountry skiing, mountaineering. RATING: General, no advisory. A season of backcountry skiing with a keen and passionate narrator.

"If You're Not Falling" (eight minutes) Focus: Rock climbing RATING: General, no advisory. Canadian rock legend Sonnie Trotter heads to Scotland to do battle on another "hardest rock climb in the world." Each day, he collects more and more air time: 50-foot falls from the steep rock buttress that plunges down beneath a historic castle.

"Mountain Town: The Grasshopper and the Soldier" (15 minutes) FOCUS: Culture, skiing. RATING: General, no advisory. This excerpt from the feature documentary "Mountain Town" combines the stories of two very different residents. Nick Devore is a young telemark skier, and Gino Hollander is an 81-year-old artist who has maintained a remarkable sense of the sheer joy of living.

Dahl Mountain Culture Festival

• Sunday April 26, 9:30 a.m. - Wellspring Stampede 10K Walk-Run, Canyon Lake Park
• Friday, May 1, 7:30 p.m. - Native American astronaut John Herrington, John T. Vucurevich Event Center at the Dahl
• Saturday, May 2, 7:30 p.m. - Jalan Crossland concert, John T. Vucurevich Event Center at the Dahl
• Monday, May 4, 7:30 p.m. - Cloud Cult concert, John T. Vucurevich Event Center at the Dahl
• Friday May 8, 5:30 p.m. - South Dakota One Book, John T. Vucurevich Event Center at the Dahl
• Saturday, May 9, 3 p.m. - Yoga for Athletes & Artists, Cyclorama at the Dahl

Call Eric Lochridge at 394-8321 or e-mail eric.lochridge@rapidcityjournal.com.