Mountain Film Competition

David is a French film director and former professional kayaker. Filming his own river expeditions around the world, he wanted even his grandmother to understand his films - and learned to bring nuance to adventure stories. He has since built a career directing films for international brands and mountain sports events, often also serving as executive producer and live director. From ordinary heroes to Olympians, he still brings that approach to every project, making complex subjects accessible to mainstream audiences.

Rose Bush is the director of photography of the Oscar Winning film, COLETTE. Originally from Alaska, she has based her career with deep connections to: Los Angeles, Austin Texas, New York City, and Stockholm, Sweden. She holds an MFA in film production from the University of Texas at Austin, and as a filmmaker works in a diversity of forms amongst cinema & television from non-fiction to narrative film, commercials and what might be discovered next. She has a foundational belief that filmmaking must connect us to and expand our humanity pursuing the world with films made in uncharted global and existential territory. 

As a director of photography, with COLETTE, her work received an Academy Award for Best Short Subject Documentary at the 93rd Academy Awards. In her collaboration with Academy Award Nominated director Nicole Newnham, her work with THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE premiered in competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was listed by The New Yorker as “deserving of an Oscar nomination”. She was the official presenter of the Emerging Cinematographer Award at the 74th Cannes Film Festival and has screened her work as a DoP with distributors including IFC Films, The Guardian, Dogwoof, Netflix, Hulu, and more.

Beki Henderson is a BAFTA-nominated Producer, Series Producer and Expedition Specialist who has spent over a decade making captivating films in some of the wildest places on Earth for National Geographic, Disney+, Netflix, Apple TV+, BBC and Channel 4. Her work has taken her from jungles, deserts and high mountains to caves and underwater worlds, working with leading adventurers including Steve Backshall, Aldo Kane and Ben Fogle, as well as A-list talent including Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep.

Alongside adventure filmmaking, Beki has spent much of her career working closely with remote and Indigenous communities around the world - experiences that have shaped how she thinks about storytelling, authorship and representation. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Scientific Exploration Society Explorer, she is also the founder of Stories We Tell, a filmmaking mentorship initiative supporting people in remote and Indigenous communities to become authors of their own stories. At the heart of her work is a simple question: who gets to tell the story?

Catherine Pettman is an Australian film, television, and documentary producer with over 20 years of experience championing collaborative storytelling that connects human resilience with challenging natural landscapes. As the founder of Sheoak Films and co-founder of Rummin Productions, her creative vision is deeply shaped by the rugged, elemental environment of her home state of Tasmania (lutruwita). She has a rich history of partnering with creators to deliver diverse, high-impact stories, ranging from adventure-driven titles like Doing It Scared (chronicling climber Paul Pritchard’s return to the Totem Pole) to acclaimed scripted dramas like The Tailings and Moonbird. Driven by a strong social conscience, Catherine’s trusted industry collaborations have brought compelling regional narratives to major global audiences, with broadcast and streaming credits including the ABC, SBS, NITV, RTÉ, and ZDF.

As former Managing Director, Digital, Film and Media at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Kerry led the strategic development and growth of the Centre’s digital, film, media, production, technical services, professional training, and mountain culture portfolios. Kerry’s leadership brought together artistic vision, business development, technology, production, education, with a focus on developing creative programming and professional training opportunities, advancing production and technical infrastructure, building sustainable revenue and training models, and leading strategic planning, budgeting, partnerships, and resource development. A central focus of Kerry’s work was supporting programming across Banff Centre’s artistic disciplines workinfg collaboratively across disciplines and with the digital and creative sectors to develop interdisciplinary programming and professional development opportunities.

Within Mountain Culture, Kerry provided leadership for the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, Festival On Demand, the World Tour, competitions, and programming, with oversight and guidance on business development, content strategy, financial management, and operational planning.

Prior to joining Banff Centre, Kerry was Director of Production and Program Competition at Achilles Media, where she led the Rockie Awards, an internationally recognized television and media competition. Through this work, Kerry developed extensive insight into the television industry and the creative and production qualities that distinguish exceptional work.

Kerry has produced awards programs and international arts events, executive produced an international congress of arts producers, and served as an international juror and participant in international exchanges. She has also produced and edited national television specials for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and produced, directed, and edited four seasons of BRAVO! Banff Masters, an acclaimed series profiling producers, writers, and directors from around the world.