13 Nov 2018
The outdoors is coming to the heart of the city for a one-off evening of adventure films and storytelling, in association with Kendal Mountain Festival. An exclusive screenings of selected film entries from Kendal 2018 will be followed by a Q&A session with an accomplished panel hosted by expedition leader Dave Lucas.
This autumn, we're bringing adventure back to the big screen. An Audience with Adventure will return on November 21st as the first opportunity in London to see award-winning film titles straight out of Kendal Mountain Festival. With a fresh deluge of outdoor cinematography, the event promises to bring some of the best stories and outdoor adventure inspiration to London.
In addition, we'll be hosting a panel of inspirational speakers to discuss the human connections we make through adventure. With tales from all four corners of the globe, they'll be sharing their experiences of ethical considerations of remote travel, the relevance of keeping local traditions alive, and the importance of giving back to the communities we visit.
The Films
Held in association with Kendal Mountain Festival 2018, an Audience with Adventure will be screening a hand-picked selection of the latest outdoor films to make it onto Kendal's programme this year.
If you couldn't make it to the Lake District for this year's celebration of all things outdoors, or perhaps you're keen to dive back into the festival's highlights, either way, this is a great chance to experience Kendal in the heart of the city. Plus, with an adventure panel Q&A including a couple of Secret Compass expedition guides, there's no better excuse for an evening out in the big smoke this side of Christmas.
Join us at an Audience with Adventure in London to catch the top film entries the adventure community has to offer in 2018.
The Audience with Adventure Panel
Dave Lucas – Host
Expedition Leader, Production Manager and Safety Consultant
After taking the audience by storm last year, we've invited expedition leader Dave Lucas back to the stage to host Audience with Adventure in 2018! Dave lives for adventure, and has spent over 22 years working as an expedition guide and safety consultant in remote places.
He has travelled to over 90 countries, and spent a total 72 months on expeditions, often immersing himself into the unique communities he encounters all over the world. When guiding a trans-African climbing expedition in 2002 in which he visited the South Sinai, Dave worked closely with Bedouin tribesman. The great wealth of unclimbed rock the Sinai had to offer drew him back to lead teams of wanting climbers. But it was in 2007, after being invited to work on an EU development project, that he really started forging the strong bonds he has today with the Bedouin, many of whom are now great friends.
More recently, Dave's experience living and working within the Mbendjele tribe in Congo has really pushed home the immense level of responsibility that foreigners have when visiting small remote communities, an insight among many others which he'll be exploring with our panel on the night.
Marina LeGree
Founder & Executive Director of Ascend Athletics
Outdoor enthusiast, passionate about preserving nature and securing access to the outdoors for everyone, Marina LeGree is the founding director of Ascend Athletics, a not-for-profit developing young Afghan women into leaders through mountaineering. Their efforts this year were rewarded, when Hanifa Yousoufi successfully reached the summit of Mt Noshaq, becoming the first Afghan woman to stand on the top of her home country's highest mountain.
While they train to achieve tangible climbing feats of their region's prolific summits and first ascents a like, their long term vision is to develop strong female role models and leaders who are equipped and motivated to help their society transition to peace.
Marina brings a unique understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing women and young people in Afghanistan after spending over a decade working in the country and other unstable environments. She has created development strategies and managed programs for the US Agency for International Development, the German based international development cooperation agency GIZ and the International Organisation for Migration. She has also worked as a senior trainer and mentor to the United States government in Afghanistan, providing support to US civilians and troops in their stabilisation mission.
Emma de Heveningham
Anthropologist and Technologist
After 15 years spent working in telecoms in London, Emma de Heveningham took a well-earned career break in 2012. Her travels over the next few years gradually drew her into the regions of Ladakh and Spiti of the Indian Himalaya. Here, above 4000 metres, she was inspired by the resilience of the local communities who's day-to-day lives were subjected to enormous challenges threatening their very existence.
She crowdfunded and set up a travelling community cinema to share films about local history and culture, wildlife conservation and healthcare. Solar-powered and completely off-grid, the cinema can reaches of the most remote villages and nomadic communities on Earth. The unique nature of the Creative Power Project saw her speaking at the Royal Geographic Society about her initiative earlier in 2018 as part of their Microlectures series.
Although she is periodically tempted back into corporate life in London, whenever time allows, Emma can be found back in the mountain villages of northern India where she has been working on photographic and ethnographic research projects, as well as keeping the travelling cinema on the road to new destinations.
Luca Alfatti
Expedition Leader & Medical Professional
Luca had always dreamed of travelling EVERYWHERE and in 2005 he eventually drove his own Ford Probe from New York City to Panama City and he never looked back! As an overland driver and mechanic, he travelled in over 100 countries across 5 continents. Seeking a new adventure in 2015, he qualified as a Paramedic, with a view to combining this with his love of travel.
In addition to this he is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Wilderness Expedition Medicine Faculty Member, PHTLS instructor, Mountain Leader and Water Rescue Technician. Luca is also a HEFAT instructor, delivering hostile environment training to journalists.
In the last two years Luca has gone on to lead expeditions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Chad just to mention a few. Most recently, he led a team up onto to Yamal Peninsula to live and travel with Siberia's Nenets nomads on their reindeer migration within the Arctic Circle. Experiencing the truly extreme conditions in which they live; he learned of their intrinsic relationship with the reindeer herds and the daily struggles necessary to their survival.
Embracing the theme of human-powered journeys, the panel will be recounting tales of grit, pain and strength of self, talking about their past, present and upcoming adventures, and answering all those pressing questions about adventures big and small.
Tickets: £19.50 + booking fee
Date: Wednesday, 21st November 2018
Venue: Canada Water Theatre, 21 Surrey Quays Road, London, SE16 7AR
Doors at 6pm. Films will start at 7pm.
Cash bar.
Buy Tickets online at Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/2RArQC2
--- end ---
Notes for Editors
Secret Compass
Since 2010, Secret Compass has been leading expeditions, adventures and TV and Film projects into the world's most extreme environments. Our pioneering approach to travel has put us at the forefront of expedition planning, risk management and leadership. We explore the wild, isolated and overlooked parts of world, using our expertise to go beyond where any other travel companies would even dare to set the scene for extraordinary journeys to unravel.
Redefining boundaries, our team expeditions supply unique opportunity to achieve the extraordinary, seizing a pioneering approach to adventure travel. Upcoming destinations include Afghanistan, Armenia, Bhutan, Burma, Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan, Madagascar, North Korea, Panama, Siberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Chad and the southern Sinai.
Secret Compass for TV, film and brand projects
Secret Compass is trusted by production companies and brands to create and capture the extraordinary in remote and wild regions thanks to its unrivalled location and risk-management expertise. Credits include location-managing Channel 4's Walking the Nile and Walking the Himalayas series, alongside projects for the BBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel. Brand clients to date include Mitsubishi, Sony, Nespresso, Giro, Xbox and Jagermeister.
+44 (0)207 096 8428
