Adventure Film Festival will have a homecoming in Fullerton

Fifteen years ago, Fullerton native Jonny Copp dreamed up the Adventure Film Festival while a storm raged outside his tent in the Himalayas.

The climber, author, photographer and storyteller’s concept entailed promoting an adventurous lifestyle, raising environmental awareness and forging a community based on art.

The Adventure Film Festival is based out of Boulder, Colo. Every year, the festival’s international committee selects more than 30 films of the hundreds submitted from around the globe.

The festival’s film competitions include categories ranging from “Extreme Sport” to “Activism through Adventure.” The festival also showcases some of its award winners on screens around the globe.

In 2009, Copp and two climbing partners, Micah Dash and Wade Johnson, were killed by an avalanche while attempting to climb Mt. Edgar in China.

Now, his legacy and film festival live on through his family, friends and the nonprofit Jonny Copp Foundation.

The Jonny Copp Foundation is dedicated to keeping Copp’s memory and dreams alive.

It provides encouragement and support for other adventurous visionaries who want to make a positive contribution to the world, by providing grants, outreach programs, exhibits and a forum.

Though the festival itself is based in Boulder, organizers encourage people from around the world to request that the festival come to their town. There currently are Adventure Film Festivals scheduled in diverse locations such as Nepal, Italy, and, among others, Fullerton.

For the “homecoming” of Copp’s festival that will run May 4 and 5 at Muckenthaler Cultural Center, it was seven years in the making with the core programming team including Copp’s friend Jeremy Collins, an award winning author and filmmaker; Copp’s mother, Phyllis; and Copp’s sister, Aimee, who is the AFF’s executive director.

Aimee Copp said: “The films that will be shown at the festival in Fullerton have been hand-picked from over 10 years of award-winning content. This specific selection has never been shown and was customized to reflect the interests of the local community and serve as a tribute to the founder of AFF, Jonny Copp, in his hometown.”

The Fullerton festival is distinct from the Boulder one as it has Copp’s photography and journals on display, live poetry readings from Copp’s mother and a meet-and-greet with Copp’s close friend Jeremy Collins, whose film “Drawn” will tell the story of how Copp inspired him. The movie will be featured May 4.

Some of the film selections depict extreme sports. One of them is a protest against shark slaughter.

“Tigress Shark” features an Australian performance artist and activist dancing underwater and unprotected with tiger sharks.

“Adventure Film is not striving to encourage people to partake in extreme sports or engage in dangerous activities as the only way of experiencing adventure,” Phyllis Copp said. “We do strive to give people a visual experience and understanding of certain adventures that they may never have the chance to do themselves or even the desire to do but just seeing it visually can open the doors to new ways of thought and thinking outside of the box, to an adventure that is completely possible for them.”

Another spotlighted film is “Ascend,” a film telling the story of a young man who lost his leg to cancer but overcame his loss through mountain biking.

“I never imagined that my little boy would grow into this special human being that would become a world renowned alpine climber, a published writer and photographer, filmmaker, musician and storyteller,” Phyllis Copp said, “[and] that he would create a movement that continues to inspire people around the world and that his legacy lives on in such a meaningful way.

“I never imagined I’d have a beautiful daughter filled with so many amazing qualities and who loved her brother so much that she would pick up the torch along with so many of his close friends to keep the dream alive.”

The Adventure Film Festival will run May 4 and 5 at Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton. Tickets are $15 to $60. For more information, call (714) 738-6595 or visit themuck.org.

Scott Feinblatt is a contributor to Times Community News.