Preview: Adventure Film Festival, Vue cinemas, nationwide

There ain't no mountain high enough

Vue Cinemas would have us all biking, boarding and braving the darkest corners of the world. New digital technology has enabled the chain to screen the UK's first Adventure Film Festival at 55 locations, in an all-out attempt to inspire the adventurer in everyone.

Most cinemas will show an extended package of highlights, Ultimate Adventures, but a selection of screens will broadcast the full complement of films over the course of a week.

Each day has a different theme. Proceedings kick off with the first cinema screening of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's cross-continental motorbike trip in Long Way Round, with footage not seen in the television version. Storm Force Adventures shows work by film-makers who have captured their encounters with nature at its most temperamental; few are as ardent about their encounters as storm-chaser Sean Casey, who documents the realisation of his extraordinary dream to film inside the vortex of a tornado.

Other programmes include Ocean Adventures and High Altitude Adventures, while On The Edge includes Cannibals and Crampons, the story of two explorers in New Guinea evading the attentions of certain tribesmen.

The festival organiser Jim Odoire believes there is enough quality here to appeal to the mainstream. "Some great film-makers and great films have gone unseen until now," he says. "There are other festivals about mountaineering, for example, but they tend to be very niche. I'm a desk jockey, but the great thing about these films is that they're nice, well-shot stories the public can relate to."

Odoire's favourite among the films is Berserk. "It's about a twentysomething Norwegian who wakes up one morning and decides to buy a yacht. He sails to Antarctica, picking up two hitchhikers on the way." And Odoire adds a final, revealing thought: "Most of these film-makers have a screw loose."

11 to 23 September ( www.adventurefest.co.uk; tickets at Vue box offices or www.myvue.com)