Skip to main content
The Second Ascent film image; people gathered around for a race

The Second Ascent: An Ultra Trail Running Story

+ Gary Robbins Q&A

Book Now Book Now

Award-winning journalist and filmmaker Megan Robinson (Search and Rescue: North Shore, The Chef & The Daruma and Physician, Heal Thyself) makes her directorial debut with The Second Ascent, a documentary that follows Gary Robbins and the close-knit Coast Mountain Trail Running team as they attempt to launch a new 100km race in Valemount, B.C., after dramatically losing their globally recognized event in Whistler.

Filmed behind the scenes under a compressed timeline, the film captures the high stakes of building a world-class trail competition from the ground up and a small mountain village’s bid to reinvent itself as an outdoor recreation destination.

 

Q&A with trail runner Gary Robbins and director Megan Robinson

Director

Megan Robinson

Featuring

Gary Robbins

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2026

Language

English

19+
52 min
RANGER

Book Tickets

Thursday September 24

7:00 pm
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Book Now
8:30 pm
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Book Now

Credits

Producer

Bronwyn Carradine

Cinematography

Richard Maxton

Editor

Megan Robinson

Also Playing

Diane

Dir. Kent Jones
95 min

This month's 55+-friendly Talking Pictures screening is a sympathetic, nuanced portrait of a kindly, generous widow (Mary Kay Place) whose son is an addict. Stay for a coffee, cookies, and a chat.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Late Fame

Dir. Kent Jones
96 min

Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Memory of Princess Mumbi

Dir. Damien Hauser
80 min

In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Rosetta

Dir. Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne
93 min

A teenager tries to change her dire circumstances in this overwhelming naturalistic drama from the Dardenne brothers, winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Actress awards at Cannes, 1999.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre