Holmlands Adventure Film Festival 2026: The Carlisle Line Up
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
6 Films. 5 UK Premieres. 1 Very Special Guest — and a 26kg Postbox.
Holmlands Adventure Film Festival comes to Cumbria this September, bringing six extraordinary adventure films to Wreay Village Hall, just outside Carlisle, for one special evening celebrating adventure, exploration, wildlife and the natural world.
Following our headline screenings in London, Holmlands heads to our Cumbrian roots for an evening of outstanding independent outdoor storytelling, with five UK Premieres.
Expect remarkable journeys, extraordinary characters, wild places and stories spanning cycling, hiking, conservation, sailing, glaciers and trail running — with films from filmmakers around the world.
As part of the evening we're also delighted to welcome Stu Skinner and his 26kg cast-iron Royal Mail postbox to Wreay for a special presentation of his film Postcards from the Peaks.
After facing eviction, heartbreak and a relapse into depression, mental health campaigner Stu set himself an extraordinary challenge: carrying the postbox to the highest point of all 15 UK National Parks, while inviting strangers, friends and communities to walk with him, write postcards to people experiencing loneliness and talk openly about their own experiences.
Postcards from the Peaks is a moving story about loneliness, community and what happens when you choose not to carry the weight alone.
Stu and his postbox will both be joining us in Wreay, giving audiences the chance to meet him, hear more about the journey and take part by leaving a postcard in the postbox. We'll also be holding a Q&A with Stu following the film.
Tickets are just £10 plus booking fee, with details for each film in the Carlisle line-up notes below.
Friday 18th September 2026
Wreay Village Hall, Near Carlisle
Doors 6:30pm · Films 7:00pm
Desert Lilies (UK Premiere)
Directed by Raphael Beisel & Alice Segre
Runtime: 01:07:26
Desert Lilies is a personal story about choosing to take on something uncertain, and the mindset required to keep going when it gets hard. The film follows Alice as she rides Desertus Bikus, a 1,350 km self-supported ultra gravel race from the French Basque Country to the coast of Portugal. Blending cinematic footage with GoPro clips, voice notes, and fragments from the road, it offers a grounded, intimate perspective on the physical and emotional effort behind ultra-distance riding.
Before the race, Alice speaks with professional trail runner Anna Comet. Her reflections on pain, pacing, and presence quietly shape the mindset Alice brings to the challenge. Along the way, interviews with other female participants highlight the rare and often overlooked presence of women in ultra-endurance cycling.
Desert Lilies isn’t about reaching the podium. It’s about choosing difficulty, navigating doubt, and finding your place in a sport where women are still the exception.
Postcards from the Peaks (UK Premiere)
Directed by Stu Skinner
Runtime: 25:32
When mental health campaigner Stu Skinner wakes up after a charity auction to find a cast-iron Royal Mail postbox at the end of his bed, his first thought is: what have I done?
Facing eviction, heartbreak and a relapse into depression, Stu sets out to test whether one ridiculous idea could bring him some joy, and maybe bring joy to other people too.
Carrying the 26kg postbox to the highest point of all 15 UK National Parks, he invites strangers, friends and communities to walk with him, write postcards to people experiencing loneliness, and talk openly about their own.
Postcards from the Peaks is a film about the weight of loneliness, and what happens when you don't carry it alone.
We are also thrilled to say Stu and his postbox will both be joining us in Wreay for the screening.
Komarnica: The Wild That Remains (UK Premiere)
Directed by Roman Willi
Runtime: 22:00
In the remote north of Montenegro lies one of Europe's last wild canyons, a place of towering cliffs, ancient forests, and crystal-clear waters: Komarnica. Beneath its surface, life thrives in ways science is only beginning to understand. This film follows an international team of researchers and local conservationists as they journey into the canyon to document its hidden biodiversity. From undiscovered species to fragile cave ecosystems, their mission is urgent: the entire landscape is threatened by a proposed hydropower dam.
Windward (UK Premiere)
Directed by Luna Barreiro, Renn Smith, Flynn Rossington & Alex Powell
Runtime: 05:53
Windward is a documentary about Walt Raineri, a blind sailor. The doc follows his journey becoming blind, and how he used sailing and nature to adapt to the hardships of it. After years of living with an inherited retinal disease, Walt believed he had prepared for blindness. But he soon realized that it would not be that simple.
Following his journey within a community of blind sailors, the film invites us into an immersive sensory world where navigation becomes listening, feeling, and trusting of the boat, of the wind, and of one another. He uses the water to feel comfort, freedom, and challenge and his story opens into a broader exploration on what it means to be human: moving from one moment of ability to the next.
El Llanto del Glaciar (UK Premiere)
Directed by Jordi Mestre Lopez & Camila Hernández Rousseau
Runtime: 05:37
“EL LLANTO DEL GLACIAR” is a collaborative project that brings together music, dance, and mountains to raise awareness about the retreat of glaciers caused by climate change. This retreat also reflects the global crisis we are living in.
Ecuadorian dancer Camila Hernández and Catalan musician Jordi Mestre merge their artistic projects, Verticalica and Soul Mountain, to give a voice to glaciers at risk of extinction. Through recordings made on various glaciers around the world, the short film highlights the beauty and vulnerability of these ecosystems.
The result is an emotionally powerful work that seeks to raise awareness of the global environmental crisis. This initiative was born from the passion and voluntary collaboration of artists and technicians connected to nature.
Clean Miles
Directed by Stefan Rath
Runtime: 05:04
Clean Miles -is a heartfelt portrait of movement, resilience, and the joy found in every step forward. Colin McCormick is a local trail running legend in the small community of Kitimat British Columbia. Inspiring his community through a deep story which connects his past and present.
