Between 1957 and 1958, Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster undertook the adventure of a lifetime — driving a Land Rover dubbed “the Grizzly Torque” 14,000 kilometres across Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia. More than just an adrenaline-pumping adventure story of two young men crossing half the planet, The Art of Adventure maps out how Bateman and Foster’s trip inspired a love of nature that would last a lifetime. The film interweaves an account of their travels with a look their lives through the decades that followed: Bateman became a beloved Canadian wildlife painter and Foster a prominent biologist and the first director of BC’s Ecological Reserves program.
Through in-depth interviews with friends and family and the original 16mm film footage of their incredible journey, director Alison Reid shows how the trip expanded the pair’s knowledge of the physical world while deepening their spiritual and emotional connection to it. A heartwarming, inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
Alison Reid
Robert Bateman, Bristol Foster
Canada
2025
English
Mountain Culture Award, Whistler Film Festival; Audience Favourite Feature, Victoria Film Festival; Best Canadian Doc, Available Light Film Festival
Book Tickets
Tuesday May 26
Wednesday May 27
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Anne Innis Dagg, Mary Dagg
Producer
Alison Reid
Cinematography
Dale Hildebrand
Editor
Dave Kazala
Original Music
Tom Third
Also Playing
Bushido
An impeccable samurai (and "Go" expert), Kakunoshin is framed for a crime and forced into exile. Years later he stumbles across the true reason for his fall from grace, and sets about exacting his revenge...
Miles Davis 100! Vince Mai Plays Miles Davis
Vancouver trumpet legend Vince Mai Vince Mai will be performing music from some of Miles Davis's most memorable 1950s albums, including Kind of Blue, Walkin', Relaxin' and more. After his live set, enjoy Stanley Nelson's definitive documentary.
Fiume o Morte!
The Croatian city of Rijeka rediscovers its own past in this delightfully unconventional hybrid documentary about Italian poet and proto-fascist Gabriele D’Annunzio, who seized the city known in Italian as Fiume in 1919.
Silent Friend
In this entrancing reverie from On Body and Soul director Ildikó Enyedi, we are invited to contemplate several human specimens from the vantage point of a mighty Ginkgo biloba tree on the grounds of a German university.