The inaugural Auburn Adventure Film Festival – led by acclaimed film writer and director Warren Etheredge and hosted by the City of Auburn Tourism Division – debuts Jan. 18-20.

Screenings will be at the Auburn Avenue Theater, 10 Auburn Ave.

“Life is an adventure, and adventure can take form in many different lenses, whether it is in the world of travel, sports, photography, culinary arts or nature,” said Lorraine Chachere, City of Auburn Tourism coordinator. “The topics that we are focusing on in this festival are meant to convey just that.”

Building on the city’s ongoing promotion of Auburn as a place to “Choose Your Own Adventure,” the festival offers a unique structure that allows the audience to fully engage in the topic of their choice.

“We are creating something new with the Auburn Adventure Film Festival. More than a collection of exciting movies, the AAFF promises a unique experience for anyone who attends and opts to … experience the movies,” said Etheredge, who is the festival director.

Film packages will be complemented by a thematically-related adventure for the audience – everything from a game of grown-up tag with “professionals,” to ice skating in the heart of the city, sampling international street food, and exclusive tours of the mountaineering exhibit at the White River Valley Museum.

“Movies are adventures. Growing up in New York City, I had everything at my fingertips, yet true adventure could still feel a million miles away. Movies were my escape, my travel, my transport, my white-knuckled, daredevil excursions into unknown worlds and novel ideas,” Etheredge said. “I could sail on golden voyages with Sinbad, survive natural disasters in Sensurround and travel to Kubrick’s imagined edges of the universe in 70 mm. Later, I would climb the highest peaks in IMAX and immerse myself in fantastical locales, courtesy of cutting-edge VR. Most importantly, I could experience others’ lives, completely foreign to mine, and thus, revelatory. Movies allow me, allow us, to live multiple lifetimes within our own.

“We want folks to make memories in addition to seeing movies. No festival has ever undertaken such an adventure, yet this seems perfectly in the spirit of Auburn, a city where fun of all sorts is within walking distance and new experiences create richer lives,” Etheredge said.

Interested parties can find the film festival program and additional information at exploreauburn.com.