By ANN-MARLEEN GRENGEL

Laughs. Tears. Heart palpitations. The Gutsy Girls Adventure Film Tour provides a bit of everything.

The festival presents films about inspirational and adventurous women from all over the world, aiming is to “connect like-minded women and build a community of supportive adventurous women”, according to event’s website.

• Last Australian sessions today (Geelong) and tomorrow (Ballarat)

Opening the show at the Astor Theatre in Melbourne was a prime example – an 11-year-old girl on stage playing the guitar for the audience of 500 people. 

Event organiser Jemima Robinson said one of the festival's strengths was its diversity and accessibility to a range of audiences.

“The festival is for everyone, no matter what your age, your color or where you grew up,” she said.

Even though the majority of the audience in Melbourne was female, there were also men and children in attendance.

The films presented the touching stories of impressive women of all ages. A film about a synchronised swimming team with female members 55 years and older was followed by three young Nepali women who go mountain biking across Asia.

“It is less about the individual films and more about the people in them,” Ms Robinson said.

“The films show people the possibilities of what you can do.”

The film Follow Through tells the story of social media star Caroline Gleich who followed her dreams of becoming a skier. After her half-brother died in an avalanche, her parents wanted her to focus on academics, but the only thing she wanted to do was ski.

“Ultimately, I do this stuff every morning because it’s what I want to do from the bottom of my heart,” she said.  

Tickets are still available for the two final Victorian shows – in Geelong tomorrow (Wednesday) and in Ballarat on Thursday, at 6.46pm both days.