20th Mountaineering Film Festival Just 20 Days Away
21.01.2026
One hundred thousand viewers have visited the Mountaineering Film Festival up to this year's anniversary, which celebrates 20 years and is not only the largest Slovenian mountaineering event but also the most important mountaineering festival in Southeast Europe. The popular festival announces a true mountaineering olympiad for its anniversary! In Ljubljana, Domžale, and Radovljica, from February 9 to 14, 2026, 34 films – with a record number of Slovenian ones – and five lectures will take place, and the 20th anniversary will be accompanied by an exhibition about the festival.
Mountains were the backdrop for the first Slovenian feature films: In the Kingdom of Zlatorog and Triglav Slopes – and following the example of the world's most prestigious mountaineering festivals, they also found their place on the big screen in Slovenia. From the climbs in 1966 at the sports and tourist film festival in Kranj, through Banff after Banff in Mengš (1998), the first international mountaineering film festival in Bled (2002), and the alpinistically colored documentary film festival in Ljubljana. All previous efforts matured in 2007 into a new festival, the first true festival with an international jury, films from numerous countries, lecturers, and round tables on mountaineering themes. The organizer of the festival has been the Association for Mountain Culture ever since.
“The festival grew together with my alpinism. Gradualness and persistence were in the foreground. I tackled the project with great enthusiasm and heartiness and prepare it today in the same way, roped up with people with whom we constantly climb upwards according to the principle ‘light and fast’,” emphasizes the founder and director of the Mountaineering Film Festival, Silvo Karo, a top alpinist and recipient of the golden ice axe for lifetime achievement in alpinism in 2022.
The Mountaineering Film Festival was accepted into the International Mountaineering Film Association in 2010, which connects 27 festivals from 20 countries and five continents. “The festival has outgrown into a true mountaineering celebration that every February attracts more than five thousand visitors to the halls and significantly contributes to enriching and spreading film and narrative mountaineering content. If there is truth to the fact that the festival stimulated the development and enthusiasm for domestic mountaineering production, then I can say I won. At this year's anniversary festival, we are presenting a record number of domestic films,” adds Karo, who has left first ascents not only in Patagonia, the Himalayas, and the Alps but also blazed the mountaineering trail in the Slovenian film space.
Around 100,000 viewers have visited the Mountaineering Film Festival in the past 19 years, who – including this year – have been delighted with more than 800 films. This year, 34 alpinistic, climbing, and adventure films as well as film stories about mountain nature and culture from 18 countries will be shown on the big screen. Among them will be nine Slovenian films, the most to date. Premieres will include, among others, the feature documentaries Triglav: Path of Salvation by Aleš Žemlja and Rožle Bregar and Aleš Kunaver and Our First Expeditions to the World's Highest Mountains by Jure Škrlep, as well as the time documentary Written Mountains, 130 Years of Planinski Vestnik by Mojca Volkar Trobevšek and Andrej Podbevšek. The full program is available on the website www.gorniski.si.
The winner's crown, the Grand Prize of the City of Domžale, was awarded from 2007 to last year to films Brezno (Italy), Baffin – Island of Babes (France), Unknown Antarctica (Slovakia), Project Asgard (United Kingdom), Journey to the End of Winter (France), Art of Freedom (Poland), Village, Far from Everything (France), Summit (Ireland), Metanoia – Jeff Lowe's Transformation (USA), Jurek (Poland), Sherpa – Dispute on Everest (Australia/Nepal), Dawn Wall (USA), Čolite (Spain), Wall of Shadows (Poland), After Antarctica (USA), One for the River: Sava's Story (Slovenia), Mongolia: Valley of Bears (France), and Wild Days (France).
The Mountaineering Film Festival has been delighting Slovenian audiences for 20 years with prestigious guests from the world of alpinism and climbing. This year, German alpinist Fabian Buhl will present a unique blend of alpinism and paragliding in the Himalayas and Patagonia, Catalan alpinist Sílvia Vidal an exceptional solo ascent in Patagonia awarded with a special commendation of the golden ice axe, the oldest Slovenian BASE jumper and ‘wingsuit’ flyer Stane Krajnc, pioneer of the development of this sport in our country, his traces in the sky, Styrian alpinist Mira Zorič her path from the first Yugoslav women's Himalayan expedition to more than 2000 ascents in domestic and foreign mountains, Primorska alpinist Janko Humar more than half an alpinistic century and mountaineering activity in Primorska walls.
The 20th Mountaineering Film Festival will fittingly take place during the 2026 Winter Olympics, from February 9 to 14, at three established venues: Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana, Domžale Town Cinema, and Linhart Hall in Radovljica. This year's anniversary will also be accompanied by an exhibition about the festival.