French film Mongolia: Valley of Bears winner of 18th FGF

The winner of the 18th Mountain Film Festival is the French film Mongolia: Valley of Bears by Hamid Sardar, distinguished by an excellent script and a beautiful narrative that provokes thought without unnecessary moralizing. In addition to the main award of the city of Domžale, the festival jury awarded the best in individual categories among 35 films in the competitive program: the best mountaineering film is Transcendence, the best climbing film Climbing as Resistance, the best film about mountains, sports, and adventure Tragedy on Haute Route, the best film about mountain nature and culture Maurice Baquet: Chord, and the best short film Anatomy of Ascent. The award-winning films will be screened tonight at Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana, Mestni kino Domžale, Linhartova dvorana in Radovljica, and Kino Metropol in Celje, and also on Saturday in Domžale and Radovljica.

This year, the main award of the city of Domžale was won by the French feature film Mongolia: Valley of Bears by Hamid Sardar, which multi-layeredly depicts the land of nomads. "An excellently made film, almost like a feature film. Excellent script, beautiful narrative that provokes thought, without unnecessary moralizing. Excellent combination of local people and their knowledge with a scientific approach. The creators succeeded in finding an excellent example for universal human problems. The film leaves the viewer with the feeling at the end that they have already been to Mongolia," wrote the festival jury in its explanation, composed of former creator of the show Mountains and People and nature conservationist Marjeta Keršič Svetel, mountaineer and mountain guide Tomaž Jakofčič, and German journalist, mountaineering publicist, and filmmaker Tom Dauer.

The best mountaineering film is the American film Transcendence by Michelle Smith about top paracl climber Adrien Costa, "an inspiring story that plays with the viewer's expectations through sudden twists. The film emphasizes the values of alpinism, self-trust and trust in the climbing partner, and the power of will." For the best climbing film at this year's festival, the jury selected the American film Climbing as Resistance, in which directors Zachary Barr and Nick Rosen touch on current socio-political conditions in the Middle East: "An excellently crafted story that connects personal stories of people with the role that climbing can play in a society drowning in all kinds of troubles."


In the mountains, sports, and adventure category, the Swiss film Tragedy on Haute Route by Frank Senn won, about the ski touring drama of 2018, about which the jury wrote: "A very thoroughly researched and excellently told story about a very moving event that nicely avoids judgment. It shows in a very sensitive way how a fairly simple mountaineering adventure can quickly turn into a tragedy. It depicts how group dynamics can influence life-important decisions." The award for the best film about mountain nature and culture went to Maurice Baquet: Chord by French director Gilles Chappaz. "A little-known story in our space about a highly gifted person in many fields. Despite all this, he manages to mock himself, which is a great rarity today in the general rise of self-promotion. The editing and narrative perspective are brilliant."

The award for the best short film went to the American animated documentary Anatomy of Ascent by Henne Taylor, which "in a special way combines the art of climbing with other forms of artistic expression." The jury also awarded honorable mentions to the mountaineering film Flying into Karakorum (Antoine Girard, France), the climbing film DNA (Josh Lowell, USA), the film Floating on Snow (Kurt Skoog, Sweden) in the mountains, sports, and adventure category, and the film Mountain of Memories (Julen Zubiete, Spain, 2023) among films about mountain nature and culture.

There are no Slovenian films among the award-winners, although seven were screened at this year's festival, numerically enriched by the presence of filmmakers and protagonists. Three films had their premiere: the documentary-feature film Viharnik z roba by Igor Vrtačnik, 100 Years of Climbers, the film story of mountain runners at Julian Alps Trail Run Where the Ibex Run by Aliash Tepine, and the documentary Himalayan Warriors by Bosnian director Zehrudin Isaković about the 50-year friendship between mountaineers Stipe Božić and Viki Grošelj.

In addition to quality films, the 18th Mountain Film Festival was also marked by lecturers with their capital stories: mountaineers Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy, Mikhail Fomin, Edu Marin, Matteo Della Bordella, and Rado Fabjan, sport climber Mina Markovič, photographer and director Rožle Bregar, researcher of mountaineering history Dušan Škodič, and at the photo exhibition also the festival director Silvo Karo.

Screenings of award-winning films of the 18th Mountain Film Festival

Cankarjev dom, LJUBLJANA (Linhartova dvorana)
Friday, February 16, 2024
20.00 Mongolia: Valley of Bears

Kino Metropol, CELJE
Friday, February 16, 2024
20.00 Mongolia: Valley of Bears

Mestni kino DOMŽALE
Friday, February 16, 2024
20.00 Tragedy on Haute Route

Saturday, February 17, 2024
16.00 Mongolia: Valley of Bears
18.00 Anatomy of Ascent, DNA, Climbing as Resistance
20.00 Transcendence, Flying into Karakorum

Linhartova dvorana, RADOVLJICA
Friday, February 16, 2024
20.00 Transcendence, Flying into Karakorum

Saturday, February 17, 2024
18.00 Tragedy on Haute Route
20.00 Anatomy of Ascent, DNA, Climbing as Resistance