Olympiad of Experiences and Achievements on the Silver Screen

After the end of the Winter Olympics, a unique olympiad of experiences and achievements begins at the 12th Mountaineering Film Festival, which this year again brings a week of inspiring and breathtaking stories from the mountains. From February 26 to March 4, 2018, at Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana, Mestno kino Domžale, Mestno kino Metropol in Celje, and the Slovenian Mountaineering Museum in Mojstrana, 35 films about alpinism, climbing, adventure, mountain nature and culture will be screened, many of which have already been awarded at such festivals around the world. In Ljubljana this year, the Italian-Slovenian duo Nives Meroi and Roman Benet, the German top alpinist and ice climber Ines Papert, and the Slovenian alpinism legend and festival director Silvo Karo will give lectures.



Nives Meroi and Roman Benet have climbed all fourteen eight-thousanders together and thus became the first married couple to achieve this, while in between dealing with Roman's illness and a double bone marrow transplant, which was their fifteenth eight-thousander. Not only at the lecture, their story can also be discovered in the film. German alpinist Ines Papert is not only one of the best female alpinists in the world, recently in partnership with Slovenian alpinist Luka Lindič, and multiple world champion in ice climbing, but also a mother, which significantly marks her involvement in the vertical world. Protagonist of the golden age of Slovenian alpinism Silvo Karo, one of the most successful and boldest conquerors of Patagonian mountains in their entire history and alongside Franček Knez and Janez Jeglič - Johan a member of the legendary three musketeers, is rounding off his 40-year rich alpinist path also with this year's published autobiography Alpinist.



The opening festival evening on February 26 at Cankarjev dom will feature the highly anticipated feature film Reinkarnacija tibetanskega meniha, a charmingly intimate film portrait of a Buddhist boy on an epic journey to his roots, which has already won a series of awards at foreign festivals, including Berlinale and Banff. This year's program includes almost a third of feature films, the most so far. The extraordinary life story of a mysterious alpinist legend is brought by the film Klatež: Legenda Freda Beckeyja, a raw and intimate portrait of Andy Kirkpatrick during an 18-day solo ascent on El Capitan is Psycho Vertical. A look into the development of Slovak himalaism is revealed by the documentary Odvisni od višine, into the life of the Mexican Tarahumara people, born to run, the film Hitre noge. Life in Four Elements is a cinematic adventure of five unique people and their stories of friendship, dreams and loss. The magnetic attraction of mountains with some of the biggest names in adrenaline sports explores the psychology of risk in the mountains, in the multiple award-winning documentary Santoalla life dreams in a remote Spanish village turn into a nightmare.



The kayak-skiing-kite adventure invites the film V Dvojno galaksijo - Potovanje po Grenlandiji, to the most remote corners of our planet Maewan, freeride on the Kuril Islands. Inspiration for young adventurers will be Šepet v vetru along the northern Canadian Nahanni River, a new climbing adventure on Baffin Island awaits the Kokosova duo. Female climbing energy will be felt in the films Preboj with Margo Hayes, Štrcelj with Maureen Beck and Ženske poti with Marion Poitevin, Liv Sansoz and Martina Čufar Potard in the lead roles. There are few places that remain wild and untouched despite human presence - these are Kanarski otoki - Svet ognjenih gora, as experienced in moving images by the Schlamberger couple, authors of the film awarded two years ago Življenje v pragozdu. The documentary Botanik takes us to Tadžikistan, Življenje z divjimi živalmi to the Canadian Bow Valley. Cave enthusiasts will be attracted by the films Jamarske sanje and SOS Bavarska, interesting also from the perspective of demanding cave rescue.



Six Slovenian films will also be shown, Nives Meroi and Roman Benet: 14 + 1 although in Italian production, but the product of RAI Slovenian editorial journalist Vida Valenčič about Nives Meroi and Roman Benet as the first couple to conquer all fourteen eight-thousanders, while overcoming Roman's illness in between. Proti horizontu is an adventurous feat on the big screen by Miha Podgornik and Ivica Kostelić about crossing Greenland on skis, the film Zadnji ledeni lovci by Rožle Bregar and the late director Jure Breceljnik tells about the disappearing Inuit culture on eastern Greenland, the short alpinist film by Monika Novak Mogoče pa speaks about life in base camp, climbing, uncertainty, people and friendship on the expedition of Aleš Česna, Urban Novak and Marko Prezelj to the Indian Himalaya. The documentary-feature film Po stezi pastirjev in tekačev by Peter Vrčkovnik depicts the unique Velika planina as the coexistence of cultural heritage and sport, Odčarani kino by Eva Pivač and Matjaž Pinter takes us to three remote mountain villages in western Nepal, where at the end of the seventies the famous ethnographic film Šamani slepe dežele was made.



The films will be judged by a three-member international jury: Polish director Paweł Wysoczański, author of several documentaries, for the film Jurek he received 27 awards worldwide, two years ago also in Slovenia, director of the Mountaineering Film Festival in South Korea Billy Choi and excellent Slovenian climber Andrej Grmovšek.