Polish Jurek winner of the 10th mountaineering film festival...

Polish Jurek winner of the 10th mountaineering film festival.



The jubilee 10th mountaineering film festival today crowns the winners of the largest mountaineering celebration in the valley, which took place between February 15 and 19, 2016 in Ljubljana, Celje, Krško and Ptuj, and moves to Domžale over the weekend. The international festival jury – Gabriela Kühn from Poland, Jack Tackle from the USA and Marko Brdnik from Slovenia – selected the best among 46 excellent films from around the world in four categories: alpinism; climbing; mountains, sports and adventure; and mountain nature and culture, and awarded the main prize of the city of Domžale to the Polish film Jurek about the famous alpinist Jerzy Kukuczka. Television Slovenia also awards a special prize. The award-winning films will be shown today in Ljubljana and Celje, when Cankarjev dom hosts lectures by American alpinist Jack Tackle and British climber Hazel Findlay, and on Saturday and Sunday the winners can be seen in Domžale.







The main prize of the city of Domžale goes to the Polish film Jurek, a multi-layered, balanced and touching story about an exceptional alpinist who set new standards in the history of Himalayan climbing. “People love the film because of the protagonist Jerzy Kukuczka, because he was so special, outstanding. In Poland, he is a somewhat forgotten hero and Jurek is the first serious film about him, so I am really pleased that it is being so well received at festivals abroad, because he really deserves the opportunity. It was in Slovenia that I experienced the most beautiful encounter with the audience and discussion after the film,” said director Paweł Wysoczański, who has presented the film at 17 festivals in the past year and collected awards already in Canada, Germany, Bulgaria, Nepal, Spain, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. “The most important message of the film is that Jurek was the son of a very simple worker, but he paved his own way into alpinism and shaped a different future, even though as a worker he would probably still be alive. Even though he was becoming one of the most successful alpinists, he did not change as a person, he remained humble and simple, as Nepalis and his climbing colleagues described him, but his family, which he left, paid a high price because of alpinism,” the Polish director concluded his thoughts.







The best alpinism film is Meru (USA and India), distinguished by excellent cinematography and a credible depiction of a technically demanding Himalayan ascent with emphasis on friendship and personal experience of challenges, successes and failures; the best climbing film is Panaroma (Spain), an attractive story about a father and son who tackle an extremely demanding ascent in the very picturesque north face of the Great Cima in the Dolomites. The award for the best film about mountains, sports and adventure goes to the daring adventure Suri (Slovakia), with which the guys wanted to raise awareness about the Suri tribe, which is threatened with extinction due to economic interests and exploitation, the award for the best film about mountain nature and culture goes to Afghan Winter (Switzerland), an excellent depiction of the diverse problems faced by Afghans plagued by war and crisis, and the film particularly stands out for its excellent photography. High and Mighty (USA), a personal and vivid story about the development of high boulder climbing and psychological barriers, fear and tension that we must overcome if we want to push the limits of the possible, is selected as the best short mountaineering film, and its creators from the American production house Sender Films, Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen and Josh Lowell, are also this year's recipients of the grand prize of the International Mountaineering Film Federation.







“46 films in the international competition program represented a wide range of themes related to alpinism, climbing, culture, nature and adventure. The jury had an extremely difficult task to award six main prizes. We awarded them to films that, in our opinion, stand out with the most compelling narrative, exceptional cinematography and music. The films allowed us to relive numerous adventures and are truly inspiring,” justified the selection by jury member Gabriela Kühn, deputy director of the mountaineering festival in the Tatras and vice-president of the International Mountaineering Film Federation.







The jury also awarded honorary mentions for the alpinism film (Tom, Spain and Italy, and Where?, Italy), an honorary mention for the climbing film (Line in the Sky, USA) and an honorary mention for the mountain nature and culture film (Life in the Jungle, Austria). Television Slovenia (the jury consisted of Aleša Valič, Andrej Otovčevič and Andraž Pöschl) awarded the film K2 and the Invisible Porters (Pakistan, USA, Brazil), a bright film about humble people. The award ceremony will be today, February 19, at 5 p.m. in the Literarna klub Lily Novy in Cankarjev dom, where several award-winning filmmakers will join us. The award-winning films will be shown in Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana and Mestni kino Metropol in Celje on Friday, February 19, and in Mestni kino Domžale over the weekend, February 20 and 21, 2016.







Screenings of award-winning films







CANKARJEV DOM LJUBLJANA

Friday, February 19, 2016

18.00, Linhartova dvorana: Afghan Winter



20.00, Kosovelova dvorana: Life in the Jungle and Suri







MESTNI KINO METROPOL CELJE

Friday, February 19, 2016

18.00: Afghan Winter

20.00: Jurek







MESTNI KINO DOMŽALE

Saturday, February 20, 2016

18.00: Afghan Winter



20.00: Jurek



Sunday, February 21, 2016

18.00: Line in the Sky, Panaroma and High and Mighty

20.00: Life in the Jungle and Suri







“The mountaineering film festival is an important bridge between Western and Eastern European countries involved in the International Mountaineering Film Federation. Slovenia is a small country with a very rich mountaineering culture and the Slovenian mountaineering festival is a true source of inspiration for festivals around the world. On this year's jubilee, the mountaineering film festival hosts the annual meeting of 23 members of the international federation, so representatives from Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Great Britain gathered in Ljubljana,” assessed the festival atmosphere by Kühn.







Silvo Karo, director of the Mountaineering Film Festival, who definitively put it on its feet a decade ago, also looks back with satisfaction on this year's festival week and the history of Slovenia's largest mountaineering celebration in the valley: “Every orchardist is happy if the tree takes root, and I am also happy that the festival has taken hold, as we have watered it for so many years. Attendance is pleasingly growing, and we are satisfied that we can offer the Slovenian public so much rich culture that world mountaineering film production has to offer, while at the same time listening to the stories of great masters who have left their mark in the mountains, such as Kurt Diemberger this year with an encyclopedia of achievements and experiences in the mountains. The most important thing for visitors are the stories, the candies they remember the most. I am glad that over all these years we have brought a lot of good content from elsewhere to Slovenia, which otherwise has an exceptional mountaineering history, and thus perhaps opened a different perspective.”







In addition to the Austrian alpinist and recipient of the golden ice axe for lifetime achievement Kurt Diemberger, who enthused with a lively and heartfelt narrative about his alpinist pioneering and filmmaking in the highest mountains, the most successful Slovenian sport climber Domen Škofic sparklingly presented to the listeners his desire for more and more and the compromises he had to make for it. The icing on the cake of the festival events with lectures tonight in Cankarjev dom is provided by American alpinist Jack Tackle, who has climbed numerous first ascents in Alaska, Canada and other mountain ranges around the world and will focus on Alaska in alpine style and the importance of self-sufficiency and dedication to the goal, and British traditional climbing master Hazel Findlay, the first woman to climb an E9 route (extremely demanding climbing) and celebrated as a master of crumbly sea cliffs, in the lecture From a Small Island to Big Walls will also present the mental aspect of this exciting sport.







The festival events, which this year again pleasingly fill cinema halls and excite numerous mountain lovers on the big screen, were enhanced by the visit of numerous filmmakers. At the screening of the film Jurek, director Paweł Wysoczański spoke about the famous Polish alpinist Jerzy Kukuczka, at the premiere of the film Valley of Giants: bouldering odyssey in the Sultanate of Oman, climbers Philippe Ribière and Read Macadam entertained the audience, Slovenian creator Rok Rozman presented the film Why? and his environmental efforts. At the premiere of the documentary Life in the Jungle, Austrian director Rita Schlamberger and Czech cameraman Jiří Petr took us behind the scenes of the shooting, the screening of the film Operation Moffat was accompanied by British director and climber Claire Carter, and the film Tom by the Italian-Spanish directing duo Elena Goatelli and Angel Esteban Vega.

Source: 10th mountaineering film festival