Wild Days Triumph at the 19th Mountain Film Festival

Wild Days triumph at the 19th Mountain Film Festival, best short film the Slovenian Hooks, Roles and Reality on the Soča.

The winner of the 19th Mountain Film Festival is the French film by Yohan Guignard Wild Days, an excellent example of an adventure film that is unfortunately becoming a true rarity in today's times. In addition to the main prize of the city of Domžale, the festival jury also awarded the best in individual categories among the 32 films in the competition program: the best alpine film is the Polish Wanda Rutkiewicz: The Last Expedition, the best climbing film the American Follow the Heart, the best film about mountains, sports and adventure the French-Argentine-Chilean Pachamama, the best film about mountain nature and culture the Swedish My Sweden: Wilderness in the Grip of Change, and the best short film the Slovenian film Hooks, Roles and Reality on the Soča by Rožle Bregar and Rok Rozman. The awarded films will be on view on Friday, February 21, in Radovljica and Ljubljana, where Marija and Andrej Štremfelj, members of the Himalayan expedition Lalung I Ana Baumgartner, Urša Kešar and Patricija Verdev, as well as Iztok Tomazin and Tomo Virk will also share their stories, and on Saturday, February 22, also in the City Cinema Domžale.

The main prize of the city of Domžale was won this year by the French feature film Wild Days by Yohan Guignard. "A fifty-day adventure in the Arctic regions of Alaska, walking, skiing and climbing, and finally paddling back to the capital of this federal state. Four friends from France undertook the venture without any external help, and along the way they also stepped to the summit of Denali and Mt. Whittaker. A true adventure, filmed with plenty of humor, through which we thoroughly get to know all four protagonists and their genuine emotions. An excellent example of an adventure film that is unfortunately becoming a true rarity in today's times," explained their decision the festival jury, composed of Bulgarian journalist and climber Tanya Ivanova, Slovenian publicist and film creator Mojca Volkar Trobevšek, and Swiss director and alpinist Fulvio Mariani.

The best alpine film is the Polish film Wanda Rutkiewicz: The Last Expedition by Eliza Kubarska about the legendary Polish alpinist, "a profound and extremely appealing portrait of a woman who shifted the boundaries of the possible. Kubarska presents us with the complex personality of Wanda Rutkiewicz, her legacy and the mystery that still surrounds her today remain very much alive thanks to her film". For the best climbing film at this year's festival, the jury chose the American film Follow the Heart, in which director Andrea Cossu follows Japanese climber Sachi Amma: "With his calm philosophy, he presents his view on climbing, which in his case is at times truly intense, and the director, with the help of outstanding footage and sophisticated use of sounds, music and minimalist moments, ensures we sense the danger of Sachi's climbing, yet without unnecessary exaggeration."

In the category of mountains, sports and adventure, the French-Argentine-Chilean film Pachamama by Yannick Boissenot triumphed, a snowboarding-skiing adventure in Patagonia, in which the director "with the help of elegant photography presents the story of three adventurers in a land that still demands a certain measure of exploratory spirit and where genuine adventure can still be experienced". The award for the best film about mountain nature and culture went to the Swedish film My Sweden: Wilderness in the Grip of Change by Zoltán Török, which "impresses with incredible shots of Swedish nature and wild animals in all seasons", following the author and his family on a long journey exploring the changing landscape, climate changes, as well as the natural evolution of relationships within their family.

The award for the best short film went to the Slovenian film by director Rožle Bregar and screenwriter Rok Rozman Hooks, Roles and Reality on the Soča, in which a team of kayakers swaps paddles for fishing rods and thus explores the Soča River. "A fun and original depiction of an outing on the Soča River. A brilliantly shot film about friends catching trout, spiced with plenty of humor, infused with a pleasant atmosphere and full of natural beauties," wrote the jury and pleasantly surprised the creative team, an old acquaintance of the festival, with the decision. Two years ago, Bregar's film One for the River: The Story of the Sava won, at the 13th Mountain Film Festival the young director received an honorable mention from the jury in the mountain nature and culture category for the film Untouched, the year before he convinced the jury to award the main prize of the city of Domžale to the film The Last Ice Hunters, which he created with Jure Breceljnik. Rožle Bregar and Rok Rozman also presented the paddling guide Soča from Source to Sea at this year's festival.

"We are surprised and very happy with the award for the best short film at the 19th Mountain Film Festival. Today, when films are mostly made according to the same mold, ours is made outside the box and therefore probably stands out. Everything is presented very humorously, which the audience likes, to laugh and have fun, but in the background there is still a serious message. The film Hooks, Roles and Reality on the Soča is part of a kind of sequel, in which the same foursome always appears. In this film, they set off with kayaks along the Soča and tried fly fishing, showed how love for the river leads to deeper understanding and respect for the environment, and emphasized sustainable fishing, preservation of native species and the impact of human actions on nature. Last year on rafts we warned about the disappearance of huchen in the Sava as a consequence of dam building, the third, upcoming film takes place on the Krka," explained Rožle Bregar and announced a new project: "These are short films that we create with the Leeway Collective institute; with the same team we also made the films One for the River: The Story of the Sava and Untouched. Finally, we received funds from the Slovenian Film Fund to start shooting a feature-length documentary film about the Soča River - with the main theme of how in the seventies they wanted to dam the upper part of the Soča, which fortunately was stopped by a student organization and this part is still not dammed to this day - otherwise it would not be so beautiful and the whole world would not admire it."

The jury also awarded honorable mentions to the alpine film Nuptse: Touch of the Intangible (Hugo Clouzeau, France), which emphasizes the values of alpinism, trust in oneself and the climbing partner and the power of will, to the climbing film Cumbira II (Mateo Barrenengoa, Angola), which with exceptional sensitivity shows what happens in a poor Angolan village when children discover climbing, and in the mountain nature and culture category to the film Conquerors of Everest (Jean-Michel Jorda, Spain), which openly shows the extremity of commercial alpinism that selfishly destroys the dreams of many generations of alpinists, leaving behind great pollution.

The festival opening with the screening of the film about Wanda Rutkiewicz was honored by the visit of Polish director Eliza Kubarska, and the Colombian film Warriors was escorted to the audience by directors María Alejandra Rubio and Thomas Palmer. In addition to quality films, the 19th Mountain Film Festival was marked by lecturers with their stories with a capital S: American alpinist and golden ice axe recipient Jackson Marvell, Slovak climber Miška Izakovičová, alpine legends Mojstrana Squirrels, Alenka Klinar with her book debut, Matjaž Jeran with a family trekking in Pakistan and Ladislav Jirásko with the story about the Czech Hut.

On the penultimate festival day, Friday, February 21, there will be a lecture at Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana about the resounding Himalayan expedition Lalung I, on which Ana Baumgartner, Urša Kešar, Anja Petek and Patricija Verdev wrote a story about courage, group strength and the inspiring spirit of women's alpinism, Marija and Andrej Štremfelj will vividly relive the Great Himalayan Trail, which they described in the book The Power of Night is in the Light of Stars, and the alpinist-literary team Iztok Tomazin and Tomo Virk will present the book The Rope Team.

Screenings of the awarded films of the 19th Mountain Film Festival

Cankarjev dom, LJUBLJANA
Friday, February 21, 2025
18.00 Linhart Hall: Hooks, Roles and Reality on the Soča, Follow the Heart, Pachamama
20.00 Kosovel Hall: Wild Days

Linhart Hall, RADOVLJICA
Friday, February 21, 2025
18.00 Pachamama, My Sweden: Wilderness in the Grip of Change
20.00 Follow the Heart, Nuptse: Touch of the Intangible

City Cinema DOMŽALE
Saturday, February 22, 2025
18.00 Wanda Rutkiewicz: The Last Expedition
20.00 Wild Days