8:00 pm | Barocksaal
FULL - Festival Opening
FULL - Festival Opening

Endless Winter

Michael Neumann, Henrik von Janda-Eble | Stilbezirk | Germany | 46 min. | German

Endless Winter

Michael Neumann, Henrik von Janda-Eble | Stilbezirk | Germany | 46 min. | German

Toni Sponar, born in Styria in 1934, emigrated to North America in 1958, accidentally became a ski instructor, and fulfilled his personal dream of eternal winter. For one half of the year he works as a ski instructor in the northern hemisphere in Aspen. The “summer months” he spends in the southern hemisphere in a high valley of the Andes, at his own freeride ski resort Arpa. He’s found happiness within simple living conditions – and hasn’t missed a single winter for 50 years. A touching portrait of a person who has found happiness in every possible respect.

World Premiere! With guests!

Babsi Zangerl und Jacopo Larcher – Das Dreamteam der extremen Kletterszene (Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher - The Extreme Climbing Dream Team)

Malte Roeper | Bavarian Broadcasting Company | Germany | 27 min. | German

Babsi Zangerl und Jacopo Larcher – Das Dreamteam der extremen Kletterszene (Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher - The Extreme Climbing Dream Team)

Malte Roeper | Bavarian Broadcasting Company | Germany | 27 min. | German

Tyrolean Babsi Zangerl is one of the world’s best female climbers. She has mastered the hardest alpine free climbs, such as Magic Mushroom in the Yosemite Valley. Like her partner, top climber Jacopo Larcher, she is only a “part-time professional”. She does not like to hog the limelight and holds down a job as an X-ray assistant. Babsi and Jacopo climb at eye level: on El Capitan, in Vorarlberg and when bouldering in Galtür, where it all began …

Eisiger Tanz mit dem Götterfall (Icy Dance with the Götterfall)

Olaf Obsommer | Big-O-Productions | Germany | 31 min. | German

Eisiger Tanz mit dem Götterfall (Icy Dance with the Götterfall)

Olaf Obsommer | Big-O-Productions | Germany | 31 min. | German

Even in summer, Iceland’s waterfalls are a challenge for whitewater paddlers. How crazy do you have to be to go there in winter? Matze Brustmann, Adrian Mattern, Jobst Hahn and Sam Sutton dare extraordinary feats at the Goðafoss, the “Fall of the Gods” – even though landing on blocks of ice is painful and the braking distance is extremely short. If Iceland is magical in summer, in winter it turns into a “balm for the soul and sugar for the eyes”.

8:00 pm | Ludwig-Thoma-Saal
Call of the Mountains
Call of the Mountains

Riafn (Calling)

Hannes Lang | Petrolio Film | Germany | 30 min. | Italian, South Tyrolean Dialect

Riafn (Calling)

Hannes Lang | Petrolio Film | Germany | 30 min. | Italian, South Tyrolean Dialect

A cinematic expedition into an Alpine soundscape. The director has condensed dialects, sounds and songs of shepherds, dairymaids and dairymen into a rhythmic and sensual tableau.

Kilian Jornet – Path to Everest

Josep Serra, Sébastian Montaz-Rosset | Arcadia Motion Pictures | Spain | 80 min. | German

Kilian Jornet – Path to Everest

Josep Serra, Sébastian Montaz-Rosset | Arcadia Motion Pictures | Spain | 80 min. | German

The Spaniard Kilian Jornet is currently one of the world’s most important mountaineers. As a child, he wrote a list of all the mountain races he intended to win and all the peaks he would like to visit someday. In May 2017, the time has come to fulfil his final dream: a solo climb of Mount Everest. All other boxes are checked.

8:00 pm | Medius
Power of the Mind
Power of the Mind

The A.O. – In the Zone

Jochen Schmoll | Helliventures | Germany | 26 min. | English/German subtitles

The A.O. – In the Zone

Jochen Schmoll | Helliventures | Germany | 26 min. | English/German subtitles

With “Silence” Adam Ondra sent the most difficult sport climbing route in the world (9c) and thus established a new level of difficulty. Even in big wall climbing, the Czech genius shows off his aptitude: he repeats the Dawn Wall in just eight days – on his very first trip to the Yosemite Valley. He even climbs an 8a blindfolded. What makes this exceptional climber so strong? It can’t be brawn and stamina alone …

Aaron Durogati – Playing with the Invisible

Damiano Levati, Matteo Vettorel | Storyteller-Labs | Italy | 30 min. | Italian/German subtitles

Aaron Durogati – Playing with the Invisible

Damiano Levati, Matteo Vettorel | Storyteller-Labs | Italy | 30 min. | Italian/German subtitles

There is probably no life without fatalities. Certain events simply cannot be avoided. That’s when one must be ready to collect the pieces, get back up and move on. In the bright solitude of the autumnal Dolomites, Aaron, an excellent paraglider, previously met with his fate. This is an intimate story about fragility – but also about the indomitable strength it takes to return and make dreams come true.

A Day at the Office

Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll | Belgium | 49 min. | Dutch/German subtitles

A Day at the Office

Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll | Belgium | 49 min. | Dutch/German subtitles

Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll | Belgium | 49 min. | Dutch/Sub German
The trio has been friends since childhood: Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Vincent Floré and Tom Coosemans. They work in very different “offices” and decide to break out and take off together. Their extraordinary rafting expedition takes them along the Nahanni River in northern Canada to the legendary granite massif of the Lotus Flower Towers.

In 2011 Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll got the Otto-Guggenbichler-Prize for a junior filmmaker for his film ‘Vertical Sailing Greenland’.

 

8:00 pm | Schalthaus
Mountain Spirit
Mountain Spirit

Iceberg Nations

Fernando Martín Borlán | Spain | 4 min. | English

Iceberg Nations

Fernando Martín Borlán | Spain | 4 min. | English

Nations come and go – but what constitutes a country? Aren’t boundaries simply stupid? After all, nobody can own a country, seeing that the earth belongs to nobody. Who would come up with the idea of laying claim to an iceberg?

Le refuge des Gwich'in (The Reserve of the Gwich'in)

Irina Alles | Vadzaih Expeditions | France | 27 min. | French/German subtitles

Le refuge des Gwich'in (The Reserve of the Gwich'in)

Irina Alles | Vadzaih Expeditions | France | 27 min. | French/German subtitles

124 miles beyond the Arctic Circle, in northern Alaska, lives a fairly diminished indigenous Indian tribe. For more than 10,000 years, it has existed in harmony with nature. Today, the people living in the vast forests of the tundra are exposed to the effects of climate change.

Der Stein in den Bergen (The Stone in the Mountains)

Ingo Herbst | Herbst & Herbst Media | Germany | 12 min. | German

Der Stein in den Bergen (The Stone in the Mountains)

Ingo Herbst | Herbst & Herbst Media | Germany | 12 min. | German

A symmetrically hewn sandstone of almost seven feet towers within a wild mountain landscape at over 6,560 ft of altitude. After seven years, Kurt Benning’s 28-ton work of art is completed. Sadly, he won’t live to witness stonemasons meticulously assemble the eight stone blocks high above the Schwarzwassertal Valley, where it creates marvellous contrast to the natural rock formations. A unique encounter and a memorial!

Auf den Spuren der Neandertaler – Das Rätsel der Bruniquel-Höhle (In the Footsteps of the Neanderthals - The Mystery of the Bruniquel Cave)

Luc-Henri Fage | Félis Production | France | 54 min. | German/English subtitles

Auf den Spuren der Neandertaler – Das Rätsel der Bruniquel-Höhle (In the Footsteps of the Neanderthals - The Mystery of the Bruniquel Cave)

Luc-Henri Fage | Félis Production | France | 54 min. | German/English subtitles

Who was able to arrange more than 400 broken stalagmites into impressive circles deep inside the Bruniquel Cave? And when was that? And most of all – why? Since the cave was discovered in 1990, it has revealed none of its secrets. Now a research team returns to make one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of our time.

8:00 pm | Quirinal
River, Mountain, Highlands Symbol Indktive Höranlage
Symbol Indktive Höranlage
River, Mountain, Highlands

Tod auf dem Nil – Franz Heigermosers letzte Fahrt (Death on the Nile - Franz Heigermoser's Final Voyage)

Bernhard Aicher | Germany |  45 min. | German

Tod auf dem Nil – Franz Heigermosers letzte Fahrt (Death on the Nile - Franz Heigermoser's Final Voyage)

Bernhard Aicher | Germany |  45 min. | German

In August 1980, the university student Franz Heigermoser from Upper Bavaria sets out on one of the Nile’s source rivers, aiming to be the first person to navigate the longest freshwater route on earth to Alexandria by kayak. After nine months he reaches Luxor; more than 3,540 miles lie behind him. He survives dangerous rapids, arduous hauling passages, prison, war zones and many crocodile attacks. However, he never reaches his destination.

Großglockner – Stolzer Gipfel, steiler Grat und starke Menschen (Mount Großglockner - Proud Peak, Steep Ridge and Strong People)

Georg Bayerle | Bavarian Broadcasting Company | Germany | 26 min. | German

Großglockner – Stolzer Gipfel, steiler Grat und starke Menschen (Mount Großglockner - Proud Peak, Steep Ridge and Strong People)

Georg Bayerle | Bavarian Broadcasting Company | Germany | 26 min. | German

The heart of High Tauern National Park serves as a great example for the overlap between natural landscape, history and tourism. Together with Peter Tembler, Mt Großglockner’s “janitor” and Martin Gratz, head of the Kals brass band, the Bergauf-Bergab TV team climbs via the Stüdlgrat Ridge toward the summit. Next follows the descent via the Adlersruhe, along the historic path through the Leitertal Valley to the Pasterze, Austria’s largest glacier, which is melting rapidly.

Comfort Zones

Stefan Morrocco | Scottland | 12 min. | English/German subtitles

Comfort Zones

Stefan Morrocco | Scottland | 12 min. | English/German subtitles

Dr. Philip Ebert, born in Germany, has lived in Scotland for almost twenty years. He is an experienced skier – and a philosopher. For the duration of one winter he travels with his friends through the Scottish Highlands. He discovers magnificent steep ski runs, and also engages with philosophical aspects of risk assessment and risk-taking in mountain sports.