Press Releases 2024

2024 – 21st Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival – in the international Spotlight

Newsletter/Press Release  –  2024-05-15
21st Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 16 to 20 October 2024

Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival
in the International Spotlight

In early May, Festival Director Michael Pause and his designated successor Tom Dauer visited the 72nd Trento Film Festival, the world’s first and oldest mountain film festival. Afterwards, they took part in the International Alliance for Mountain Film’s (IAMF) spring meeting in Turin.

 Tom Dauer got to experience a double premiere: his first time at the Trento Film Festival not as a filmmaker, but as a festival representative; the International Alliance for Mountain Film’s (IAMF) spring meeting in Turin was also new territory for him. Dauer seems thrilled: “All in all, it was fantastic. The range of films in Trento is overwhelming.” Which is why he saw little else than dark screening venues. “We’ll climb a mountain again next time,” says the filmmaker and passionate mountaineer with a laugh. He was particularly enthusiastic about this year’s Trento winning film: “Un pasteur” (“A Shepherd”) by French filmmaker Louis Hanquet. “The film was also shown at DOK.fest Munich and hopefully we will screen it ourselves in autumn.” “Un pasteur” is actually Hanquet’s very first film – and he immediately scored a main prize!

From Trento, Dauer and Pause moved on to the annual IAMF spring meeting, which was held in Turin. Dauer: “This year, the Museo Nazionale della Montagna celebrates its 150th anniversary, hence the invitation to Turin. Moreover, the venue where we had our meeting is a historic location: this is where the IAMF was founded in 2000, 24 years ago. Participants from Kathmandu, Krakow, Bilbao and other places joined at the same table. It was fascinating to observe how we all look at alpine culture and the mountain film genre from entirely different vantage points.” The IAMF brings together 27 major mountain film festivals, including those in Trento, Kathmandu, Ulju, Kendal, Telluride, Autrans – and of course Tegernsee.

Further information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Rathausplatz 1,
83684 Tegernsee, Germany, Phone +49(0)8022-1801-37 or -53,
bergfilm@tegernsee.de
, www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

2024 – Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 16 to 20 October, Press Release – Partnership with LOWA

21st Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 16 to 20 October 2024

LOWA to be main sponsor of the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival until at least 2026

In 2023, the renowned manufacturer of hiking and mountaineering boots LOWA first became main sponsor of the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival. The cooperation has just been extended to last another three years.

The Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival’s new Director is Tom Dauer; and he is delighted by this extension of the mountain boot manufacturer’s commitment to the festival until 2026: “As a traditional alpine shoemaker based in Upper Bavaria, LOWA is a perfect fit for our festival. There has always been a creative connection between filmmakers and extreme mountaineers. Take for example Robert Jasper, who is part of the LOWA PRO team and who will be represented at the Tegernsee festival with his current film “Summit Love”. The most recent contribution to the mountain film festival by Stefan Glowacz and Philipp Hans was their film “Wallride”. As it happens, they also maintain close ties to LOWA. Tom Dauer explains: “The LOWA company, mountain athletes and film festival hosts relate to the same environment. We appeal to the same people, have the same goals and share the same passion. Our overlap is experiencing the mountains and watching films together. The way I see it, it’s the ideal partnership.”

LOWA Managing Director Alex Nicolai shares a similar perspective: “Out of love for nature and because of our passion for the perfect outdoor experience, we develop and produce shoes for all activities. In the same spirit, we look forward to great mountain films, exciting adventures and interesting encounters during the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival. Supporting the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival as its main sponsor is a heart-felt commitment.”

Since 1923, LOWA Sportschuhe Ltd. has been manufacturing mountain and hiking boots. It is one of the best-known outdoor brands across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The company, based in Jetzendorf in Upper Bavaria, produces almost exclusively in Europe. For the development of the shoes, it collaborates with renowned elite mountain sports pros such as Stefan Glowacz, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Hans Kammerlander, Ines Papert, Robert Jasper, Rudi Hauser and Simon Gietl.

Further Information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Rathausplatz 1, 83684 Tegernsee, Germany, Phone +49(0)8022-1801-37 or -53, bergfilm@tegernsee.de, www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

2024 – 21st Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 16 to 20 October – Call for Submissions

Press Release: Call for Submissions   –  29 February 2024

21st Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 16 to 20 October 2024

Submit films to the 21st Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival NOW

After last year’s anniversary celebrations, the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival is reconfiguring its leadership for the upcoming 21st edition: Over the course of 2024, the mountain film festival’s long-standing artistic director Michael Pause will hand over his responsibilities to filmmaker and author Tom Dauer. Viewers anticipate the cinematic offerings at Germany’s only open mountain film competition with great excitement. The line-up will be decided over the course of the next three months: From now until 31 May, filmmakers from all over the world can submit their latest productions.  

The 20th International Mountain Film Festival in October 2023 rendered great cause for celebration to its organising team and visitors. The event has evolved splendidly over two decades, weathered the Covid pandemic well and is an obligatory date for mountain filmmakers around the globe. But: “Festivals age with their creators.” This is why Michael Pause seized the 20th anniversary as an opportunity to hand over the role of festival director to a competent and much esteemed colleague, the filmmaker and author Tom Dauer. Tom has been familiar with the festival from its inception and received his first award as early as during the second Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival in 2004. “He can and will develop the festival brilliantly and introduce new highlights.”

Meanwhile, preparations proceed unchanged for the 21st Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival from 16 to 20 October 2024. As always, the festival hosts invite national and international filmmakers to submit their latest mountain film productions from Germany and abroad. The festival team is looking forward to the whole range of films – to exciting action, touching stories, impressive footage and memorable characters. The mountain film genre is wonderfully diverse, ranging from short films to cinematic formats, from documentaries and docudramas to reports, portraits and feature films. Included in the festival’s thematic spectrum are alpine sports and adventure as well as culture and ecology. 

Submit new productions from around the world
Until the end of May, filmmakers can submit their latest productions from the mountain world. Productions can be submitted to three categories, which approach the mountains from different thematic angles. The first category, Mountain Experience, puts alpinism and sportive encounters with the mountains centre stage. The best film in this category is awarded the Prize by the German Alpine Club (DAV). Landscape portraits and investigations of environmental issues are the focus of the second category, Mountain Nature. Films in the third category, Mountain Life, take stock of ethnological and cultural aspects in the encounter between people and mountains. The best film across all categories will be awarded the festival’s main prize, the Great Prize of the City of Tegernsee (worth 3,000 euros). Furthermore, the most outstanding junior film maker (the author or director must be no older than 32 upon the film’s completion) will receive the Otto Guggenbichler Prize, named after the Mountain Film Festival’s founder. Finally, there are special prizes for the Most Outstanding Camera Work, for the Exceptional Film, and the Bayern2 Audience Award.

All further awards, endowments and the call for submissions can be found at: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de. Further information and call for submissions: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Rathausplatz 1, 83684 Tegernsee, phone +49(0)8022-1801-37 or -53, bergfilm@tegernsee.de, www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

2024 – Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival – New Director for the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival

Newsletter/Press Release – 2024-01-24

21st Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 16 to 20 October 2024

New Director for the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival:
Michael Pause hands over to Tom Dauer

Over the course of 2024, the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival’s long-standing Artistic Director, Michael Pause, will hand over his responsibilities to filmmaker and author Tom Dauer, who hails from the nearby town of Valley. This was announced by Mayor Johannes Hagn at the City of Tegernsee’s New Year’s reception.

Michael Pause himself requested this changeover. Together with festival founder Otto Guggenbichler and former Mayor Peter Janßen, Pause helped from the very beginning to set up and direct the festival. Pause: “It’s been both a pleasure and an honour to develop this event, together with an enthusiastic team, over the course of more than twenty years. Thanks to the great commitment of professionals and volunteers, we have succeeded in putting together a festival that is respected in the mountain film scene around the globe. After last autumn’s 20th anniversary, I decided to unclip myself from the roped team and to hand over the ‘sharp end of the rope’ to Tom Dauer. I couldn’t ask for a more formidable successor.”

Pause and Dauer will jointly plan the 21st Mountain Film Festival, but Dauer will open the event on 16 October 2024 as its new official director. At the request of Mayor Johannes Hagn, Pause will remain associated with the festival as a patron.

An enthusiastic and outstanding mountaineer and climber himself, Tom Dauer has been familiar with the Mountain Film Festival from its inception. As early as the second festival in 2004, he received a Prize for the Best Landscape Film. Mountains are always the focus of his activities as a filmmaker – for example for the Bavarian Broadcasting (BR) mountaineering show “Bergauf-Bergab” – and as a book author. As a screenwriter and co-director, Dauer worked on the documentary “Streif – One Hell of a Ride”, which was awarded the Austrian Film Award ROMY. Dauer also works as a curator for the Alpen Film Festival, which, like the Tegernsee Festival, is hosted in the District of Miesbach. Dauer: “I have been working with Micki Pause for 25 years and very much look forward to shouldering this demanding responsibility. Preserving the uniqueness of the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival and further strengthening its profile is a great challenge – and that’s exactly how I like it.”

Tom Dauer was born in 1969 and grew up in Mexico City and Munich. His parents instilled in him a love for the mountains. As an alpinist and climber, he visited the Patagonian Andes, the Himalayas and the Karakoram. A student of literary criticism and a graduate of the German School for Journalism (DJS), he chooses to work in the mountains of the world, where he can fuse his passion and profession. His books engage with the mountains, mountaineering and adventure, including the title “Cerro Torre – Mythos Patagonien (The Myth of Patagonia)” as well as the biographies “Reinhard Karl – “Ein Leben ohne Wenn und Aber (A Life Without Ifs and Buts)” and “Kurt Albert – Frei klettern, frei denken, frei sein (Free Climbing, Free Thinking, Free Being)”. For the past 15 years, he has been writing a column for the magazine ALPIN. As screenwriter and director, Tom Dauer created various documentaries, among them “Sechs große Nordwände der Alpen (Six Great North Faces of the Alps)”, “Skitour ins Ungewisse (Ski Tour into the Unknown)” and “Marmolata – Königin der Dolomiten (Queen of the Dolomites)”. Together with his family, Tom Dauer lives on a remote farmstead between Munich and the Alpine foothills.

Further Information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Rathausplatz 1, 83684 Tegernsee, Germany
Phone +49(0)8022-1801-37 or -53,
bergfilm@tegernsee.de, www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de