Programme - Thursday (14 October 2021 - Evening)

A few days before the Corona lockdown in March 2020, the Mountain Tribe Crew set out towards the Ötztal Alps. Their destination is an old border hut on the Timmelsjoch Pass. There, they want to explore the limits of friendship while tackling some ski touring and big lines. But the undertaking turns into a border crossing of a different kind. On Friday, March 13th, the international situation suddenly changes drastically. Initially, the gang jokes around and strums the Corona blues on a guitar, a few days later an awful sense of emergency descends upon them.

German female alpinists Caro North (29) and Ines Papert (46) travel on mountain bikes from eastern to western Switzerland to climb some of the country’s great walls – on routes that are new to both of them. Their ethical stipulations are pretty straight: to master the entire tour solely by leg and hand power.

Ten years ago, 34-year-old athlete Jacqueline Fritz lost a leg due to medical malpractice. Today she is part of the German Paralympic climbing team. In order to encourage other people with disabilities, she has set herself an almost impossible goal. She aims to learn to ski over the course of just three months and to complete her first ski tour onto a mountain peak.

In this mixture of documentary and feature film, Reinhold Messner recounts his experience of the ascent of Nanga Parbat in 1970. It left an imprint of triumph and tragedy on his life like no other undertaking. After the brothers Reinhold and Günther reach the summit of Nanga Parbat (26,660 ft) in Pakistan, Günther is exhausted and suffers from altitude sickness; they decide not to use the ascent route but to descend via the mountain’s Diamir Face. Already at the foot of the wall, Reinhold looks for a feasible descent for Günther and does not notice that an avalanche buries his brother. Decades later, the glacier releases his remains.

A hiker reaches the summit and enjoys silence as well as breath-taking mountain scenery. But his serenity is short-lived: First he is disturbed by an over-the-top fitness freak, then two young citywomen arrive on the hunt for the best Instagram shot and finally a group of tourists undertake their virgin attempts at yodelling. Even a supposedly like-minded mountain pal pursues completely different interests.

Professional slackliner Lukas Irmler and his friends are on a search for the perfect highline. For him, alpine highlining, i.e. “tightrope dancing” between two pinnacles, is the perfect symbiosis of climbing, mountaineering, slacklining and creativity. “It’s the greatest adventure imaginable,” says Lukas somewhere between Mount Schlern and the Langkofel Massif, always on the lookout for that most amazing highline.

Join a journey by boat and bike across the Alps, from East to South Tyrol. Renouncing motorised power, the team bikes from river to river, pulling their kayak on a trailer. This time, the focus is not on the highest waterfalls, but on the journey itself: its landscapes, people and the discovery of a slower speed. Despite a few bruises and scratches, they all make it home safe and sound in the end.
Olaf Obsommer has already received several awards.

They are friends and share three great passions: traveling, climbing and flying. Together they set set out for classic climbing routes in the most spectacular regions of Spain, Italy and Jordan. Once at the top, they spread their “wings” and add to the excitement of climbing the beauty of flying. Three passions, three countries, three adventures!

The world stands still. Cities seem petrified, life has dried up. After three weeks of lockdown, a woman travels to the mountains – on the search for signs of life. But she merely ends up at a mountain lake made of dust and stone. Nevertheless, she sets up camp at the bottom of the lake. In a world that suddenly is no longer what it was before. The outside world presents a reflection of her inner world, which tells a tale of lostness.

63 years ago, two young men braved a winter ascent of Mont Blanc. They were caught in a blizzard which held them captive on the mountain for ten days. Thibaut Sichet reconstructs this dramatic experience and the desperate efforts to save the climbers. To understand the events of that time, Thibaut himself travels to Mont Blanc and to the Brenva Face.

Snow leopards inhabit a hidden valley on the Tibetan Plateau. Photographers Frédéric and Olivier Larrey are hot on their track. Despite icy cold and extreme altitude, the brothers are determined to capture the shy big cat with their lens.

The Te Araroa Trail is New Zealand’s most extensive long-distance hiking trail: Dylon hikes 3,000 kilometers on foot among impressive landscapes. En route he meets inspiring, unusual people who are happy to pass on their experiences and what they have already learned. An invitation to set out on adventures and to approach people.

Reinhard Karl was the first German to scale Mount Everest. He also broke through the grade 6 climbing limit and broke new ground in mountain photography and alpine literature. He dropped out and scrambled up, he could and wanted to do so much more than repair cars. In climbing and mountaineering he discovered a vehicle within which and through which he could further evolve. He completed the long search for himself at the summit of Mount Fitz Roy, a mere few months before his death. In 2021 he would celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday.

Set among steep cliffs in the Berchtesgaden Alps, Lake Königssee resembles a Norwegian fjord. It is surrounded by a majestic, white and blue picture book landscape; many wild Alpine animals live here and rare plants thrive. This film presents a kaleidoscope of special stories from above and below the water. Depending on what time of year you visit Lake Königssee and the surrounding mountains, you will meet very different residents.
Jan Haft has already received numerous awards.

A tribute to Germany’s legendary alpine ski racer and ski film maker Willy Bogner: Willy learns to ski from his father and soon enjoys international success. Professionally, he is on a steep ascent. He shoots his first film and creates a unique combination of sport and music. He also wins many awards as a film maker, producer and screenwriter. Bogner joins his parents’ company and runs it successfully. But no matter how well things go for him professionally, his private life is marked by repeated strokes of fate. Still, he always manages to rise again and keeps treating the world to his smile.