Press Release/Awards Ceremony 2022-10-22
Tegernsee Mountain Film, 19th International Festival from 19 – 23 October 2022
“Alpenland” receives the Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee
The winner of the 19th Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival has been announced: The Great Prize of the City of Tegernsee, endowed with 3,000 Euros, goes to the film “Alpenland” (Alpine Country) by Robert Schabus. David Pichler and Nicolai Niessen receive the German Alpine Club (DAV) Prize for the Best Alpine Film in the category Mountain Experience for their documentary “Höhenrausch” (Altitude Sickness). The awards in the categories Mountain Nature, Mountain Life and the Otto Guggenbichler Prize for a Junior Film Maker, endowed with 1,000 Euros each, go to the films “Yukon, un rêve blanc” (Yukon, A White Dream / France), “Lo Combat” (You Fight / Italy) and “Royaye yek Asb” (Dream of a Horse / Iran).
Austrian director Robert Schabus is the big winner of the 19th Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival. His film “Alpenland” prevailed against around 80 international productions and won the Great Prize of the City of Tegernsee, endowed with 3,000 Euros. According to the jury, his film “offers a timely representation of the mountains, and also represents our times.” Impressive wide angles and laconic long shots reveal how the evolution of our civilisation endangers the habitat of 13 million people across eight countries. “Does sustainability have to equal poverty? Do we have to give up economic growth to save the world? This mountain film makes us think deeply about it,” reads the jury statement.
A frenzy that pulls readers into its vortex
One of the greatest dangers for extreme mountaineers is altitude sickness (German: “Höhenrausch”, which translates to “altitude frenzy”). The documentary film of the same title by German film makers David Pichler and Nicolai Niessen presents the history of this condition and related research in an impressive and dramaturgically gripping way. Fascinated, we follow the study’s director, high-altitude physician Marc Berger, his research team and the study participants during an experiment at the Margherita Hut (14,940 ft / 4,554 m above sea level). The jury was convinced by this approach and states: The successful interweaving of the mountaineering and scientific perspectives pulls viewers into its “frenzied” vortex.
The film receives this year’s German Alpine Club (DAV) Prize for the Best Alpine Film in the category Mountain Experience.
Everything is white and cold
In the film “Yukon, un rêve blanc” by Frenchman Mathieu Le Lay, wildlife photographer Jérémie Villet travels to the Canadian province of Yukon to take photos of animals adapted to life in cold and snow. In the middle of winter, in great solitude and cold, Jérémie is looking for a mountain goat. Everything is white and cold. Congenial to the photographer’s magical pictures is the film’s footage. “The crew around Mathieu Le Lay has managed to capture the good fortune of this unusual hero when, after many privations, he finally shoots the hoped-for photo,” states the jury and awards Le Lay the Prize for the Best Film in the category Mountain Nature.
Inside the stable, tradition and modernity clash
All jury members agree: With “Lo Combat” viewers can look forward to a veritable treat. By means of the feature film and ironically used quotes from the crime genre, its young Italian director Gaël Truc tells the story of a young, still inexperienced veterinarian who finds her way through thick snow to a farmstead where a cow experiences difficulty calving. When the stable door opens, tradition (farmer) and modernity (young female veterinarian) face each other with surprise. This convinced the jury. “Lo Combat” by Gaël Truc receives this year’s Prize for the Best Film in the category Mountain Life.
Junior Film Maker Prize goes to female director from Iran
The Otto Guggenbichler Prize for a Junior Film Maker 2022 goes to a young female director from Iran: Marjan Khosravi. Her documentary short film “Royaye yek Asb” is about a young woman who revolts against the patriarchal structures of her family. The jury finds “remarkable how the film’s microcosm connects back to the current situation in Iran.”
This year’s Prize for the Special Film goes to Franciszek Berbeka from Poland for “The Disappearance of Janusz Klarner”. The Prize for Best Camera Work is awarded to Clara Lacombe from France for “Le grand marais”. In addition, three films received Honourable Mentions by the Jury: “Kjerag Solo” by Alastair Lee (United Kingdom), “Inheritance” by Aiymkul Temirbek (Kyrgyzstan) and “The Fading Nomads” by Wie Shengze (China).
Cinema has returned! The 19th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival comes to an end
The jury, consisting of Karsten Scheuren (Germany), Stefanie Holzer (Austria), Alexander Donev (Bulgaria), Stefan König (Germany) and Thaïs Odermatt (Switzerland) spent many hours in the dark screening room to carefully analyse the strengths and weaknesses of 80 films from around 30 nations. The end of each Mountain Film Festival in Tegernsee is marked by the grand award ceremony for the winners of the competition. The winning films are presented in short sequences, and jury members explain the decisions behind the awards. Many of the winners accept their trophies in person. This means an occasion for all participants to celebrate together – film makers, jury, supporters and organisers.
Grand anniversary in 2023
“Mountain film has returned to the cinemas,” festival director Michael Pause is happy to say during the closing event at the festive Barocksaal venue in Tegernsee. “I myself was particularly pleased by the many wonderful encounters and interactions with numerous prominent film makers over the past few days. All this is finally possible again in fully occupied screening venues.” The mountain film scene had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time and for this reason alone, the months of preparation work were worthwhile. Johannes Hagn, Mayor of Tegernsee, takes a similar view: “We can be satisfied with what we achieved this year. Expectations were actually exceeded. And there was a lot of positive feedback from visitors.” Fans can already look forward to next year: In 2023, the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival will celebrate its 20th edition.
Information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Germany, phone +49(0)8022-1801 – 37; bergfilm@tegernsee.de, Internet: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de