Press Releases

2024 – Tegernsee Internat. Mountain Film Festival 16-20 October –

21st Tegernsee Internat. Mountain Film-Festival
                Winner 2024

Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee (€ 3000,-)
Mongolia – Valley of the Bears
Hamid Sardar  |  Latu Sensu Productions  |  France

Best Film in the Category Mountain Experience – Prize by the German Alpine Club (DAV) (€ 1.000,-)
Nuptse: l’inaccessible absolu (Nuptse: Absolutely Inaccessible)
Hugo Clouzeau  |  L‘Endroit  |  France

Best Film in the Category „Mountain Life“ (€ 1.000,-)
Un Pasteur (A Shepherd)
Louis Hanquet  |  Valérie Montmartin, Little Big Story  |  France

Best Film in the Category „Mountain Nature“ (€ 1.000,-)
Sauvage le chamois, l’aigle et le loup (Wild – Chamois, Eagle ad Wolf)
Véronique, Anne und Erik Lapied  |  Lapiedfilm.  |  France

Otto-Guggenbichler Prize for a Junior Film Maker (€ 1.000,-)
Shouhare Iran Khanoum (Mrs Iran’s Husband)
Marjan Khosravi  |  Seven Springs Pictures  |  Iran

Prize fort he Most Outstanding Camera Work (1.000,-)
Painting the Mountains
Pierre Cadot  |  Picture Orgaic Clothing, Yucca Films  |  France

Prize for the „Special Film“ (€ 1.000,-)
Via Sedna
Ramona Waldner, Alexander Brugger  |  LM Media  |  Austria

Honourable Mentions by the Jury
Resistance Climbing
Nick Rosen & Zachary Barr  |  Reel Rock  |  USA   

Dartaş / The Carpenter
Xelil Sehragerd   |  Kurdistan       

Am Steilhang (On the Steep Slope)
Thomas Schäfer  |  Farmfluencers of South Tyrol  |  Italy

Bayern 2 – Audience Award (€ 1.000,-)
Shouhare Iran Khanoum (Mrs Iran‘s Husband)
Marjan Khosravi  |  Seven-Springs Pictures  |  Iran

2024 – Tegernsee Internat. Mountain Film Festival

Winning Films 2024 -Tegernsee Internat Mountain Film Festival

Statements of the Jury 

Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee
Mongolia – Valley of the Bears
Hamid Sardar, France
“In ‘Mongolia – Valley of the Bears’ Hamid Sadar unites all the hallmarks of a truly excellent film: high-quality imagery, a strong and poignant story, rhythm and emotion. This beautiful, authentic documentary raises a universal environmental question: How can we envision coexistence between humans and wildlife in an era marked by climate change? Its underlying message – that change is still possible and that the actions of individuals can make a huge difference – provides a ray of hope for the future.”

Best Film in the Category Mountain Experience – Prize by the German Alpine Club (DAV)
Nuptse: l’inaccessible absolu (Nuptse: Absolutely Inaccessible)
Hugo Clouzeau, France
“Completing a multi-year project as ambitious as this expedition to the South Face of Nuptse – one of the highest and most difficult faces on the planet – requires extraordinary determination. This film directed by Hugo Clouzeau contains rare footage of high-end climbing, masterfully interwoven with humour and artistic touches. It grants authentic insights into the world of today’s extreme high-altitude-alpinism with all its highs and lows.”

Best Film in the Category Mountain Nature
Sauvage – le chamois, l’aigle et le loup (Wild – Chamois, Eagle and Wolf)
Véronique, Anne and Erik Lapied, France
“Throughout the seasons, the camera explores with finesse the lives of chamois, eagle and wolf. Incredibly precise framing and the unfathomable dedication of Véronique, Anne and Erik Lapied at tracking these animals’ movements in even the harshest of environments offer a convincing, vibrant spectacle of the circle of life.”

Best Film in the Category Mountain Life – Prize by Tegernseer Energiegesellschaft – TEG
Un pasteur (A Shepherd)
Louis Hanquet, France
“With simple images, Louis Hanquet reveals the careful and empathetic work of the lonely mountain shepherd. He cannot protect his herd from all threats, but accepts the losses he suffers as part of this life. His tasks change with the rhythm of the seasons. The film is an impressive homage to transhumance as an ancient way of life, one that is well adapted to the harshness of the mountains.”

Otto Guggenbichler Prize for a Junior Film Maker
Shouhare Iran Khanoum (Mrs Iran’s Husband)
Marjan Khosravi, Iran
“An extraordinary Iranian film marked by stunning image quality, which portrays the complex relationships of a man with his two wives and the prospect of a third wife. No commentary is given, just a raw and poignant testimony in the beautiful cinematic style of Marjan Khosravi.”

Prize for the Most Outstanding Camera Work
Painting the Mountains
Pierre Cadot, France
“In Painting the Mountains, Pierre Cadot, Thomas Guerrin and Matthew Tufts show off their playful command over the art of image composition. This applies close up to the protagonists as well as in the magnificent Patagonian landscape. A mixture of still images, drone and action camera allows viewers an intimate experience of at times almost unbearable exposure.”

Prize for the Special Film
Via Sedna
Ramona Waldner, Alexander Brugger, Austria
“A 100% female team successfully completes a massive challenge: They sail from France to Greenland, climb a big wall and bring back stunning images. This is a reportage filled with joy, good humour and team spirit, illustrated by Ramona Waldner’s beautiful shots. ‘Via Sedna’ presents a refreshing mix of well-planned and spontaneously improvised action in the impressive wilderness of rough oceans and big lonely mountains. An inspiration for all women to follow their dreams.”

Honourable Mentions by the Jury
Resistance Climbing
Nick Rosen & Zachary Barr, USA
“This is a courageous film by Nick Rosen and Zachary Barr. Its authentic storytelling includes scenes that are sensitive to film and displays a warm community in a vulnerable position. Despite all the difficulties which the local climbers face, the positive impact climbing has on their lives is enormous and gives a greater meaning to this sport.”

Dartaş / The Carpenter
Xelil Sehragerd; Kurdistan
“Few words and extremely powerful details make this a masterpiece of storytelling. Repeated elements, such as the squirrel, create different perspectives on an intense story. The minimalistic approach chosen by Xelîl Sehragerd is convincing, and the audience becomes both an observer and an integral part as the plot slowly evolves.”

Am Steilhang (On the Steep Slope)
Thomas Schäfer, Italy
“Thomas Schäfer presents footage that is unhurried – and impresses because it is. It allows us to share in Farmer Valentin’s understanding of truly natural agriculture – by confidently rejecting industrial food production. The refined narrative style and camera work that is close-up, yet respectful, make the film feel complete.“

2024 – Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival – 16 – 20 October – Opening

Press Release / Opening                                                         17 Oct 2024 

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

 Mountaineering as Life Purpose 

The 21st International Mountain Film Festival opens with four very different films: “Gipfel-Liebe”, “Crying Glacier”, “Diciassette” and “Let it Bärn”. The Opening Night at Tegernsee Castle’s festive Barocksaal ballroom shows a broad thematic spectrum and proves that mountain film is not just about spectacular action on the crag or high-altitude records. Some of those involved in the making of the opening films made the journey to Lake Tegernsee to attend: among them Germany’s leading mountaineering couple Robert and Daniela Jasper, documentary filmmaker Claus Hanischdörfer and Swiss filmmaker Thomas Horat. The evening’s surprise guest is the Iranian director Marjan Khosravi, who was able to fly in from Tehran despite the current political situation. 

Two hosts come on stage for the Opening Ceremony of the 21st International Mountain Film Festival. “Today, there are two of us,” says Michael Pause at the beginning and mischievously explains to his guests: “Anyone as old as me is a hazard. Having looked around, without a casting call, Tom Dauer is the ideal successor!” Festival veteran Michael Pause, who celebrated his 20th festival anniversary last year, will finally retire from co-organising the festival at the end of this year’s event. Tom Dauer will be solely responsible for the program from 2025 onwards. And Dauer comments on what that means with a broad grin: “The prep work was incredibly hard.”

The duo brought four of the submitted 256 films to the Opening Night, “to show how broad the mountain film spectrum has become,” says Pause. “Gipfel-Liebe” (Summit Love), the first film screened in the packed baroque ballroom after the welcome speeches, couldn’t be a better fit. After all, the old and the new Festival Director have something in common with the majority of the audience: their enthusiasm for the medium of film – and for mountaineering.

The 45-minute documentary “Gipfel-Liebe” is a family portrait depicting 30 years of love and roped adventures shared by Daniela and Robert Jasper with all their highs and lows. Free from hackneyed tropes, it grants deep insights into the lives of two mountain pros. Especially on the Eiger North Face, the two have mastered spectacularly difficult routes. “A typical mountaineering relationship,” says Daniela, a pioneer in women’s mountaineering who graces the stage together with her partner Robert. “Constantly up and down.” The film accompanies the couple during the first free ascent of their route “Northwest Passage” on the Eiger North Face (Robert: “my living room”) and sheds light on stages of their marriage: serious accidents, crises, disputes and top alpine performances.

After the interval, the audience embarks on a beautiful, almost bizarre journey of discovery. With the short film “Crying Glacier”, sound artist Ludwig Berger shows how important it is to hear the world around us. The film, in which sound plays the leading role, accompanies him on one of his many visits to the Morteratsch Glacier in the Swiss Alps, where he collects fascinating sounds that could disappear forever. Director Lutz Stautner addresses the topic of climate change; melting glaciers symbolize what is in store for our children and grandchildren.

Other film choices also evidence that the Festival Directors Michael Pause and Tom Dauer share a knack for powerful issues. The short film “Diciassette” (Seventeen) is a deeply touching film, because Swiss filmmaker Thomas Horat discovered the last remaining contemporary witness of the partisan era in Northern Italy (Lago di Maggiore). He did so almost by chance, as he recounts on stage, and his film allows her to revisit tragic events. An impressive personality, a moving story, sometimes told in the format of a graphic novel. Is it a mountain film? Yes, the festival curators agree. Because it is to the mountains that the partisans retreated. The fourth, last and shortest film of the evening “Let it Bärn”, reappraises in modern fashion the “conquest of urban space by boulderers” in the Swiss capital Bern.

Once again, numerous guests of honour are present at the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival. Many of them attend the Opening Night: filmmakers, producers and protagonists, notaries from politics and society, sponsors, supporters and mountain enthusiasts. Among them are Germany’s primary mountaineering couple Robert and Daniela Jasper, documentary filmmaker Claus Hanischdörfer, Swiss filmmaker Thomas Horat and Iranian director Marjan Khosravi, who has travelled from Tehran. Tegernsee’s Second Mayor, Michael Bourjaun, stands in for an indisposed Johannes Hagn and opens the Mountain Film Festival for the first time. In his welcome speech, he expresses his delight with the approximately 5,000 spectators who loyally appear every year. According to Bourjaun, there are only winners, seeing that each film finds its audience here.

But which of the competing films will receive one of the coveted awards at the end? The international jury is currently deciding this. There are many films to choose from. More than 80 films are being screened until the Awards Ceremony on Saturday evening (from 7 p.m. at Barocksaal or afterwards at the ARD Mediathek) at five venues (Barocksaal, Schalthaus, Quirinal, Medius, Sporthalle) as well as in the new Movie Tent at Kurgarten. Some tickets remain for most screenings. 

Further Information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Phone +49(0)8022-1801 – 37; bergfilm@tegernsee.de, Internet: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de Details regarding all films and the fringe programme are available online.
Advance ticket sales at: Tegernsee Tourist Information, Phone +49(0)8022-92738 – 62; tegernsee@tegernsee.com; or online: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de or www.muenchenticket.de.

2024 – Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival 16 – 20 October – Programme is here

Press Release – Mountain Film Festival Tegernsee    –    2024-09-05

How to Move Mountains 

The print programme for the 21st Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival is here! From 16 to 20 October, it presents an exciting and engaging selection of films curated from approximately 250 international submissions. Alpine celebrities and unknown summiteers will roam Tegernsee on screen as well as in person at the five screening venues and around the centrally pitched Movie Tent. Advance ticket sales start on 13th of September.

For years, the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival has been a hot spot for all mountain enthusiasts. Its varied fringe programme away from screens includes hikes in the Tegernsee Valley and special exhibitions. Every day, there are more than 30 films to watch, and productions come from all over the world. The new festival director Tom Dauer promises a top-notch program: “We offer a beautiful selection of films, all of which are worth seeing. One of the highlights is “Resistance Climbing”, a film set in Palestine before the outbreak of the current war. It shows a community constantly under threat and pressure. Climbing helps these people to re-ignite their own courage and face their many adversities.”

One of this year’s favourites in the competition is “Bodhichitta”. While Michi Wohlleben executes a first ascent in the Swiss Alpstein Massif, Agnes Gmünder tends to the alpine pasture at the foot of the mountain. The film tells of the spiritual kinship between an extreme climber and a dairymaid. They have more in common than one might at first expect. In “Mongolia – Valley of Bears”, Iranian filmmaker Hamid Sardar documents the struggle of a gamekeeper who uses unconventional methods to protect the population of bears in his homeland. This film examines the conflict between the exploitation and conservation of natural resources in an exciting and multi-facetted way. Then, there is the awe-inspiring expedition film “The Great White Whale” – a fascinating historical recording of the dramatic attempts by daring adventurers to climb Australia’s highest mountain.

In addition to such cinematic highlights, prominent guests from the German mountaineering scene will be in attendance, including Robert and Daniela Jasper during Wednesday’s Opening Night at Tegernsee Castle’s festive Barocksaal ballroom. The mountaineering couple will show their film “Gipfel-Liebe” (Summit Love), a touching family portrait depicting 30 years of love and roped adventures shared by Daniela and Robert Jasper – with all their ups and downs. Viewers are granted intimate insights into the lives of two mountain professionals in a film free from tired tropes.

This year’s Bayern2 Night on Thursday will revolve around the topic of “Iran: Mountains with a Message”. This screening segment at the Kurgarten Movie Tent presents Iran from the perspective of some very different women. The protagonist of the film “Climbing Iran”, Nasim Eshqi, is an extraordinary climber – and she will try to be present during the event to talk about the impact of her work. A mountain filmmaker retrospective is scheduled for Thursday at Schalthaus, celebrating the 100th birthday of Dr. Otto Guggenbichler, the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival’s initiator. In remembrance of him, the Mountain Film Festival is showing three films from the 1960s, all of which bear his incomparable signature. Truly special films always await viewers on the German Alpine Club (DAV) Night. This year’s edition takes place at the Kurgarten Movie Tent and revolves around “The Next Alpine Generation: How to Promote Young Talent”, raising the question of whether or not to promote elite athleticism. On Saturday, the final stretch of the mountain film marathon begins at 10 a.m. at Schalthaus Tegernsee with high-quality films for all who didn’t make the first three days. Meanwhile, the Medius venue caters to all who appreciate young and action-packed films. By the way: Very young festival visitors will enjoy the Children’s Cinema programme at the Kurgarten Movie Tent from Wednesday to Friday starting at 9.30 a.m.

Anyone thumbing through the print programme or studying the short synopses of all 85 films online will be inspired by their fascinating diversity. To make sure that no one misses out, many films will be shown more than once. The question which films will swipe an award at the festive Closing Ceremony at Barocksaal tends to be every bit as exciting as the film selection itself. As always, the international jury will discuss all films in depth and award prizes to the best. If you want to be there and join in the celebration, you should attend Saturday’s ceremony: Guests will meet the award-winning filmmakers – in person or via video message – and watch excerpts from all award-winning films. While the festive awards ceremony is taking place in the venerable baroque ballroom, visitors at the Movie Tent can look forward to the winning film (Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee) in full length – plus an exciting pre-screening programme. So as not to reveal the winner before the official announcement, tent guests will be put into a winning (film) mood with productions that received a prize last year. Sunday presents the unique opportunity of watching all award-winning films at full length during a matinée at the Kurgarten Movie Tent as well as at the Medius and Schalthaus venues.

Please note that this year, there are NO box offices at the screening halls. Also note that evening events start at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available online at www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de and from all München-Ticket vendors. During festival days, the Tegernsee Tourist Information Office also sells tickets (open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.).
 

Further information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Phone +49(0)8022-1801 – 37; bergfilm@tegernsee.de

Advance ticket sales (starting on 13 September) and programme at Tegernsee Tourist Information, Phone +49(0)8022-92738 – 62; tegernsee@tegernsee.com; online at: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de or www.muenchenticket.de. All films and the fringe programme are listed in the print programme and online.

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

2023 – Mountain Film Tegernsee 20th Internat. Festival, 18 – 22 October – Press Release/Award Ceremony

Press Release/Award Ceremony                                               

Tegernsee Mountain Film, 20th International Festival from 18 – 22 October 2023 

“Kumari” receives the Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee 

The winner of the 20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival has been announced: This year’s Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee, endowed with 3,000 euros, goes to Sean O’Connor’s film “Kumari – A Father’s Dream”.  The German Alpine Club (DAV) Prize for the Best Alpine Film in the category Mountain Experience goes to Alessandro Beltrame for his documentary “Pionieri” (Pioneers). In the categories Mountain Nature, Mountain Life and the Otto Guggenbichler Young Talent Award, “Down to the Last Drop”, “Weather Cam Recordings” and “The Last Skiers” each won 1,000 euros.  

Sean O’Connor wins the 20th Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival. His film “Kumari – A Father’s Dream” (USA, Nepal) prevailed against around 65 international productions and won the Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee, endowed with 3,000 euros. “Kumari” is set in a remote mountain village in Nepal: Jagat Lama promises his dying father that he will bring medical care to their home of Kumari. Thanks to his ability and willpower he becomes a high-altitude mountain guide and founder of a cooperative agency of Himalayan guides. Jagat doesn’t forget his promise and leads a group of friends to channel their resources and energies into the development of Kumari’s basic needs: first electricity, then a women’s skill centre, a school, a community farm and a medical hospital. But in 2015, a strong earthquake hits Nepal and destroys the accomplished work. According to the jury, “this is a moving story about the strength and resilience of the human spirit in confrontation with the power of nature. The director and the crew return to the filming locations and complete the immense reconstruction work with their images.”

A journey to the roots of mountaineering
On August 10, 2021, mountain guide Peter Moser dares a bold tour: he means to traverse six main peaks of the Pale di San Martino in a single day. Inspired by the pioneers of mountaineering, Peter undertakes this solo-traverse along historical routes. The jury is impressed by the approach of Alessandro Beltrame’s documentary “Pionieri” (Pioneers): the protagonist wants to “meet the mountain at eye level, quickly but without haste, on an intimate journey to the roots of his own mountain being.” He is looking for the same enthusiasm that once drove the first explorers. The film receives the German Alpine Club (DAV) Prize for the Best Alpine Film in the category Mountain Experience.

A quiet and unagitated film that highlights alternatives
“Down to the Last Drop” shows in simple and precisely because of that impressive images what is at stake when we blindly destroy highly sensitive, ecologically valuable habitats for the sake of electricity from hydropower. “A quiet and unagitated film that highlights alternatives,” runs the jury’s verdict. “It vividly illustrates just how diversified the search for the best possible solution could be. Harry Putz from Austria has succeeded in making a very thoughtful film that does not release us from our responsibility.” “Down to the Last Drop” receives this year’s Prize for the Best Film in the category Mountain Nature.

 Quirky and all-too-human stories
We are all familiar with footage from a weather camera. In this German-Austrian co-production, Bernhard Wenger and Alexandra Brodski discover “curious and all-too-human stories within the banal camera pans. A witty and original film that surprises,” is the verdict of the jury, who awarded “Weather Cam Recordings” the Prize for the Best Film in the category Mountain Life.

Young Talent Award, Best Cinematography, Special Film and Honourable Mentions
The Otto Guggenbichler Young Talent Award 2023 goes to the young Italian director Veronica Ciceri. Her documentary short film “The Last Skiers” shows what we all know: climate change in the Alps. “But it does so in poetic fashion, in a way in which we hardly ever get to see the subject framed,” explains the jury. “The film is a small masterpiece. Within eleven minutes it demonstrates what documentary film can do.” The Prize for the Most Outstanding Camera Work goes to Anil Budha Magar from Nepal for “The Iron Digger”. This year’s Prize for the Special Film goes to “Märzengrund” (Beyond the Alp) by Austrian director Adrian Goiginger. In addition, three films received an Honourable Jury Mention: “Avenâl” (Avenâl – Crossroads of Nations and Peoples at the Predil Pass) by Anna Sandrini from Italy, “Legenda o Zlatorogu” (The Legend of Goldenhorn) by Lea Vučko and Damir Grbanovic from Slovenia as well as “The Way Home” by Joe Lee from Taiwan.

Proud of what has been achieved: event hosts satisfied with outcome
Jury members Caroline Fink (Switzerland), Josef “Sepp” Wörmann (Germany), Dr Thomas Gayda (Austria), Julia Poplawska (Poland) and Linda Cottino (Italy), spent many hours in the  dark screening room and in video calls to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the 65 films from around 30 nations. Numerous winners travelled to Tegernsee to accept their prize in person at the final award ceremony on Saturday, where the winners of the competition were honoured and excerpts of the winning films screened. Others sent a video message. The award ceremony is always an occasion to celebrate all involved – filmmakers, jury, supporters and organisers. “Personally, I have been particularly impressed by the many wonderful encounters with the loyal mountain film community over the past few days,” says festival director Michael Pause. Johannes Hagn, mayor of the City of Tegernsee, is also satisfied: “We can be extremely pleased with what we have achieved in the anniversary year with our small organizing team and the many volunteers. We filled the venues, were celebrated by the media and received a lot of praise and encouragement from our visitors. For that reason alone, the big effort would have been worth it.” Please note: The award ceremony will be screened online on Sunday from 5 pm at the following link: www.ardmediathek.de/br/berge-und-wandern.

Further information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, phone +49(0)8022-1801 – 37; bergfilm@tegernsee.de, online: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

2023 – 20th Tegernsee Internat. Mountain Film Festival, 18-22 October – Winning Films

20^th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival Winning Films 2023

Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee (3,000 euros)
Kumari – A Father’s Dream
Sean O’Connor  |  Story Gorge  |  USA, Nepal

German Alpine Club (DAV) Prize for the Best Alpine Film (Category Mountain Experience – 1,000 euros)
Pionieri (Pioneers)
Alessandro Beltrame   |  AGB studio video  |  Italy

Best Film in the Category Mountain Life (1,000 euros)
Aufnahmen einer Wetterkamera (Weather Cam Recordings)
Bernhard Wenger, Alexandra Brodski  |  Filmakademie Wien  |  Austria, Germany

Best Film in the Category Mountain Nature (1,000 euros)
Bis zum letzten Tropfen (Down to the last Drop)
Harry Putz  |  Open-air documentary, Verein Wildwasser erhalten Tirol  |  Austria

Otto Guggenbichler Young Talent Award (€ 1,000)
The Last Skiers  
Veronica Ciceri  |  Italy

Prize for the Most Outstanding Camera Work (1,000 euros)
The Iron Digger
Anil Budha Magar  |  ABM Cinema Production  |  Nepal

Prize for the Special Film (1,000 euros)
Märzengrund (Beyond the Alp)
Adrian Goiginger  |  Metafilm  |  Austria

Honourable Mentions  (500 euros respectively)
Avenâl (Avenâl – Crossroads of Nations and Peoples at the Predil Pass)
Anna Sandrini  |  Paolo Muran  |  Italy

The Way Home
Joe Lee  |  Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation  |  Taiwan

Legenda o Zlatorogu (The Legend of Goldenhorn)
Lea Vučko, Damir Grbanovic  |  OCTOPIC’S  |  Slovenia

Bayern 2 – Audience Award  (1,000 euros)
Todesfalle Haute Route  (Death Trap Haute Route
Frank Senn  |  SRF, SRG SSR, Servus TV, arte  |  Switzerland

2023 – Mountain Film Tegernsee – 20th Internat. Festival – 18-22 October – Winning Films – Jury Statements

Winning Films 2023                                                           

Jury Statements – 21 October 2023

Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee
“Kumari – A Father’s Dream”
Sean O’Connor, USA, Nepal 

In remote rural Nepal, Jagat Lama promises his dying father to bring medical care to his home of Kumari. Thanks to his ability and willpower he becomes a high-altitude mountain guide and founder of a cooperative agency of Himalayan guides. Jagat doesn’t forget his promise and leads a group of friends to channel their resources and energies into the development of Kumari’s basic needs: first electricity, then a women’s skill centre, a school, a community farm and a medical hospital. But two years later, a strong earthquake hits Nepal and destroys the accomplished work. Desperation leads Jagat to doubt whether he can keep the promise he made to his father, but the challenge is taken up by the whole community. The film director and crew return to the locations and, through their images, complete the immense reconstruction work. Kumari is a moving story about the strength and resilience of the human spirit faced with the power of nature.

Prize by the German Alpine Club for the Best Alpine Film
(Category Mountain Experience)
“Pionieri” (Pioneers)
Alessandro Beltrame, Italy 

On 10 August 2021, alpine guide Peter Moser links six of the main peaks of the Pale di San Martino in a single day. Inspired by the pioneers of mountaineering, Peter makes the solo crossing along the historical routes. He wants to face the mountain on equal terms, at speed but without haste, in an intimate journey to the roots of his own mountain being, and he is in search of the same spirit that drove the first explorers. The images show the grandeur of an overwhelming and majestic mineral environment, unique and severe as the Pale di San Martino. It is documented from the inside, along a “fil rouge” that winds from the 3,000 m of the Cimon dela Pala across peaks and valleys to the southernmost summit of Piz de Sagron. Alongside Peter Moser’s vertical journey, a historical ascent is staged, and combined with the commentary by mountaineering historian Luciano Gadenz and interludes by the strong local climber Maurizio Zanolla “Manolo”, the film renders the taste of a timeless mountain, a space of adventure and freedom.

Best Film in the Category Mountain Life
“Aufnahmen einer Wetterkamera” (Weather Cam Recordings)
Bernhard Wenger, Alexandra Brodski, Germany, Austria

 We are all familiar with footage from a weather camera. In addition to the banal camera pans, Bernhard Wenger and Alexandra Brodski discover curious and all-too-human stories. A witty and original film that surprises.

Best Film in the Category Mountain Nature
“Bis zum letzten Tropfen” (Down to the Last Drop)
Harry Putz, Austria  

“Down to the Last Drop” shows in simple and precisely because of that impressive images what is at stake when we blindly destroy highly sensitive, ecologically valuable habitats for the sake of electricity from hydropower. A quiet and unagitated film that highlights alternatives. It vividly illustrates just how diversified the search for the best possible solution could be. Harry Putz has succeeded in creating a very thoughtful film, which does not release us from our own responsibility.

Otto-Guggenbichler-Nachwuchspreis 
“The last Skiers” (Die letzten Skifahrer)
Veronica Ciceri, Italy

The film “The Last Skiers” by Veronica Ciceri depicts something we all know: climate change in the Alps. But it does so in poetic fashion, in a way in which we hardly ever get to see the subject framed. This succeeds on one hand because it makes climate change comprehensible through its protagonists. On the other hand, because each level of the film pursues a single goal with great purism: to connect the irretrievable yesterday with the present and to quietly raise questions about the future. Along the way, we immerse ourselves in the culture and history of the mountainous region between Lecco and Como; we learn that skiing is much more than a sport; we experience traditions; we see how unsustainable the production of artificial snow is. What sustains “The Last Skiers”, however, are protagonists who in short sequences grant us deep insights into their lives. At the same time, archive material integrates the time level of the past with the present in an original way. And last but not least, the film’s great strength is its consistent and enduring visual language, where every shot speaks for itself. In short: “The Last Skiers” is a small masterpiece. Within eleven minutes it demonstrates what documentary film can do.

Prize for the Most Outstanding Camera Work
 “The Iron Digger”
Anil Budha Magar, Nepal 

The film “The Iron Digger”, for which Narayan GC held the camera, gives us one thing above all: time. It grants us time to look and time to immerse ourselves. First and foremost, this has to do with the cinematographer, who also takes his time: he calmly documents the village of Jelbang in the southern part of Nepal’s Jaljala mountains and gains the protagonist’s trust. On the one hand, this enables him to capture poignantly beautiful moods of light and atmospheres, and on the other hand, to participate in the life story of the 86-year-old protagonist. In addition to the actual topic – the traditional production of iron from iron ore – we learn through his images about the joy and sorrow of the once proud iron digger, who now passes on his knowledge to a younger generation. Technically sophisticated shots of fire, embers and molten iron round off the camera’s performance. At the same time, the camera always maintains a calm focus on what is essential and aesthetic, thus taking us on a cinematic journey to the former iron village and its inhabitants.

Prize for the Special Film
“Märzengrund” (Beyond the Alp)
Adrian Goiginger, Austria

The mountains as a place of retreat and safety when breathing space shrinks in the valley: Adrian Goiginger’s cinematic adaptation of Felix Mitterer’s play of the same name impresses with strong images removed from tired homeland tropes. The viewer is immersed in the rough world of mountain farming, whose atmosphere is further enhanced by an outstanding ensemble of actors. With special sensitivity and attention to detail, Goiginger depicts the gnarled characters and their destructive power as well as two separate time levels: the late 1960s and the present. A demanding mountain film drama that engages viewers at every moment. 

Honourable Mention by the Jury
“Avenâl” (Avenâl – Crossroads of Nations and Peoples at the Predil Pass)
Anna Sandrini, Italy
This film by Anna Sandrini offers a cinematic journey through the history of the town of Cave del Perdil, a frontier land hidden in the forests of the Julian Alps. The film explores the turbulent history of this area. Its symbolic journey through the abandoned mine’s underground tunnels invites us to reflect on the impact of human activity on the natural mountain environment. In a symbolic way, the cinematic narrative connects diverse human stories from the underground and from above. It presents a world which by now is abandoned, yet still fascinating. This film is for everyone whose curiosity urges them to discover the deeper meaning of hidden underground treasures from the past.

Honourable Mention by the Jury
“Legenda o Zlatorogu” (The Legend of Goldenhorn)
Lea Vučko, Damir Grbanovic, Slovenia
This short film conveys the preservation of an artistic craft, namely frame by frame, digitally hand-drawn animation. The title “Goldenhorn” symbolizes how nature itself is immortal. This film presents a fascinating journey across the meaning of myths and symbols. It furthermore presents a visual interpretation of a Slovenian folk tale. It takes place in winter in the Julian Alps, at a time when the supernatural is still intertwined with everyday life. It is a tragic love story about values and our relationship with nature. The universal symbolism of this story is reflected by means of a highly unique colour scheme, which references expressionism. The atmosphere created by the musical score also makes this animated film exceptional.

Honourable Mention by the Jury 
“The Way Home”
Joe Lee, Taiwan
The short film “The Way Home” reveals the Taiwanese mountainside through cinematic images of the highest intensity. Its camera work is meditative. The film takes viewers on a quiet, spiritual mountain journey and presents an escape from the chaos of everyday life. The Bunun carrier A-song finds the body of a missing hiker during a search and rescue operation. The symbolic connection between the two reveals the transcendent process of life and death. This story could be placed among other traditional tales and brings us closer to the wisdom about this beautiful part of the Taiwanese mountain world.

2023 – Mountain Film Tegernsee, 20th International Festival from 18 – 22 October 2023

Press Release/Opening          –     October 19, 2023                          

Mountain Film Tegernsee, 20th International Festival from 18 – 22 October 2023

 Roped Parties and Cinematic Border Crossings

The Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival has been inaugurated, and its 20th edition is capturing the zeitgeist: The festive opening at Tegernsee Castle’s baroque ballroom shows that we cannot escape major human issues in the mountains. On stage and with his film, extreme mountaineer and ice climber Robert Jasper impressively depicts the consequences of glacial melting in the Patagonian Andes.  With “Chronoception” from France and “Queen” from Switzerland, the festival hosts highlight the broad spectrum of modern mountain film.

The festival doesn’t start off with a film, but with a dare. Lukas Irmler, multiple slackline record holder from Miesbach, Bavaria, whose film “7 Summits of the Alps” will be shown at this year’s Mountain Film Festival, climbs the Tegernsee stage to demonstrate his skills. Since his slackline cannot be anchored in the ground, he faces a “human-powered” one, i.e. four to five people on each side hold the rope and Irmler walks across it. The rope holders are none other than Tegernsee mayor Johannes Hagn, former mayor Peter Janssen, Bayern 2 programme director Stefan Maier and Birgit Halmbacher, the festival’s office manager. “A mountain film festival can only work as a team effort. We rely on rope holders such as these,” states festival director Michael Pause. Irmler agrees: “All need to pull together, even while everyone has a different role.” Tonight, many of the “rope holders” are sitting in the crowded baroque ballroom. Michael Pause is visibly pleased. “20 years – it’s hard to believe! I’m truly thrilled that the mountain film scene has come together.” Some of the people in the ballroom already joined the roped party as early as 2003.

Known for its exciting topics and curated blocks of films, the festival starts into its 20th edition with a cinematic representation of climate change. After the slackline demonstration, the 28-minute film “Abenteuer Patagonien – Klimaforschung in der Eiswüste” (Adventure Patagonia – Climate Research in the Ice Desert) presents a topic that has in fact already been current for 50 years. German TV broadcaster ZDF has sent scientist Tobias Sauter and mountain guides Robert Jasper and Jörn Heller as well as editor Andreas Ewels to the ice fields of Patagonia. Three of them as well as director and cinematographer Jochen Schmoll will be on stage on Wednesday evening. For many years, Robert Jasper has been one of the most distinguished German mountaineers and top climbers, yet this is his first visit to Tegernsee. Jasper claims to have been on more than 15 expeditions to Patagonia to date and hopes his film will “draw attention to truly global problems”. Like many others, he experiences how mountaineering and climate change are becoming unwillingly enmeshed.

Festival director Michael Pause also feels the pulse of our times with his further selection of elements for the night. Guillaume Broust is a pleasing discovery. In 2019, the French filmmaker received the German Alpine Club (DAV) award for the Best Film in the category Mountain Experience for “The Pathan Project”. This year, he presents “Chronoception”. The film impressively illustrates how by the end of a mountain tour to the most remote corners of Kyrgyzstan, it is not the athletic performance that counts, but the experience itself as well as perceiving the flow of time. “The theme is patience and waiting,” says Léa Klaué, one of the film’s leading actors. The snowboarder and social anthropologist has come to the Tegernsee stage after a ten-hour journey from Valais and tells the audience about at times extremely difficult filming conditions. And she raves about the director’s achievement: “I see Guillaume as a magician. Tone, cut, style: all unique.” The third, last and shortest film of the evening is about the wolf in the mountains and tells a fascinating fictional story. The other leading actress – beside the she-wolf – is Liliane Amuat from Switzerland, who has joined the ensemble of Munich’s Residenztheater.

In its anniversary year, the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival once again hosts plenty of guests. Well over 70 guests of honour attended the opening alone, including Barbara Guggenbichler, the daughter of the festival’s founder. Also present were numerous filmmakers and mountaineers, politicians and socialites, sponsors, supporters and mountain enthusiasts. Because “the 20-year-mark is a great opportunity to look back”, as festival director Pause explains in his address, and as a gift to all who want to know more about the beginnings of the festival, the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival is now available between book covers in the form of a commemorative publication. This was officially presented on the opening night by festival director Pause. The first copy was presented to Upper Bavarian district president Dr. Konrad Schober. The commemorative publication is available for purchase in a limited edition for 15 euros in the town hall’s forum. The proceeds will go to the German Alpine Club’s Tegernsee youth division.

At the end of the evening, district administrator Olaf von Löwis spontaneously donates an additional 1,000 euros towards the jury prize. And Tegernsee Mayor Johannes Hagn, who was able to open the mountain film festival for the tenth time, happily states in his welcoming speech that this year, the Honourable Mention by the Jury will be endowed for the first time with 500 euros. Will one of the opening films receive a coveted prize by the end of the festival? This is currently being decided by an international jury. There are a lot of films to choose from. A total of 65 different films will be screened in four venues (Barocksaal, Schalthaus, Ludwig-Thoma-Saal and Medius) as well as in the marquee at the Point, which has been set up especially for the anniversary year. The festival ends with the festive award ceremony on Saturday evening (from 7 pm in the Tegernsee Barocksaal or on BR livestream). Remaining tickets are available for almost all screenings.

 Further information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, phone +49(0)8022-1801 – 37; bergfilm@tegernsee.de, online: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de. All films and the fringe programme are described in detail in the print programme and online.

Advance ticket sales at the Tegernsee Tourist Information, phone +49(0)8022-92738 – 62; tegernsee@tegernsee.com; online: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de or www.muenchenticket.de.

2023 – 20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 18 – 22 October – Programme is available

Press Release – 2023-09-07 – Programme is available

20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival – 18 – 22 October 2023

Summit Meeting at Lake Tegernsee 

From 18 to 22 October, a total of 65 films from 28 countries will be screened at the International Mountain Film Festival in Tegernsee, which is going into its 20th edition. Sometimes loud and spectacular, sometimes quiet and gentle: these explorations of the mountain theme are diverse and always unique. What exactly the viewer can expect in terms of documentaries, portraits and reports during this anniversary year is revealed in the recently published print and online programmes. Advance ticket sales start on 15 September. In addition to numerous filmmakers and protagonists, the exceptional German mountaineers Robert Jasper and David Göttler as well as mountain film legend Gerhard Baur will attend the festival.  

Hardly any other backdrop could be more suited to a film festival that revolves around the mountains than pre-Alpine Lake Tegernsee. From 18 to 22 October, the International Mountain Film Festival will take place for the 20th time here, in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps. Apart from the screens beckons a varied fringe programme with hikes in the Tegernsee Valley and special exhibitions. More than 30 films are screened every day, including productions from all over the world. Festival Director Michael Pause promises a high-class programme: “Once again, we are proud to run many outstanding films as well as several surprises in our competition.” In addition, prominent guests from the German mountaineering scene such as Robert Jasper and David Göttler will be present. David Göttler is currently one of the best German high-altitude mountaineers (he climbed Everest without oxygen in 2022). Also attending is filmmaker Gerhard Baur, Germany’s most important mountain filmmaker of the last 50 years, who was awarded the Great Prize in Tegernsee in 2005. The Nanga Parbat expert will show his winning film, participate in discussions with the audience and thus contribute to the special festival atmosphere.

With a number of strong films, the Opening Night on Wednesday will attract guests to the four indoor screening venues as well as to the novel Festival Tent set up especially for the anniversary year. This year’s Bayern2 Night on Thursday will focus on the theme “Big Ego, Big Achievement?” Rita Christen, President of the Swiss Mountain Guide Association, and Katharina Kestler from the Bavarian public podcast Bergfreundinnen discuss why people risk so much just to be at the top. Whether turning back can also trigger happiness. And whether the greatest achievement of all might not be the overcoming of big ego. Also on the agenda is a mountain film retrospective, including a portrait of Dr Arnold Fanck, who founded the genre more than 100 years ago. The Ludwig-Thomas-Saal venue equally focuses on superlative mountain sports achievements, celebrating the 70th anniversaries of Mounts Everest and Nanga Parbat – both eight-thousanders were ascended for the first time in 1953. David Göttler had to abandon an attempt on Nanga Parbat last spring and has announced his presence at the screening. Special cinematic highlights can always be expected at the German Alpine Club (DAV) Night on Friday, which this year takes place at the Festival Tent. On Saturday, the final section of the mountain film marathon begins at 10 a.m. at the Schalthaus venue in Tegernsee with high-quality repeats for all who could not attend during the first three days. Generally speaking, the Medius venue is the focal point for those who appreciate young and action-packed films. By the way: The Children’s Cinema at the Festival Tent offers a great programme for very young viewers, from Wednesday to Friday from 9.30 a.m. onwards.

Anyone who studies the short synopses of the approximately 65 films from almost 30 countries in the print or online programmes immediately gets drawn into the diverse and fantastic world of the mountains. Thrilling topics and protagonists make it extra-hard to decide which films to watch at the Tegernsee venues. To make sure nobody misses out, numerous films are screened several times.

One of this year’s competition favourites is the film Märzengrund (Beyond the Alp) – an adaptation of the play by famous Tyrolean author and playwright Felix Mitterer. The film is about a farmer’s son who flees from social constraints to an alpine pasture and does not return for 40 years. Mitterer considers this piece possibly his most important work. The feature film is part of the festival category “Mountain Life”. Also impressive: Todesfalle Haute Route (Death Trap Haute Route), a meticulous reconstruction of a tragic accident that occurred in the Valais Alps in 2018. Back then, seven people died in a snowstorm just 1,800 ft (550 m) from shelter. A first-class docudrama: exciting, authentic, perfect storytelling. Definitely worth seeing is Chronoception. A film about an expedition which takes a group of freeriders and snowboarders to a remote corner of Kyrgyzstan. Each episode is told differently, conveying to viewers how the athletic goal of first descents on untouched slopes gradually becomes eclipsed by the overall experience. Wonderfully bizarre is the film Aufnahmen einer Wetterkamera (Weather Cam Recordings). While the image boundaries of a webcam robotically pan back and forth, interpersonal stories evolve in the foreground and social boundaries are casually transgressed.

As exciting as the films is the question which productions will snatch an award at the festive closing ceremony hosted at Tegernsee Castle. As always, the international jury will scrutinise each film carefully in order to award prizes to the best. Attending the award ceremony on Saturday puts you at the heart of the festival: There, guests will meet some of the award-winning filmmakers in person and watch excerpts from all winning films. Simultaneously, the Festival Tent venue will screen a winning film from the past 20 years, followed by a complete screening of this year’s recipient of the Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee. And on Sunday there will be a unique opportunity to watch all the award-winning films again at full length.

More information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, phone +49(0)8022-1 801 – 37; bergfilm@tegernsee.de

Advance ticket sales (starting in mid-September) and programme available at the Tegernsee Tourist Information, phone +49(0)8022-92738 – 62; tegernsee@tegernsee.com; online: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de or www.muenchenticket.de. In the (German) print and (German, English) online programmes, all films as well as the fringe program are described in detail.

2023 – 20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival – 18 to 22 October 2023 – Interview with Main Sponsor LOWA

Press Release: Interview with Main Sponsor LOWA       –       August 14, 2023

20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 18 to 22 October 2023

“We honestly can’t wait!” 

This year, the well-known Upper Bavarian manufacturer of hiking and mountaineering footwear LOWA celebrates 100 years of tradition. Also this year, in autumn, the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival celebrates its 20th edition. Michael Frank, Head of Marketing at LOWA since 2016, talks about the mountain boot manufacturer’s involvement in this year’s Mountain Film Festival, about promoting culture in times of crisis and the hoped-for brand image benefits.  

Michael Frank, in 2023 LOWA teams up for the first time with the Mountain Film Festival as its main sponsor. How did this new cooperation come about?

The Mountain Film Festival was already on our radar, many LOWA employees visit it regularly. Our shoes have also been present in festival films for a long time. Our long-time employee Sepp Krimmer has been attending the event for years and facilitated the initial contact. After that, we all quickly agreed that a cooperation would be a good fit.

Have you supported other festivals or cultural events in the past?

Yes, we have supported smaller local events as a sponsor, including the short film festival in Schrobenhausen, among others.

When one of your customers asks you why you invest in culture, how do you respond?

Cultural work and education are essential pillars of our society. The fact that something is missing without a cultural life was demonstrated painfully by the pandemic. It transpired very clearly when theatres and museums were closed. As a business, we are aware of our responsibility to give something back to society, possibly to even help shape it. 

Is sponsorship generally at risk due to the current crisis?

It is not at risk; a good sponsoring relationship still offers great benefits for both sides. Due to the current situation, budgets are still somewhat uncertain, so potential sponsors will be more hesitant and fewer sponsoring deals tend to come through.

For small boutique festivals like the one in Tegernsee, financial support is an indispensable part of the budget. What returns do you expect from your involvement in the Mountain Film Festival? And how do you, as an outdoor gear manufacturer, benefit from the Mountain Film Festival’s image?

First and foremost, like every visitor, we are looking forward to great films and adventures. Our products are always a part of the experience, the right footwear is critical. Many festival guests will feel inspired to spend more active outdoor time.

And that’s why we hope that our presence on site will enhance our brand image and promote our amazing products. 

Will LOWA present any activities at the Mountain Film Festival?

Yes, we are planning for an active presence at the festival. But no spoilers just yet!

What birthday wisdom can the seasoned senior LOWA impart to the merely coming-of-age festival in Tegernsee? From celebrant to celebrant, so to speak.

Firstly, that you absolutely have to celebrate birthdays. A 20th birthday might get a bit rowdier than a 100th, of course. Over the past 100 years, our LOWA history has resembled a mountain tour, with highs and lows. When things don’t go your way, don’t let it get you down.

Will you attend the anniversary celebrations this autumn in person and catch some films?

Absolutely, we will be there. We honestly can’t wait!

Do you enjoy mountain films?

If I didn’t like mountain films, my job at LOWA would be very tough. For us, almost everything revolves around the great outdoors and the mountains.

What is your favourite mountain film?

My favourite film is Manaslu – Mountain of Souls by Hans Kammerlander.

Thank you very much for the interview.

OUR 2023 SPONSORS and SUPPORTERS:

Our heartfelt thanks for support to the Mountain Festival goes to:

LOWA, E-Werk Tegernsee, Der Westerhof, Das Werk, Kreissparkasse Miesbach-Tegernsee, Wallbergbahn, Herzogliches Brauhaus Tegernsee, Hopf Weißbierbrauerei Miesbach, Das Tegernsee, Monte Mare Seesauna, ShowTec München, Markmiller & Partner, Kirinus Alpenpark Klinik, REO Regionalentwicklung Oberland, Rotary Club Tegernsee.

Bayerischer Rundfunk – Bayern 2, Deutscher Alpenverein, Tegernseer Tal Tourismus GmbH;  Media Partner: Bergsteiger, Münchner Merkur 

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

Encl. – 2 stills
Z62_6666_Favorit_©Kerstin Rysavy.jpg  –  Michael Frank – Head of Marketing – LOWA Sportschuhe GmbH

TTT_BFF_Sponsorenabend_2023-2.jpg – Meeting of the sponsors and supporters of the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival at Galaun, Riederstein/Tegernsee (© C.Schempershofe/TTT/BFF)

2023 – 20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival – 18 to 22 October 2023 – 20th Anniversary Interview

Press Release 20th Anniversary Interview      –    June 19, 2023

20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 18 to 22 October 2023

Beyond the Heroics of Yesteryear 

Michael Pause has signed responsible for the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival programme for the past twenty years. During this time, he has blazed a trail between tradition and cutting-edge trends. In an anniversary interview he explains what he expects from a good mountain film and looks back at the funniest, most surprising contributions – and what almost became the greatest flop.  

Michael Pause, what is your favourite mountain film of all times?
Adventures in the Engadin, dating from 1932 – and at least three dozen other films.

Why?
This black-and-white ski film was scripted by Arnold Fanck, who is probably Germany’s most important mountain film pioneer. The simple story comes with a certain entertainment value and a lot of humour. But what impresses most is the fantastic footage of skiers in the winter wonderland of the Swiss Engadine.

Which of the winning films of the past 20 years would you call a favourite?
I would like to mention two special films: The Wire of Life (2003) and Olga e il tempo… (“Olga and Time” 2009). Both depict archaic life in the mountains – bereft of commentary, timeless. Once viewers commit to the experience, they sense that they are getting to see something extraordinary. True works of documentary art!

 What was the funniest entry?
Snow in Marrakech – wonderfully ironic. A grotesque story that interrogates clichés and prejudices. Also, the short films Kurt and the Chairlift and Simply the Worst. Be sure to check these out!

 What was the biggest flop?
Not really a flop, but nerve-wrecking: Two hours before the start of the award ceremony, the Great Prize winner from Sibiu in Romania reported that he was stuck on a Lufthansa plane due to a technical failure. I went on stage and “decelerated”: We improvised, showed longer film excerpts than planned – many spectators didn’t even notice a thing. At half past eleven the door opened and the victor marched in. It was certainly the most titillating award ceremony – for us organisers.

 The biggest surprise?
Asiemut, a Canadian documentary film that witnesses 5,000 miles of cycling and philosophising from Mongolia to India, undertaken by a young Canadian couple. Surprising, because we had requested the film belatedly after a tip from Banff. We hadn’t even seen it in advance – in the end, the jury chose it as the winning film!

Which celebrities have visited the festival?
The great speaker and thinker Heiner Geißler: having him as festival patron was a stroke of luck. Despite his many commitments, he almost never missed the festival. In the mountaineering community he always felt right at home. Special festival guests included Willy Bogner, Markus Wasmeier, Kurt Diemberger, Alexander Huber, Stefan Glowacz, Gerhard Baur, David Lama, Jörg Auer, Viktoria Rebensburg, Christoph Hainz and many others.

On this 20th anniversary, you plan to revisit the beginnings of alpine film. What will be screened?
In addition to the competition entries, I would like to show films that reveal to visitors the unique characters who have taken on this genre. I find it riveting to get to know brilliant film pioneer Arnold Fanck in a portrait of his person. As part of the Retrospective, we will also be showing a film by Dr. Otto Guggenbichler, our festival’s initiator. Plus, two other big anniversaries are happening this year. 70 years ago, Mount Everest and shortly afterwards Nanga Parbat were ascended for the first time – we will recognise this in the festival programme.

Today’s mountain films no longer merely obsess with heroes, the battle against nature and breaking records. What has changed in recent years?
The great heroic pathos, which one could not escape in the mountain films of the first decades, can now be safely discarded. However, we still meet heroes and heroines, just on a completely different level. Quiet personalities achieve acts of “heroism” in the mountains while remaining authentic, not hogging the limelight. About them, great and exciting stories can be told.

The festival receives over 150 submissions. What are your criteria for inclusion and what provides filmmakers with a good chance of winning one of the coveted prizes?
The pre-selection jury reviews all submissions and soberly assesses whether the individual films comply with the Call for Submissions. In a second phase, the quality is discussed and evaluated. In this way, we select the films for festival screening and compile shortlists of the most highly rated films in the various competition categories. A time-consuming job and a big responsibility.

Could a film that never refers to mountains ever run in your programme?
I can’t imagine (laughs), but the “mountain theme” reaches far and leaves a lot of room for interpretation. We believe that the mountains still attract fascination and provide material for extraordinary films. This we shall prove once more this coming autumn.

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

2023 – Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival – 18 to 22 October 2023 – Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival on the International Stage

NL/Press Release    –   May 3, 2023

20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 18 to 22 October 2023

Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival on the International Stage

The 20th edition of the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival calls for a proper shout-out and a celebration. That is why festival director Michael Pause and festival office manager Birgit Halmbacher are traveling to Trento, Italy this week – to attend the world’s oldest mountain film festival and to present their anniversary programme. They will also attend an informal spring gathering of the International Alliance for Mountain Films (IAMF). Noteworthy deadline for all producers and filmmakers: The latest mountain films intended for screening at Lake Tegernsee this autumn must be submitted by 31 May, in four weeks’ time. 

When asked how long he’s been attending the Trento Film Festival, Michael Pause just laughs. Then, he specifies: “For over 40 years!” Initially as a journalist for Bavarian Public Broadcasting (BR), later on as the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival’s director. After all, “the 71st Trento Film Festival presents another unmissable get-together for the mountain film festival genre. The mother of all mountain film festivals is all about networking and encounters within ‘the scene’.” Naturally, it is a thousand times better to converse with filmmakers and producers in person than merely on the phone. Moreover, it is the ideal opportunity for Michael Pause to alert international mountain film festival makers to this autumn’s anniversary edition at Lake Tegernsee. He is happy to reveal: “We want to seize this opportunity to look into the best of 20 years of Tegernsee Mountain Film. We want to rewind even further, for example by remembering the inventor of the mountain film genre. It’s fascinating to explore the very beginnings.”

The world’s largest mountain film festival was founded in 1952 and currently takes place in the Trentino region – ending on 7 May. It promises the opportunity of forging new mountain film contacts and of gaining an overview of trends in the mountain film genre. “Our end of May registration deadline for the Tegernsee festival is optimal,” Halmbacher reveals, “because in Trento we get an excellent idea of this year’s strongest productions. Most importantly, we discover films we’d otherwise have completely missed out on!” Pause recalls times when he was able to catch as many as 50 or 60 films there.

In addition, Pause and Halmbacher are attending an informal spring gathering of the International Alliance for Mountain Films (IAMF) in Trento. The IAMF brings together the 25 most important mountain film festivals worldwide, including Trento, Les Diablerets, Graz, Kathmandu, Kendal, Autrans as well as Tegernsee. This association of mountain film festivals from all over the world has become a valuable information hub for festival organisers.

Meanwhile, preparations are in full swing at Lake Tegernsee. In autumn, an international jury will award prizes to the best mountain films in the competition. The screened films demonstrate this genre’s wide range of topics and its unique charm. Traditionally, Tegernsee and its audience value narratives outside the mainstream. Up until 31 May, producers and filmmakers may submit their latest mountain films in the categories Mountain Experience, Mountain Nature and Mountain Life.

All prizes, endowments and the call for submissions can be found at: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

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

2023 – 20th International Mountain Film Festival Tegernsee, 18-22 October – Call for Entries (Short Version)

NL/Press Release – Call for Submissions    (short version)

20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 18 to 22 October 2023

Cinematic Time Travel on a Milestone Birthday

The International Mountain Film Festival turns 20 this year! The cinematic thrills on offer at Germany’s only open mountain film competition will be chosen in the coming months: From now until 31 May, filmmakers from all over the world can submit their latest productions. In addition to the most engaging films, the festival programme will include a variety of special anniversary features. 

20 Mountain film festival years at Lake Tegernsee – that calls for a celebration. “Preparations for this autumn’s anniversary edition of the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival are in full swing,” states festival director Michael Pause full of anticipation. He also announces: “As a gift to our loyal guests, so to speak”, the very best films from 19 festival years will be shown at screening venues in addition to this year’s competing films. “We are looking forward to celebrating mountain film and the institution of cinema with a cinematic journey through time.” A new festival trailer is being produced. And on the occasion of the milestone anniversary, a new outdoor screening location will be added: a tent pitched on Tegernsee’s “Point” peninsula.

Call for new productions from around the globe
Until the end of May film makers 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) receives 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 of course the Bayern2 Audience Award.

Please find all further prizes and their worth as well as the Call for Submissions at: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

Information and Call for Submissions available from: Special Office Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Rathausplatz 1, 83684 Tegernsee, Germany, phone +49(0)8022-1801-37 or -53, bergfilm@tegernsee.de,
www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

2023 – 20th Internat. Mountain Film Festival Tegernsee – 18 – 22 October – Call for Entries

NL/Press Release Call for Submissions – March 09, 2023

20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 18 to 22 October 2023

Cinematic Time Travel on a Milestone Birthday

The International Mountain Film Festival turns 20 this year! The cinematic thrills on offer at Germany’s only open mountain film competition will be chosen in the coming months: From now until 31 May, filmmakers from all over the world can submit their latest productions. An international jury awards prizes to the best. The winners will receive nine prizes across three competition categories, endowed with a total of 10,500 euros. In addition to the most engaging films, the festival programme will include a variety of special anniversary features.

 20 Mountain film festival years at Lake Tegernsee – that calls for a celebration. “Preparations for this autumn’s anniversary edition of the Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival are in full swing,” states festival director Michael Pause full of anticipation. He also announces: “As a gift to our loyal guests, so to speak”, the very best films from 19 festival years will be shown at screening venues in addition to this year’s competing films. “We are looking forward to celebrating mountain film and the institution of cinema with a cinematic journey through time.” A new festival trailer is being produced. And on the occasion of the milestone anniversary, a new outdoor screening location will be added: a tent pitched on Tegernsee’s “Point” peninsula.

The festival as a stage for encounters
Great stories, captivating footage, authentic characters and an exciting competition: At the 20th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, guests will once again be swept away by the fascination of the mountains, the creativity of filmmakers and protagonists. In the various screening venues, the entire spectrum of the “modern mountain film” genre can be admired on the big screen: the classic documentary as well as the weird short film and the gripping docudrama. Since the festival’s premiere exactly 20 years ago, the organizing team has been striving to bring the world’s best and most interesting films to Lake Tegernsee – as well as the people behind the stories. After all, festivals are always more than just the sum of their films. A festival is successful when it allows the makers and protagonists to emerge – when it gives them a stage for meaningful encounters. The many thousands of spectators who come to the mountain festival at autumnal Lake Tegernsee know and appreciate this.

Call for new productions from around the globe
Until the end of May film makers 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) receives 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 of course the Bayern2 Audience Award.

Please find all further prizes and their worth as well as the Call for Submissions at: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

Information and Call for Submissions available from: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Rathausplatz 1, 83684 Tegernsee, Germany, phone +49(0)8022-1801-37 or -53, bergfilm@tegernsee.de,
www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

2022 – Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival October 19-23 – Winning Films – Jury Statements

Winning Films 2022
Jury Statements – 22 October 2022

Great Prize by the City of Tegernsee
Alpenland (Alpine Country)
Robert Schabus, Austria
This film by Robert Schabus 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. The cinematic narrative connects diverse stories from the entire Alpine region: A Carinthian mountain farming family is worried about the future subsistence of their farm. A world-famous Bavarian ski resort cannot exist without snow cannons, each of which costs as much as a social housing unit. A French doctor worries about medical care because more and more hotels in the mountain valley are shutting down. Over the course of 32 years, a Portuguese mountain railway employee in Zermatt has witnessed the glacier recede by 700 metres. An Italian farmer seems like a true outsider, because he prefers to be with the sheep and earn poorly than to work for more money in the factory. Does sustainability have to equal poverty? Do we have to give up economic growth to save the world? This mountain film does not answer such questions, but it makes us think deeply about them.

Prize by the German Alpine Club for the Best Alpine Film (Category Mountain Experience)
Höhenrausch – Die Entwicklung der Höhenmedizin (Altitude Sickness – The Development of High-Altitude Medicine)
David Pichler, Nicolai Niessen, Germany
One of the most feared dangers for extreme mountaineers lurks inside them: high altitude sickness (German: “Höhenrausch”, meaning “altitude frenzy”). The documentary film of the same title 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 highest mountain refuge, the Margherita Hut (14,940 ft / 4,554 m above sea level). This narrative thread is completed by interviews with mountaineer, expedition doctor and high-altitude physician Peter Bärtsch, who explains altitude sickness in an objective and understandable way; with his colleague Oswald Oelz, who tells of experiments on his own body, which have contributed significantly to gaining knowledge; and with Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, who reflects on this disease as an active and professional extreme mountaineer.
The jury was convinced by this approach to the complexities of altitude sickness. The successful interweaving of the mountaineering and scientific perspectives pulls viewers into its “frenzied” vortex.

Prize in the Category Mountain Nature
Yukon, un rêve blanc (Yukon, a White Dream)
Mathieu Le Lay, France
“Yukon – Un rêve blanc” adheres to a classic narrative pattern: The hero sets out alone towards a remote destination to seek his fortune. In this French film, wildlife photographer Jérémie Villet travels to the Canadian province of Yukon to pursue his passion: He takes photos of animals adapted to life in cold and snow. This passion is fuelled by something like an insatiable longing for absolute beauty. In the middle of winter, in great solitude and freezing cold, Jérémie is looking for a mountain goat. This almost unreal creature lives in a kind of mountain-nature that seems almost abstract, even inanimate: 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.

Best Film in the Category Mountain Life
Lo Combat (You Fight)
Gaël Truc, France
With “Lo Combat” the audience can expect a real 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 farm where a cow experiences difficulty calving. When the stable door opens, tradition (farmer) and modernity (young female veterinarian) face each other with surprise. The farmer’s long doubtful look at the young woman embodies most of what is known about the relations man-woman, old-young and urban-country. In 15 short minutes, this light-footed and bold film deals with archaic questions, because inside the stable, it’s all about life and death, and also about the awareness of where our cultural roots run – all of which convinced the jury.

Otto Guggenbichler Prize for a Junior Film Maker
Royaye yek Asb (Dream of a Horse)
Marjan Khosravi, Iran
Junior director Marjan Khosravi takes us into the archaic world of the Iranian mountains, home to the fifteen-year-old mountain farmer’s daughter Shahnaz. The documentary short film is about a young woman who revolts against the patriarchal structures of her family. She wants to attend school, learn and write stories. However, her father has a different vision: she and her three sisters are to be married as early as possible, as their two brothers will receive additional land in exchange. The film, which provides strong insights into the threatened yet still wild and free life of the mountain farmer’s daughter and her siblings, ends with a few lines from one of her own stories: “One day a father scolded his daughter: she should not study, it was useless and she had to marry. So, she picked up her rope and went up the mountain to collect firewood. Suddenly, she saw a snake on the path, the only thing she was afraid of in this world. She said to herself: I shall face fear once and for all.”
It is remarkable how the microcosm in Shahnaz’s mountains connects back to the current situation in Iran.

Prize for Outstanding Camera Work
Le grand marais (The Great Moor)
Clara Lacombe, France
Clara Lacombe’s film stages the lives of animals and plants with great care and affection. At the same time, the camera’s gaze seems to capture the interest of some species in the human world. Camera, sound, music and spoken content merge into an organic unit that creates a fairy tale atmosphere – exciting for children and adults alike. Today, this utopian world may only be possible within a nature reserve. Virtuoso camera work reveals a model for the coexistence of humans and nature.

Prize for the Special Film
The Disappearance of Janusz Klarner
Franciszek Berbeka, Poland
This film puts us on a scent. It takes us to the Himalayas to find out why certain people mysteriously disappeared. One of them is Janusz Klarner: Many years after his first ascent of Nanda Devi East, he left his apartment in Warsaw, never to return. This can only be attributed to the vengeance of the mountain goddess, whose peace the Polish mountaineers disturbed with their summit assault. At any rate, this is the conclusion towards which director Franciszek Berbeka propels us, when cheekily combining footage and facts just the way he wants. The result is a movie in the style of a silent film documentary that makes us viewers shudder and speculate: about the sense of monstrosity that overcome us like a mountain avalanche, like a hail of bombs. About the monster that looks at us and stays etched into our minds forever when people are abducted and disappear for good. The Special Mountain Film Prize
goes to “The Disappearance of Janusz Klarner” because with its experimental ways, it encourages us so beautifully to tell mountain films in excitingly different ways.

Honourable Mention by the Jury
Kjerag Solo
Alastair Lee, United Kingdom
Thanks to use of special camera technology, Alastair Lee succeeds in letting the audience participate up-front in a daring solo ascent on a Norwegian Bigwall. The film shows images of the highest intensity and climbing scenes shot from the most extraordinary vantage points.

Honourable Mention by the Jury
Inheritance
Aiymkul Temirbek Kyzy, Kyrgyzstan
In this short film, Aiymkul Temirbek conveys the preservation of an (artistic) craft tradition in Kyrgyzstan in a calmly observing narrative form. Almost in passing, the film succeeds at making us reflect on dwindling traditions and societal change.

Honourable Mention by the Jury
The Fading Nomads
Wie Shengze, China
The film “The Fading Nomads” by Chinese director Wie Shengze shows where the dream of a modern life can lead. He made it his mission to visit a Mongolian nomadic family twice with his camera. Once at a time when the family is breaking up and part of the family is giving up traditional nomadic life. 18 years later a second time to see what became of their vision. Arriving in a satellite town, the film impressively shows how people subordinate themselves to the constraints of modern life, even if they suffer under them. Now, only a dream remains of the formerly free yurt life with horse races in the high mountains’ wild nature. Wie Shengze’s creation poses the crucial question for all civilised societies: What do we give up, and in order to gain what? Who can claim that this question concerns only China? The fact that this authentic and critical snapshot from a closed-off country reaches us at all makes the film even more valuable. The jury would like to express their gratitude for this impressive contribution to the Mountain Life category with an Honourable Mention.

2022 – Tegernsee Internat. Mountain Film Festival October 19-23 – Winning Films

19th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival 2022

List of Winning Films 2022

Great Prize of the City of Tegernsee (€ 3,000)
“Alpenland (Alpine Country)” von Robert Schabus  |  NGF Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion  |  Austria

Prize by the German Alpine Club (DAV) for the Best Alpine Film / Category Mountain (€ 1.000)
„Höhenrausch – Die Entwicklung der Höhenmedizin (Altitude Sickness – The Development of High-Altitude Medicine)“ von David Pichler  |  Nicolai Niessen/berckwerk  |  Germany

Best Film in the Category Mountain Life – awarded by the Tegernseer Erdgas-Versorgungsges.  (€ 1,000)
„Lo Combat (You Fight)“ von Gaël Truc  |  Aries Film  |  Italy

Best Film in the Category Mountain Nature (€ 1,000)
„Yukon, un rêve blanc (Yukon, a White Dream)“ von Mathieu Le Lay  |  Mathieu Le Lay Prod.  |  France

Otto Guggenbichler Prize for a Junior Film Maker (€ 1,000)
„Royaye yek Asb (Dream of a Horse)“ von Marjan Khosravi  |  Milad Khosravi for Seven Springs Pictures  |  Iran

Prize for Outstanding Camera Work (€ 1,000)
„Le Grand Marais (The Great Moor)“ von Clara Lacombe  |  France

Prize for the Special Film (€ 1,000)
„The Disappearance of Janusz Klarner“ von Franciszek Berbeka  |  The Polish Nat. Film, TV & Theatre School  |  Poland

Honourable Mentions by the Jury
„Inheritance“ von Aiymkul Temirbek kyzy  |  Kyrgyzstan turkey university Manas  | Kyrgyzstan

„The Fading Nomads“ von Wie Shengze  |  Parallax China  |  China

„Kjerag Solo“ von Alastair Lee  |  Posing Productions  |  United Kingdom

Bayern 2 – Audience Prize (€ 1.000,-)
„Yukon, un rêve blanc (Yukon, a White Dream)“ von Mathieu Le Lay  |  Mathieu Le Lay Prod.  |  France

2022 – Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival,October 19-23 – Awards Ceremony

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

2022 – Tegernsee Internat. Mountain Film Festival – October 19-23 – Strong Women and Strong Messages

Press Release – Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival                                    2022-10-17 

Strong Women and Strong Messages

 The staggering breadth of the mountain film genre can be experienced at the 19th Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival: On five festival days, an exquisite shortlist of the very best international productions will be presented, celebrity guests included. Here are some films not be missed – thanks to their surprising attitudes and daring perspectives.

On Wednesday’s opening night, the spotlight is on strong women in the mountains: “Sophie Lavaud – Lady 8000” is a contemporary high altitude expedition film, which sheds light on gender issues”, as this is an all-female expedition. With more than ten ascents under her belt, Sophie Lavaud stands a good chance of becoming the first Swiss woman to stand on all fourteen eight-thousander peaks. She would also be the fifth woman worldwide to fulfil this dream. Thursday caters another expedition film with “Dhaulagiri is my Everest”. It explores the history of high-altitude mountaineering and impresses its viewers with strong protagonists and memorable words of wisdom: In 1984, Zoltán Demján climbed two eight-thousanders without additional oxygen. First, he conquered the South Face of Lhotse Shar, then the South Pillar of Mount Everest, where the weather turned his descent into a dramatic experience. In a third, no less fascinating expedition film, a bunch of young French climbers boldly devise a mini-expedition and scale a 6.500 ft (2.000 m) ice wall to a 22.300 ft (7.000 m) peak, in Saturday’s “A l’ombre du Chamlang” (In the Shadow of Mt Chamlang). The North Face of Mt Chamlang is one of the last large unclimbed walls of the Himalayas. This film allows us to immerser ourselves in the best of 21st century Himalayan mountaineering.

On Saturday, Germany’s current top high-altitude mountaineer David Göttler will attend the Nepal Night at Ludwig-Thoma-Saal and reveal how he climbed the highest mountain on earth last spring without additional oxygen. Three Everest eras will be on show during this screening block: previously unpublished material from the 1920s in “Everest – by Those Who Were There”, the film “Sea to Summit” from 1992 and film sequences by cinematographer David Göttler with running live commentary. “Everest: Sea to Summit” by Michael Dillon is an absolute must-see. Dillon’s approach: Everest is 8.848 meters high, but most climbers start out on foot in Lukla, at around 2.600 m. His film protagonist emerges from the floods of the Indian Ocean, then walks step by step from sea level to the highest point on earth.

Mountain celebrities star in the screened films, such as Stefan Glowacz with his film “Wallride”, which he also produced: Together with ninja warrior Philipp Hans, the pro climber undertakes a sustainable XXL bike tour through the Alps, during which the two moreover succeed with first ascents on three challenging climbing routes. With well-known tongue-in-cheek, Belgian star climber Nicolas Favresse and a younger friend also hop into the bike saddle, bringing along their two dogs (who comment on their masters’ rather odd behaviour throughout the film). The physical torture experienced by top climbers can be witnessed in the film “Massiv Trad Attack” (Friday, 5 pm at Medius). In the audience for this screening will be Ralf Dujmovits – the first and so far the only German to have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders. Afterwards, and extensive cinematic portrait of Dujmovits is scheduled to run. This will be his first visit to the festival.

Two Bavarian winter sports stars and gold medal winners will also appear at the Mountain Film Festival: During its opening screening, we can admire Viktoria Rebensburg on a ski tour traverse of the Salzburg mountains as well as ascending Mt Grossglockner. She scales this mountain as confidently as if it were familiar Mt Leonhardstein in her home village Kreuth. On Friday, ex-biathlete Laura Dahlmeier can be seen forming a rope team with the “Huberbuam” (Huber boys). The three went climbing together on one of Montblanc’s large and difficult pillars. On stage, Dahlmeier will share more about her passion for the mountains.

Alpinist and climber Tom Dauer as well as Stefan Glowacz and his team will present their respective films to the audience in person and thus contribute to the intimate festival atmosphere. During the Bayern 2 Night on Thursday at Barocksaal, sport climber and climate activist Lena Müller will address the question: “Summit Bliss and Climate Crisis – How Do Those Go Together?” This outstanding climber can also be experienced during the film “More than a Route”, where she teams up with a female friend. Film makers from the Tegernsee region will also be present on site: Rosenheim film maker Puriah Ravahi, winner of the award in the Mountain Experience category in 2017 with his thought-provoking base jump film “Last Exit”, reports in “Back to Iran” on a ski touring trip to his native country.

Does festival director Michael Pause have a favourite? If he did, he wouldn’t reveal it in advance. Just this much: Two films displaying particularly great camera work count as likely candidates for an award: In 2015, Frenchman Mathieu LeLay received both the award in the category Mountain Nature and the Award for a Junior Film Maker. This time, he impresses with “Yukon, a White Dream” with stunning wildlife footage from Canada’s enchanted North. The film “Big North” by Italian film maker Dario Acocella takes us to Alaska as well as into the haunted literary heart of wilderness escapes.

In the end, every single mountain film fan is spoilt for choice: which one(s) to choose from the approximately 80 film titles? Everyone will have to make up their own mind according to their tastes and preferences. The screening venues tend to specialise on the following genres: extreme athletic feats at Medius, nature and culture at Quirinal and Ludwig-Thoma-Saal; the opening ceremony, retrospective and awards ceremony will take place at Barocksaal. Experimental films are offered at Schalthaus. The family cinema matinee screenings will take place at Thomasaal. Aficionados already know: the top films will be shown several times on different days. And the greatest cinematic excellence is guaranteed during Sunday’s matinee, when all winning films will be screened at full length.

Festival director Michael Pause would like to share one personal recommendation, independently from award speculations: “The disappearance of Janusz Klarner”. This film does not pamper to the mainstream, but tells a fascinating story backed up by excellent camera and editing work. Pause states: “Every hardcore film fan should try and catch this one by the end of the festival.”

Information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Germany, phone +49(0)8022-1801 – 37; bergfilm@tegernsee.de, online: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de Please find detailed descriptions of all films as well as of festival fringe activities in the print and online programmes.

2022 – 19th International Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival – Around the World in Five Days

Press Release – Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival                                            2022-09-02 

Around the World in Five Days  

Visitors to the Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival, which is taking place for the 19th time from 19 to 23 October, embark on a unique journey. This year’s programme has just been published and reveals which visually stunning stories, documentaries, short and feature films await viewers. Once again, around 80 high-quality films with an unmistakable mountain focus, submitted from 28 countries, flicker across the screens – and carry audiences off to all corners of the globe. From as early as mid-September, mountain film fans can secure tickets for their favourite films. 

From 19 to 23 October, the Mountain Film Festival attracts visitors to Tegernsee for the 19th time. Festival director Michael Pause promises yet another high-class programme: “Many outstanding films compete this year.” Also, prominent guests are expected, such as Viktoria Rebensburg, Laura Dahlmeier and Stefan Glowacz, who will personally present their respective films and thus contribute to the special festival atmosphere. Away from the silver screen, a varied fringe programme offers hikes among the picturesque Tegernsee mountains.

A quick browse through the print or online programme to study the short synopses of the approximately 80 listed films inexorably draws anyone into the diverse and fantastic world of the mountains – and of the films, which, given the intensity of the footage, will once again enthral viewers for five days. Densely packed screening blocks and highly exciting topics and protagonists make it difficult for the audience to decide which films to watch at Tegernsee screening venues. Numerous films are shown repeatedly to make sure nobody has to miss a top pick.

This year’s frontrunners include the film “Wallride”, in which climbers Stefan Glowacz and Philipp Hans take the audience on a sustainability-oriented extreme transalpine tour by mountain bike. The two adventurers have no idea what tribulations this journey across 1,413 miles (2,274 km) and up 151,522 ft (46,184 m) of altitude has in store for them. This year, Thursday’s Bayern 2 Night at the Barocksaal venue will focus on the highly topical question “Summit Bliss and Climate Crisis – How Do Those Go Together?” Elisabeth Tyroller and Georg Bayerle welcome, among others, sport climber and climate activist Lena Müller. At the same time, films by the adventurer and artistic all-rounder Martin Schließler will be shown at Ludwig-Thoma-Saal as part of his retrospective. A truly special film selection is always on offer on Friday’s German Alpine Club Night (DAV); this year, ex-biathlete Laura Dahlmeier will be personally present. And on Saturday at 10 a.m., the mountain film marathon’s final stretch begins with a matinee.

The end of every film triggers the question: Will it score this year’s Great Prize of the City of Tegernsee? The decision resides with the top-class international jury and thrills until the very end. Anyone who cares to know the complete competition outcome, should attend the award ceremony on Saturday: Here, festival visitors experience some of the best film makers in person and watch excerpts from all award-winning films. On Sunday, finally, all award-winning films are screened once more at full length.

Further information: Sonderbüro Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, phone +49(0)8022-1801 – 37; bergfilm@tegernsee.de

Box office (ticket sales start on 16 September) and print programme are available at the Tourist-Information Tegernsee, Germany, phone +49(0)8022-92738 – 62; tegernsee@tegernsee.com; online at www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de or www.muenchenticket.de. All films as well as fringe events are described in detail in the print programme and online.

19th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival 2022 – Festival is back

Press Release – Festival is back  –                          2022-04-30

19th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 19 to 23 October 2022

The Mountain Film Festival is back!

After the Covid-related cancellation in 2020 and a courageous “reboot” under pandemic conditions in autumn 2021, this year’s International Mountain Film Festival Tegernsee must confront the reality of war in Ukraine. Nevertheless: like other mountain film festivals around the world, the Tegernsee event 2022 will strive to continue as a success. Once again, a “real” festival will take place. Preparations are in full swing. Producers and film makers have until May 31st to submit their latest mountain films. 

Just as we were beginning to hope for an end to the pandemic, Russia’s attack on Ukraine paralyses us with horror. “Many people find it difficult to rally their spirits,” says Festival Director Michael Pause. “It helps to do something that makes you feel good! Go roam around nature, meet friends, go to concerts, theatres, cinemas and other cultural events. We’ve all missed that.”

This year presents a new challenge indeed: to get people off the couch and out of their home office, to gather the community at Lake Tegernsee and to enchant them with that special atmosphere that defines any authentic festival. The City of Tegernsee and the team of organisers have proven over the past 20 years that if there is one thing they excel at, it’s mountain film festival hosting. They have brought a veritable piece of “high cinematic culture” to the valley, Pause explains: “The festival’s evolution over the past two decades gives us great pleasure. Now it’s up to us to free people from their lethargy and rekindle the fire that all mountain fans feel.”

The festival’s cooperation partners – Bavarian Public Broadcasting (BR), the German Alpine Club (DAV), Tegernsee Valley Tourism (TTT), Tegernsee Friends of Mountain Film (Bergfilmfreunde Tegernsee e.V.) – pool their resources in these difficult times.  Despite all obstacles, we feel great anticipation: to finally see films on the big screen again, together with our community! Film makers, more than anyone, are red hot for this opportunity. Festival-goers can look forward to a “proper” event with excellent films and that accustomed festival atmosphere: having fun together, exchanging ideas with like-minded people, actors and mountain film makers.

Festival Director Michael Pause is currently looking forward to just such an exchange of ideas at the 70th Trento Film Festival. The world’s oldest mountain film festival runs from April 29th to May 6th in northern Italy. It has established an important opportunity to make new contacts in the film community and to get up to speed with news and trends in the mountain film genre. The annual gathering of mountain film festival organisers also takes place in Trento.

Meanwhile, preparations are in full swing at Lake Tegernsee. This coming autumn, an international jury awards prizes to the best competing mountain films. On show are high-end films that evidence the genre’s special appeal. Audiences are in for surprising and creative contributions from international film makers. It is noteworthy that mountain films can be surprisingly sensitive and not quite as action-packed as one might assume. They present topics the mainstream would simply ignore. Until May 31st producers and film makers can submit their latest mountain films to the three categories “Mountain Experience”, “Mountain Nature” and “Mountain Life”.

Please find all further prizes, endowments and the Call for Entries at: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de 

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

2022 – 19th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival – Call for Submissions

Press Release – Call for Submissions  –  February 2022

19th Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, 19 to 23 October 2022

Peaks and Valleys

We still have many months to go before the 19th International Mountain Film Festival, but Germany’s only open mountain film competition is beginning to take shape: film makers from all over the world can now submit their latest productions. The closing date for entries is May 31st. In October, an international jury will evaluate the films and award prizes to the strongest submissions. 

Classic documentaries, inventive short films, exciting docudramas, memorable portraits –modern mountain film holds space for many film genres and an infinite number of topics. At the coming Tegernsee International Mountain Film Festival, audiences may once again expect to be enthralled by the magic of the mountains and by the stunning creativity of film makers and protagonists.

“To qualify for the Mountain Film Festival, submissions need to present a strong theme and good stories from the mountains as well as authentic characters,” explains Festival Director Michael Pause. Ever since the festival’s inception in 2003, the organisational team has been trying to bring the world’s best films to Tegernsee. “That is our mission and what we owe our audience,” Michael Pause declares. After all, a significant number of the many thousands of viewers who attend the mountain film festival at the autumnal Lake Tegernsee have become steady regulars.

Time to submit new productions!

Until the end of May film makers can submit their latest productions from the mountain world. Productions can be submitted in three categories, in which the film makers approach the mountains from different thematic angles. The 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 inquiries into environmental issues are the focus of the 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) receives the Otto Guggenbichler Prize, named after the Mountain Film Festival’s founder. Finally, there are special prizes for the Most Outstanding Camera Work and for the Exceptional Film (the respective prize money of 1,000 euros is provided by the Tegernsee Rotary Club).

Please find all further prizes and their worth as well as the Call for Submissions at: www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de

Information and Call for Submissions available from: Sonderbuero Bergfilm-Festival Tegernsee, Rathausplatz 1, 83684 Tegernsee, Germany, phone +49(0)8022-1801-37 or -53, bergfilm@tegernsee.de,  www.bergfilm-tegernsee.de