The Last Mountain (2019)

Country: Poland

Duration: 83 minutes

Language: Polish

Synopsis:

In January 2018, the Polish expedition to K2, one of the last eight-thousanders not summited in winter, began. The veterans of Polish Himalayan mountaineering, including Krzysztof Wielicki, Adam Bielecki or Denis Urubko, took part in it. The film is a recording of an ascent in extreme conditions, long days spent in the base camp and discussions and arguments between climbers. It also shows the spectacular rescue operation that saved the life of Élisabeth Revol, who was stranded near the summit of Nanga Parbat together with Tomasz Mackiewicz.

Directed by: Dariusz Załuski

Dariusz Załuski is a Polish mountaineer, climber, guide SKPB Warsaw, cinematographer, screenwriter, and director of many mountain-themed films. A graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology, he has climbed five eight-thousanders, including K2 and Mount Everest. He is a member of the Mountaineering Club in Warsaw. Załuski started filming since the last expedition of Andrzej Zawada in 1997.

Hillary: Ocean to Sky (2019)

Country: New Zealand

Duration: 106 minutes

Language: English

Synopsis:

Meet the ‘real’ Ed Hillary on this life-changing journey up India’s holy River Ganges. For the people of India, it was a pilgrimage led by a hero of almost god-like status and millions lined the river to watch him pass in his ‘miraculous’ jet boats. For Ed and his 22-year-old son, Peter, it was a healing journey too, as they came to terms with the recent loss of Ed’s beloved wife, Louise and daughter Belinda. For Ed’s team of friends it was a thrilling ride through the heart of India aboard three of New Zealand’s iconic Hamilton Jet Boats. Then, near the Ganges’ snowy source the unthinkable happened. The first man to climb the world’s highest mountain succumbed to severe altitude sickness. The story of the desperate race by his friends and son to save his life has never been told.Sir Edmund Hillary’s journey from the Ocean to the Sky along the India’s River Ganges was his last major expedition and the only one to be comprehensively filmed.

Directed by Michael Dillon

In 1977, Sir Edmund took the risk of appointing Michael as cinematographer/director on his Ocean to Sky expedition and he remained Hillary’s filmmaker for the rest of his life. Michael went on to carve out a career as one of Australia’s leading adventure documentary cameramen and filmmakers, winning many international film awards and receiving an AM in recognition of his contribution to the film industry and his humanitarian work in the Himalaya. Ocean to Sky is his seventh Hillary film.

The Distant Islands (2019)

Country: Switzerland

Duration: 88 minutes

Language: English, French

Synopsis:

In extreme places, everything is far away. Never enough.

Longyearbyen, on the island of Spitzbergen in the Svalbard archipelago, is the northernmost inhabited place in Europe, while the southernmost one is La Restinga on the island of El Hierro, the smallest of the seven Canary islands. Two distant islands, on opposite sides, which are the opposite of everything but can be the same thing.

They are the places where apparently nothing happens that requires more personality. This is a journey in search of the essence of Europe seen from its extreme borders. Inside landscapes slipped into the people who live them. There must be a place where what you have been and what you want to be are in dialogue with each other.

Directed by: Alberto Meroni

Alberto Meroni works as director and producer of commercials, documentaries, fiction films, and television shows. Many of his works have received numerous international awards. He collaborates with other award-winning authors such as Villi Hermann, Edo Bertoglio and many others as DoP and editor of their films, documentaries, and reportage.