This Mountain Life

The (N)ice Line

Feel the rush of the breathtakingly beautiful National Parks of California with one deep breath of the summer air.

Five Bolivian indigenous women share one goal: climbing the highest mountain in America.

It is thanks to this film that the Marquis gained notoriety with a wider audience. The film is the result of film footage shot between May 1926 and June 1930 in several South American countries. Departing from Guayaquil, he first went to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific. Upon returning to the capital of Ecuador, chance brought him to the Ocaina Indians, the Boro, the Napo, the Jivaro and the Piro. He explored the Incan mines of Machu Picchu, discovered only a few years prior, and ended his journey on the famed Guano islands. The musical score, inspired by traditional Indian music, was created by Maurice Jaubert.

The majestic Alaskan brown bear is the largest predator in southeastern Alaska, but everywhere, its ancient haunts are under siege. As the modern world closes in, the great bear’s world is shrinking and encounters between humans and bears are on the rise. Join researcher LaVern Beier as he uses cutting edge technology to protect this extraordinary species. To observe them on their turf, without risking life and limb, LaVern attempts to deploy National Geographic’s CRITTERCAM. Until now, CRITTERCAM has been used almost exclusively on marine animals. Vern and his colleagues are on the cusp of a revolution in terrestrial field science…the opportunity to vicariously walk with bears into the deepest corners of their habitats, where even great hunters barely dare venture.

Documentary following the 1955–1956 Norwegian Archaeological Expedition's investigations of Polynesian history and culture at Easter Island.

Nikolai and Vegard were childhood friends who spent their free time on the ski slopes. Now, Nikolai has become a professional skier, while Vegard lives in caves and trains obsessively to complete a perilous and physically demanding ski tour. This is a story about friendship and setting ambitious goals.

Contrasting ancient myth and modern reality, this short documentary examines the legendary relationship between West Coast Indigenous people and salmon, once their staple food. In the mythical realm, we learn how Raven finds riches in the harvest of the salmon, only to lose everything through a thoughtless act against the Spirit of the Salmon. So too does modern man jeopardize his living from the sea by heedless action. Images of ancient spear-fishing and smoke-houses contrast with images of today's Indigenous people operating a seiner and working in a cooperative cannery.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th century Finnish philologist G. J. Ramstedt travelled around Mongolia and Central-Asia. In this documentary Ramstedt’s memoirs are heard in the modern day setting, where tradition is replaced with hunger for money, and deserts give way to cities.

Set against the unforgettable beauty of Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), Memories of Earth takes viewers on a journey guided by traces of the past. The film records the meeting of two artistic worlds: that of the Haida, an indigenous people whose cultural life and mythology bespeak their belief in a tangible link between the real and the imaginary, and that of Frédéric Back, a master of animated film and committed humanist, whose works is an appeal to respect all things created. Through the magic of animation, the documentary casts fresh light on the legends and spirituality of the Haida.

Created from public television's popular Over series, this is a tour unlike any other! Fly above landscapes and landmarks in Alaska; the Pacific Northwest; California; the Southwest; Chicago; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and everywhere in between.

Piano to Zanskar is a British documentary film which tells the story of the highest piano delivery attempt in history. It follows Desmond Gentle, a piano tuner from Camden Town in London, and his two apprentices: Anna Ray and Harald Hagegard, as well as a 100-year old Broadwood & Sons upright piano, on their way from London to Zanskar in the Indian Himalayas.

The extraordinary, complex, nuanced, restless, and rebellious personality of Walter Bonatti is recounted in a docufiction that traces the life of the greatest mountaineer of all time, without neglecting his overwhelming love story with movie star Rossana Podestà.

Marc-André Leclerc, an exceptional climber, has made solo his religion and ice his homeland. When filmmaker Peter Mortimer begins his film, he places his camera at the base of a British Columbia cliff and waits patiently for the star climber to come down to answer his questions. Marc André, a little uncomfortable, prefers to return to the depths of the forest where he lives in a tent with his girlfriend Brette Harrington. In the heart of winter, Peter films vertiginous solos on fragile ice. He tries to make appointments with the climber who is never there and does not seem really concerned by this camera pointed at him "For me, it would not be a solo if there was someone else" . Marc-André is thus, the "pure light" of the mountaineers of his time, which marvel Barry Blanchard, Alex Honnold or Reinhold Messner, interviewed in the film. An event film for an extraordinary character.

In May of 1942, across the rugged sub-Arctic wilderness of Alaska and Canada, thousands of American soldiers began one of the biggest and most difficult construction projects ever undertaken-building the Alaska Highway. This program tells how young soldiers battled mud, muskeg, and mosquitoes; endured ice, snow, and bitter cold; and cut pathways through primeval forests to push a 1,520-mile road across one of the world's harshest landscapes.

Documentary that shows the life of some individual wolves in the mountains of Spain.

Filmed on the island of Haida Gwaii, this documentary depicts the ongoing resistance and resurgence of the Haida people and their culture against the different manifestations and trauma of colonization.

A Hungarian explorer claims to have discovered a "Gold Library" inside a cave. Lacking evidence, he tries to get the recognition he believes he deserves but struggles to get support from the local governments and religious leaders.

Alaska may be best known as the land of moose, bears and intense winters, but few know about the hidden jewel that is the Alaska Baseball League. For the first time on film, Touching The Game Alaska takes a captivating inside look at this fascinating institution and its incredible history as a proving-ground for more than 500 Major Leaguers and Hall of Famers like Tom Seaver and Dave Winfield, many of whom appear in the film. This feature length documentary is highlighted by superb baseball, stunning imagery and humorous anecdotes, from planes crashing on fields during games to bear encounters to salmon fishing misadventures to the more than century old tradition of the Midnight Sun Game. Four years in the making, the film not only showcases baseball played in a place where the summer sun never sets, but also gives insight into the colorful, rugged and fiercely independent people of this frontier land.

To date, more than a hundred young men from the South Asian community have died in gang-related violence in Metro Vancouver. Gangs are a reality of urban life, yet behind the body count and the headlines, a far different battle is being waged. Educators and parents are taking action against gang violence. Director Baljit Sangra's documentary Warrior Boyz takes an unflinching look at the root causes of gang violence, and offers real solutions and a hard-fought hope for the future.