Mountain Spring: The Flinders Range

Standing proudly amongst the pantheon of cycling’s most revered mountains, the Stelvio boasts some of the longest and most challenging climbs in bike racing. Relentless switchbacks over impossible gradients beneath extremes of weather. It is on the relentless, technical, and often treacherous slopes of the Stelvio where the most famous and revered battles have decided the fate of the Giro d’Italia’s coveted Maglia Rosa. Jon Shubert explores the history and legends of the Stelvio and the surrounding regions, meeting people whose lives have been shaped by the mountain, and ex-professional Adam Hansen joins him as he makes his own attempt to conquer the coveted mountain.

Come fly with us in OVER ALASKA as we take off on a breathtaking tour of our 49th state. Soar over Mt. McKinley and through the craggy crevasses of electric blue glaciers. Follow the Iditarod and kayakers as they navigate past icebergs. Then touch down to Earth and get as close to bears, whales and wildlife as humanly possible.

Draw

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

La saga du rail

In this retrospective tribute, acclaimed filmmaker Jean Walkinshaw hails the 100th anniversary of Mount Rainier National Park in Washington by talking to those who know it best: the scientists, naturalists, mountain climbers and artists whose lives have been touched by the peak's far-reaching shadow. The result is a harmonious blend of archival material and high-definition footage celebrating an icon of the Pacific Northwest.

The first filmed winter ascent of the north face of the Matterhorn. To set the scene, the tragic story of Edward Whymper's first ascent is skillfully pieced together. The modern expedition, a team of three British climbers, is also plagued with epics: Eric Jones is hit by an avalanche and can only come to a dangerous stop at the edge of a 1000 foot drop. Then the worst storm ever recorded in Zermatt hits the Matterhorn. With time and weather against them, the team is forced to climb in the dark as thunderstorms rumble around them. This adventure captures the skill and courage of the climbers, their agony and tension, and the beauty of the assault on this spectacular mountain. Grand Prize at the Les Diablerets festival (Switzerland) in 1976.

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

The Athos peninsula in Greece is one of Europe's last secrets. Over 2000 monks live on Athos - cut off from the outside world. Access is denied to women, tourists are not welcome. Only workers and pilgrims can obtain a visa. The "Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain" attracts people who feel like they are missing something from their modern lives. With the help of three Athos monks, "Athos - A Taste of Heaven" tells the story of the island and its inhabitants in a unique filmed diary style. The film's guiding theme is the path we as people have to find and follow - each and everyone for themselves. "First we must heal our own souls, only then we can help others", is one of Father Galaktions core messages. He lives as a hermit on the holy mountain. Not all monks, however, live as secluded and demure as Father Galaktion. The film team is also received by Father Epiphanios - a gifted and poetic cook who certainly does not disdain the pleasures of life.

Germán Cipriano Gómez Valdés Castillo, a young radio announcer from Cuidad Juárez, succeeds in drawing attention to the pachuco movement through his character Tin Tan, laying the groundwork for a new form of binational and mass linguistic expression: Spanglish. He soon became a leading figure in theater and film on the American Continent. Singled out by critics as a destroyer of the language, he quickly won the approval of the public. His ability to improvise revolutionized the film industry. His talent as an actor, singer, dancer and comedian contributed to the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. From El Hijo Desobediente to Capitán Mantarraya, from Cuidad Juárez to Havana, from mambo to rock, the legacy of Tin Tan makes him one of the great icons of Mexico today. This film tells his story as it has never been told before.

A roller-coaster ride through the history of American exploitation films, ranging from Roger Corman's sci-fi and horror monster movies, 1960s beach movies, H.G. Lewis' gore-fests, William Castle's schlocky theatrical gimmicks, to 1970s blaxploitation, pre-"Deep Throat" sex tease films, Russ Meyer's bosom-heavy masterpieces, etc, etc. Over 25 interviews of the greatest purveyors of weird films of all kind from 1940 to 1975. Illustrated with dozens of films clips, trailers, extra footage, etc. This documentary as a shorter companion piece focusing on exploitation king David F. Friedman.

Charlie Soukup is a Czech underground songwriter and Charter 77 signatory. He emigrated in the early 1980s, and has spent the last several decades living on his own in the Australian outback as a hermit and Buddhist. Documentary filmmaker Jiří Holba sought Soukup out on his large property in the bush, where he builds secret shelters and lives away from civilization. The film, which Holba shot entirely alone on location, presents spontaneous conversations and situations that fully capture Soukup’s distinctive charisma. The film’s series of monologues are a kind of stream of thoughts that are part mad rambling and part insightful observations on life.

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

One day in the life of a 50-year-old couple. Blind Krzysztof goes skiing with Wiola, who is his wife and guide. They prepare for skiing in the early morning. Krzysztof mounts bluetooth kits on the helmets that will connect them to each other. They go to the top of the mountain in a chair lift, and the higher they go, the more we learn about their life. At the same time, weather conditions are changing, thickening mist falls on the mountain slopes. When Wiola and Krzysztof finally reach the summit, they must find each other and connect in the surrounding fog. A short documentary about love and passion.

Although the mountain volcano Mauna Kea last erupted around 4,000 years ago, it is still hot today, the center of a burning controversy over whether its summit should be used for astronomical observatories or preserved as a cultural landscape sacred to the Hawaiian people. For five years the documentary production team Nā Maka o ka 'Āina ("the eyes of the land") captured on video the seasonal moods of Mauna Kea's unique 14,000-foot summit, the richly varied ecosystems that extend from sea level to alpine zone, the legends and stories that reveal the mountain's geologic and cultural history, and the political turbulence surrounding the efforts to protect the most significant temple in the islands: the mountain itself.

Patabang, una storia degli anni '70

In 1915, the First World War is in full swing and young men are called to military service in rows - including Franz and Peter. Both are sent to the Dolomite front, in order to fend off a threatened Italian attack. Comradeship and loyalty are needed in the fight, but Franz and Peter are ever enemies. Since Peter's romance with Anna, the competition between the two flares up more. But the circumstances of the war and the harsh weather in the mountains soon end those hostilities.

In 1966, John Harlin II died while attempting Europe's most difficult climb, the North Face of the Eiger in Switzerland. 40 years later, his son John Harlin III, an expert mountaineer and the editor of the American Alpine Journal, returns to attempt the same climb.

Les Etoiles de Midi is an engaging docudrama about some of the more spectacular exploits of French mountain climbers over the last several decades. In one re-enacted story, there is a wartime escape through the mountains, and in another, a daring rescue of a pair of climbers who had been missing. The actors themselves are adept at the sport of climbing, and they give the scenes an immediacy and real daring that brings the stories alive. A combination of their acrobatics and skill and the outstanding episodes in the history of French climbing creates a winning 78 minutes.

Tehran, Iran, August 19, 1953. A group of Iranian conspirators who, with the approval of the deposed tyrant Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, have conspired with agents of the British MI6 and the US CIA, manage to put an end to the democratic government led by Mohammad Mosaddegh, a dramatic event that will begin the tragic era of coups d'état that, orchestrated by the CIA, will take place, over the following decades, in dozens of countries around the world.