Press Release Festival general    PK01  25/10/08

6th International Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival

A Boost for Quality and Quantity

Sold-out venues, rapturous audiences and a winning film that talks to more than just the ‘in-crowd’: the International Tegernsee Mountain Film Festival 2008 has made great use of this year’s opportunity to strengthen its profile and ranking.

‘It was a lucky coincidence that we were able to screen the heavily marketed feature film “Nordwand” (North Face) a day before its theatrical release,’ the film festival’s artistic director, Michael Pause (from Bavarian Public Broadcasting) states cheerfully. ‘Naturally, this meant starting off on a high.’ And this applies not merely to the mountain film festival, but also rings true for the producer of ‘Nordwand’, Gerd Huber, who received the Great Prize of the City of Tegernsee from patron Dr. Heiner Geißler during the final awards ceremony.

The fascination of mountain films
‘The genre of mountain film will obviously meet with greater awareness now that the North Face theme is receiving so much public media attention,’ Michael Pause remarks. This greater awareness includes a willingness to embark on an adventure and reconnoiter the broad spectrum of mountain film – as has been demonstrated by the keen interest in films that come ‘without big names’. ‘Mountain films come with their own pace – many viewers are conscious of this, others only notice it subconsciously. But the result is always positive,’ Michael Pause sums up the fascination of mountain films. All in all he is very content with the great variety of productions and their level of achievement. ‘What makes our programme so attractive is the sense of contrast.’

A programme that pulls crowds
A single glance at the atmosphere in one the movie venues confirms this notion. For instance when a skier and a paragliding pilot demonstrate their improbable play with gravity – Samuel Gyger brought such breathtaking scenes to the silver screen and thereby managed to captivate his audiences (‘Play Gravity’ received the prize for most outstanding camera work). A different reel comes in, calm, forceful images of a barren landscape. In ‘Cradle of the Eagles’ (for which Alessandro Pugno received an honorary mention) the simple everyday life of those dwelling in an abandoned mountain village impacts hugely on its viewers. Afterwards, festival visitors enjoy a good laugh during ‘It Snows in Marrakech’ by Swiss film maker Hicham Alhayat (winner of the prize for a junior film maker). ‘These films are a fresh breath of air,’ is the clearly positive reaction by Philipp Clarin, spokesperson of the international jury, to such humorous submissions.

Size is not all that matters
Packed venues demonstrate that the festival programme really works for its audience: almost all screenings sold out. ‘Despite the fact that we added an additional fifth venue this year, it’s getting tight again,’ confirms Peter Janssen, Mayor of the City of Tegernsee, half laughing, half concerned – adequate venues in Tegernsee are fairly limited. ‘But size need not be the topmost priority.’ He emphasizes the importance of sustaining the sense of an ‘in-scene’ which distinguishes Tegernsee from festivals in bigger cities. Also, the festival’s quality is continually being enhanced, for instance in the areas of technology, service and in terms of the fringe programme. Especially the workshops offered for amateur film makers could be extended. ‘This has been a real success, the participants are thoroughly satisfied, and there are long waiting lists.’ The question of lectures is a bit more delicate. ‘The unusual talk given by Kurt Diemberger was definitely a good choice, which does not take away from our mountain festival flair, but actually strengthened it.’

Enthusiasm that carries across boundaries
Another aim is to ‘carry the enthusiasm across boundaries’. Although the submitted films came from 19 different nations, the festival is still hoping to attract a larger following from abroad. French television representative Françoise Guais is convinced that this will soon become a reality: ‘The environs of this festival alone should be perfect for international visitors. They would rarely find that at home  – idyllic landscapes, the lake, charming towns with flowers adorning the balconies and the lovely people, some of whom even don their traditional Bavarian attire when they go to see a mountain film,’ she describes the setting. ‘This is definitely special, we don’t have anything like it, and I’m surely not the only one who feels like that.’