Une Belle Trace(2023)

Himalayan Epic(fr)

In 1951, the 3rd French expedition to the Himalayas set out to conquer Nanda Devi (7,800 m). The attempt to cross the ridge between the main peak and Nanda Devi East resulted in the death of two members of the expedition. Expedition leader Roger Duplat and Gilbert Vignes disappear on the ridge somewhere below the main peak. Tenzing Norgay is part of a support team on this expedition; he and Louis Dubost climb Nanda Devi Est in search of the two missing people. A few years later, Tenzing discovered that Nanda Devi was the most difficult climb he had ever made.

Everest 78, or the French on top of the world(fr)

It was a sporting feat, a national feat, but also and above all a technical feat: on October 15, 1978, three French mountaineers, for the first time, reached the summit of Everest: Pierre Mazeaud, Nicolas Jaeger, Jean Afanassieff, accompanied by Kurt Diemberger, Austrian mountaineer and cameraman. A performance broadcast live on the radio thanks to the France inter teams and filmed for television by TF1. Christian Brincourt, a great French reporter, tells us about this expedition and questions the members of the expedition on their motivations. With Pierre Mazeaud (expedition leader), Jean-François Mazeaud (doctor), Claude Deck, Raymond Despiau, Nicolas Jaeger, Walter Cecchinel, Jean Afanassieff, Kurt Diemberger.

La Voie Bonatti(fr)

In October 2010, two of France's top mountaineers, Christophe Dumarest and Yann Borgnet, fulfilled a mountaineer's dream: a six-day alpine-style ascent of Walter Bonatti's great routes through the Mont Blanc massif. Dumarest and Borgnet first climbed the north face of the Grandes Jorasses; they then climbed the Grand Capucin and the Pilier Rouge du Brouillard, completing their feat with the ascent of Mont Blanc. Their paragliding descent in Chamonix completes their feat with a touch of fun. The climbers and the director made the ethical choice not to use helicopters to shoot the film.

Reel Rock 17(en)

Three new films featuring the biggest climbing and adventure stories of the year: ADN - SEB BOUIN: 29-year-old French sport climber Seb Bouin quietly climbed the elite ranks, culminating in his attempt to establish a long slope in a cave overhang in the Gorges du Verdon in France / CLIMBING RESISTANCE: In the hills torn by the Palestinian conflict, young Palestinians embrace rock climbing as a necessary respite from the oppression of the occupation Israeli. American writer and climber Andrew Bisharat visits the West Bank to explore his own roots and the power of climbing to transcend existence / BURNING THR FLAME: Big wall free climbing masters Babsi and Jacopo seek their most Biggest challenge so far: a free ascent of "Eternal Flame", a 3,000 foot route on the legendary Nameless Tower in Pakistan's Karakoram Range.

Les Conquérants De l'Impossible : Portrait De René Desmaison(fr)

This episode is part of the series "The Conquerors of the Impossible (2/3)". From the 1950s to the 1980s, René Desmaison achieved a large number of "firsts". A specialist in normal routes (west face of Les Drus, Pilier du Freyney, Shroud...), he experienced a tragedy at the Grandes Jorasses, where his exceptional resistance allowed him to survive against all logic. He is the first to claim the practice of the mountain as a high level sport. A man of contrasts, his apparent strength hides great shyness and an unalterable enthusiasm despite the years. Beyond mountaineering, it is the spirit of adventure that has always inhabited him. A whole life devoted to mountaineering.

When the Mountaineers Make Their Cinema(fr)

Many mountaineers as part of their activity have used cameras and films to allow us to participate through images in their adventures and their emotions. Many of them have become true film professionals: Joseph Vallot, Lionel Terray, Marcel Ichac, Renè Vernadet, Jean Afanasieff, Pierre Royer, Denis Ducroz, Kurt Diemberg and many others are among the conquerors of the image of the mountain. The film depicts the passion of these men on the highest mountains in the world... behind the lens.

Dure Limite: Caving in a mill, Mer de Glace(fr)

The Mer de Glace in Chamonix, November 86: every summer the meltwater that runs on the surface of the glacier flows into a huge crevasse called "a mill". In 1897, Joseph VALLOT had explored it to a depth of 60m, a lake had prevented him from going any further. Since then no one had descended into this well. In the fall, a multidisciplinary team made up of mountaineers including Jean Marc BOIVIN, speleologists and scientists descending into the crevasse... Superb images and live comments in a temperature of 0° and a humidity of 100%. The team reached 110m deep under the ice, a world first in glacier exploration. Jean marc BOIVIN seems delighted with his first speleological exploration. With the participation of Serge AVIOTTE, Jean Michel ASSELIN, Jean Marc BOIVIN, Janot LAMBERTON, Pierrot PILLET, Louis REYNAUD, Jean Luc RIGAUD and Denis TERMIER.

The Conqueror Of The Useless(fr)

Biography of ski instructor, mountain guide, mountaineer and filmmaker-lecturer Lionel Terray. Film-portrait of an emblematic figure of French mountaineering in the 1950s and 1960s, reconstructing the life, the great races and the expeditions of the "conqueror" of the most difficult walls and summits of Europe, the Himalayas, the Andes and North America. Marcel Ichac produced in 1966, the day after the Gerbier accident, this illustrated tribute by bringing together personal archive documents, unpublished animated sequences or extracts from expedition images as well as comments taken from the autobiographical texts of Lionel Terray " The Conquerors of the Useless" and "Battle for Jannu". This film, presented at the Cannes Film Festival, has won numerous awards at specialized film festivals, including the Trente Festival and the Banff Festival.

Jim Bridwell, The Yosemite Living Legend(it)

Jim Bridwell was one of the best climbers in the world in the 70s, 80s. The documentary chronicles Bridwell's career from those early days to his final ascents in 2001. The film traces Jim Bridwell's journey through numerous interviews with other legendary free climbing personalities such as Leo Houlding and Ron Kauk. See him climb some of Yosemite's historic routes with today's young climbers paying homage to this true legend of free climbing. In an unpublished document from 1981, he is seen in one of his famous Zodiac ascents in El Capitan with and Fred East.

Climbing Everest with a Mountain on My Back: The Sherpa's Story(en)

Every year, over a thousand climbers try to reach the summit of Mount Everest, with the annual record for successful attempts currently standing at 633. But of that number, nearly half were Sherpas - the mountain's unsung heroes. Yet the Sherpa community has remained secretive about their nation, culture and experiences living in the shadow of the world's highest mountain. Now, for the first time, they open the door into their world. Without the expertise of the Sherpas, only the hardiest and most skilful climbers would succeed. Every day they risk their lives for the safety of others, yet they seek neither glory nor reward, preferring to stay in the background. Following the stories of four such Sherpas - Phurba, Ngima, Ngima Tenji and Gelu - this film reveals the reality of their daily lives, not just up the mountain, but with their families after they return home.

Brette, A Year On The Road(en)

Brette Harrington, 24, is a rising talent in the climbing world. From overhead free ascents to long alpine solos, she excels in all disciplines of the sport. Join Brette on a journey around the world, from frozen waterfalls in the Canadian Rockies to climbing great walls at El Capitan Proving Grounds to the Chiara di Luna monument in alpine Mecca Cerro Torre in Patagonia.

Trio For One(fr)

Daulagiri (8167m), Naga Parbat (8125m) and Broad Peak (8051m) are among the 14 peaks in the world. Jean-Christophe Lafaille has set himself the goal of reaching these 3 peaks in the space of two months. This film takes us on a surprising journey that begins in Nepal and ends in Pakistan, while exploring the soul of this committed mountaineer… Ed Viesturs and Katia Lafaille accompanied Lafaille on his adventure.

Everest Unmasked(en)

Record of the first ascent of Everest made without the use of oxygen equipment, made in May 1978 by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. Could it be done? Would their blood vessels burst? Would they suffer brain damage leading to madness? Nobody was sure. Messner: 'I would never come here for trying Everest with oxygen. That is not a challenge for me.' A fascinating piece of history, well filmed by Leo Dickinson and Eric Jones (above the South Col Messner used a cine camera to continue the filming), featuring Messner and Habeler's thoughts. The film follows the usual sequence from Namche to Base Camp, through the Icefall, to Camps I, II and III. It also shows historical footage of the pioneering Mallory and Shipton expeditions.

Guido Magnone - The Artist(fr)

Guido Magnone designs cardboard boxes by hand for his parents' small business. A painter friend loves his brushwork and pushes him to attend the Beaux Arts. He takes an external competition, wins it, befriends the sculptors César and Féraud, surrealists, a handful of bohemians. He then discovered the mountain and quickly became one of the best climbers of his generation. He made prestigious conquests such as the west face of the Drus in the Alps, the first ascents of Fitz Roy in Patagonia with Lionel Terray or Makalu in the Himalayas... Magnone also participated in the creation of the UCPA and will be president of the Groupe de Haute Montagne from 1961 to 1965. From 1977, Guido returned to his first passion: sculpture, to devote himself fully to it around 1990. He began to exhibit again in 1996. In 2002, he exhibited his sculptures in Paris , Bourg-la-Reine, Aosta then in Etroubles in 2009.

Sherpa Stew(en)

This documentary chronicles the lives of two mountaineers from Nepal who have left the high Himalaya in search of "success" in New York City.

Victory over Annapurna(fr)

In 1950, a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog went to central Nepal to conquer the highest peak (8,091 meters): Annapurna. The film is not only made of what we see, but even more of what we don't see. Its imperfections are the negative imprint of the adventure. Memory is the most faithful of films.

The Dark Side of Everest(en)

May 25, 1996 - Bruce Herrod, a South African mountaineer reached the summit of Everest at 5 p.m. On the radio, we urge him to come down as soon as possible because the descent is dangerous in the middle of the night. A few hours later, no news from him. From this South African expedition which turned into a fiasco and another expedition carried out in parallel, the testimonies of the members of these expeditions show to what extent the thirst for climbing to the top of certain mountaineers, combined with the lack of oxygen , can alter the lucidity of climbers to the point of changing their relationship to death and thus lead them to neglect other expedition members in order to ensure their victory or save their own life.

Cerro Torre: A Snowball's Chance in Hell(en)

Movie about David Lama climbing the Patagonian mountain Cerro Torre for the first time free, a mountain that has been dubbed the most difficult to climb in the world.

Cervino - La montagna del mondo(it)

Agassizhorn: Mountain of Shame(de)

In the Bernese Alps, the Agassizhorn peak memorialises Louis Agassiz – a controversial 19th-century scientist, who not only named the mountain after himself, but who claimed he had discovered the Ice Age and went on to become one of the century's most virulent, most influential racists.