Paragot-Bérardini, La Cordée des Voyous

Everest Turbo - La Tentation

January 1989 •French

Less than two years after his serious road accident, Eric Escoffier brought together the "Turbo" team (Frédéric Ancey, Michel Fauquet, Christine Janin and Stéphane Schaffter) with whom he will attempt to climb Everest without oxygen and without prior acclimatization in the Himalayas, the project being to complete the Paris-Everest-Paris loop in two weeks. It is also a medical experiment: the athletes spend a week at Mont Blanc, at the Vallot observatory between 4000 and 4800m, then a week in a hypobaric chamber in Grenoble. Doctors (Dr. Richalet, Herry and Bittel) perform tests throughout this training, which will learn about how the body acclimatizes to altitude and allow applications in the management of mountain-related illnesses . On September 2, 1989, they arrived at Everest base camp in China. They attempted the ascent via the North Col but could not carry out their project, prevented by bad weather.

Cold - Behind the scenes

July 2011 •English

Meru

January 2015 •English

Meru is the electrifying story of three elite American climbers—Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk—bent on achieving the impossible.

The Deepest Breath

January 2023 •English

Bonded by their love of freediving, a record-setting champion and a heroic safety diver try to make history with a remarkable feat, ready to risk it all.

This Ain't California

August 2012 •German

A retrospective look at the youth cultures born in the German Democratic Republic. A celebration of the lust for life, a contemporary trip into the world of skate, a tale on three heroes and their boards, from their childhood in the seventies, through their teenage rebellion in the eighties and the summer of 1989, when their life changed forever, to 2011.

Beavers: Patagonia invaders

July 2015 •Spanish

In 1940 twenty Canadian Beavers were brought to 'Tierra del Fuego' island in southern Patagonia for commercial fur production. However, beavers having no natural predators, quickly spread throughout the island, causing massive destruction of trees threatening the entire Patagonian forests rivers and species. Why wildlife conservationist are convinced that 150.000 beavers must be killed? Why some of the most recognized specialist are convinced that an eradication is not possible? Meanwhile truism is capitalizing on the situation: a man dressed as a beaver passes out flyers promoting a famous sky resort: 'Cerro Castor' - Beaver Hill. Hunters claim for subsidies, scientists are researching, rangers do what they can and restaurants tray to offer beaver meat to tourist.

Gary Hemming, le beatnik des cimes

March 1996 •French

The American mountaineer Gary Hemming marked the era of the 1960s. The story of this "exceptional" character is intimately linked to that of the rescue of the two German mountaineers on the west face of the Drus, in 1966, a rescue which he had took the initiative. While the official emergency services of the EHM try to reach them from above, a pirate rope made up of Gary Hemming, René Desmaison, Lothar Mauch, Gil Bodin, Mike Brurke, François Guillot, the filmmaker Gérard Bauer organizes to join them from below and succeeded after a fierce struggle the rescue. The press seizes the event and elevates Gary Hemming to the rank of national hero. All the newspapers feature this big guy with a cool attitude, mismatched clothes, jovial smile and long blond hair on the front page. From then on, he was nicknamed: "the beatnik of the peaks".

Sul Tetto del Mondo - Walter Bonatti e Rossana Podestà

September 2021 •Italian

Valley Uprising

September 2014 •English

In the shady campgrounds of Yosemite valley, climbers carved out a counterculture lifestyle of dumpster-diving and wild parties that clashed with the conservative values of the National Park Service. And up on the walls, generation after generation has pushed the limits of climbing, vying amongst each other for supremacy on Yosemite's cliffs. "Valley Uprising" is the riveting, unforgettable tale of this bold rock climbing tradition in Yosemite National Park: half a century of struggle against the laws of gravity -- and the laws of the land.

Makalu 8481m - West Pillar

June 1971 •French

The French Alpine Club's film about the French expedition to conquer Makalu (8481m) via the west pillar in Nepal, which began on February 24, 1971. Composed of 11 mountaineers, Robert Paragot (expedition leader), Georges Payot, Lucien Berardini, Yannick Seigneur, Claude Jager, Jean-Paul Paris, Jean-Claude Mosca, François Guillot, Bernard Mellet, Robert Jacob and Jacques Marchal (surgeon), it took twenty-five days of walking on the Himalayan trails with 460 porters and 18 Sherpas to transport 14 tons of equipment to reach the base camp. Finally, it was Mellet and Seigneur who managed to reach the summit on May 23, 1971: 8481 m, temperature - 30°, oxygen 30%, no wind.

The Verdon Gorge, The Origin Of Sport Climbing

January 2016 •English

Released in 2016, the short film by Keith Ladzinski, Josh Povec and Andy Mann traces the origins of sport climbing in the legendary Verdon Gorges, which Americans inevitably compare to the US Grand Canyon. The Verdon is where climbing flourished in the 1970s. Through the eyes and experiences of Bruno Clément, Alan Carne, Emily Harrington, François Guillot, Matt Segal and Jonathan Siegrist, we take a look back in (very beautiful) images at the different routes of the Verdon Gorges.

È Pericoloso Sporgersi

January 1985 •French

È Pericoloso Sporgersi is Robert Nicod's first short film, shot in 1985, featuring four young climbers, two women, Catherine Destivelle and Monique Dalmasso, and two men, Alain Bultel and Marc Lecomte-Durouil, in the Verdon Gorges. In a natural setting of cliffs, rivers, sinkholes and vertical waterfalls, Catherine Destivelle and Monique Dalmasso climb the Bombé de Pichenibule. This progression, filmed as a female climbing adventure, represents a successful first 7b+ ascent for the French champion. The film received the Genziana D'Argento for best sports film at the Trento Film Festival in 1986.

Totem

January 1990 •French

Two climbers, a photographer and an eagle in the western setting of Monument Valley, USA. The climbers, who are experts, reveal the secrets of their acrobatic skill. The photographer is the spectator who often involuntarily creates comical situations.

Voyages au centre de la Terre : Dans les pas de Jules Verne

October 2023 •French

Séo!

January 1987 •French

The film shows Catherine Destivelle's trip to Dogon Country, in Mali, where she will make spectacular free solo rock climbing ascents in the sun-warmed cliffs of Bandiagara. Destivelle is accompanied on this trip by a friend climber, Lucien Abbet. A film by Pierre-Antoine Hiroz produced in 1987 by Paradoxe and also featuring Tidjani Koné, Ibrahim Dolo, and the Dogon inhabitants of the Bandiagara Escarpment. The film won the Genziana D'argento for best free climbing film at the Trento Film Festival in 1987.

Sunshine Superman

May 2015 •English

Documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, the father of the BASE jumping movement, whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular -and dangerous- feats of foot-launched human flight.

National Geographic: Surviving Everest

April 2003 •English

Half a century ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first humans to stand atop the highest mountain of earth. Now, their sons and Brent Bishop, son of the first American to summit Everest, make a historic expedition to face Everest's unforgiving heights. Experience their harrowing, deeply individual quests to conquer this awesome peak - and discover the dramatic history of Everest, from tragedy and triumph to the unsung role of the remarkable Sherpa people. With gripping, on-location filming and never-before-seen archival footage, this is the thrill of Everest as only National Geographic can present it!

The Unfamous of Mont Blanc

January 1986 •French

Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, rises to 4,810 m and was first climbed on August 8, 1786. Chamonix natives Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard set out on the afternoon of August 7 and returned victorious on the morning of the 9th, after two nights spent outdoors. This film is a staging that reconstructs this great event with all the problems it created and resolved, thus contributing to the emergence of the modern concept of mountaineering. Denis Ducroz, guide and filmmaker, immerses us in the minds and times of these two men, 224 years later.

Sentinel - The West Face

January 1967 •English

1967: Two of the world's best climbers, Yvon Chouinard and Royal Robbins, tackle the west face of Sentinel Rock, an iconic 2,100-meter granite peak located in Yosemite National Park, considered one of the most difficult in the world. The film's atmosphere is immersive, driven by a sober narrative that highlights the intimate relationship between man and the wall. The technical difficulty of the route, the prolonged physical effort, and the isolation reinforce the heroic dimension of this ascent. The documentary also reveals the essential solidarity between the climbers: each progression requires rigor, inventiveness, and total trust in both the equipment and the partner. This film is considered a benchmark in the history of mountain cinema. It testifies to the pioneering spirit of the era and the evolution of climbing techniques, perfectly illustrating the transition to a more athletic and thoughtful approach to large rock faces.

Cold

December 2011 •English

For the past 26 years 16 expeditions have tried and failed to climb one of Pakistan's 8,000 meter peaks in winter. On February 2, 2011, Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards became the first. Cory is now the only American to summit any 8,000 meter peak in winter. The journey nearly killed them. Cory carried a small camera and filmed the ordeal constantly. This is their story, as seen from the raw, honest perspective of Cory's lens.