Resistance Climbing

Miracle on Everest

July 2008 •English

2006 was one of the deadliest Everest seasons on record. Experienced mountaineer Lincoln Hall was invited to join an expedition as a high altitude cameraman. It was his second attempt to summit the mountain, having turned back just short 22 years earlier. Shortly after reaching the summit, Hall began to behave irrationally, suffering from lack of oxygen. Aided by his loyal Sherpas for over 9 hours, he eventually collapsed and they declared him dead. His family were informed and the news hit headlines. But something happened that night that science cannot explain. The next morning Lincoln Hall was found alive by approaching climbers and his dramatic rescue began. Never before has a man been declared dead so high on Everest and survived. This is the remarkable true story of Lincoln Hall’s extraordinary journey back from beyond.

The Cave

October 2019 •English

Deep beneath the surface in the Syrian province of Ghouta, a group of female doctors have established an underground field hospital. Under the supervision of paediatrician Dr. Amani and her staff of doctors and nurses, hope is restored for some of the thousands of children and civilian victims of the ruthless Syrian civil war.

West of the Jordan River

March 2018 •English

Amos Gitai returns to the occupied territories for the first time since his 1982 documentary FIELD DIARY. WEST OF THE JORDAN RIVER describes the efforts of citizens, Israelis and Palestinians, who are trying to overcome the consequences of occupation. Gitai's film shows the human ties woven by the military, human rights activists, journalists, mourning mothers and even Jewish settlers. Faced with the failure of politics to solve the occupation issue, these men and women rise and act in the name of their civic consciousness. This human energy is a proposal for long overdue change.

Rainier the Mountain

January 1999 •English

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.

Solidarność: How Solidarity Changed Europe

October 2019 •German

Gdańsk, Poland, September 1980. Lech Wałęsa and other Lenin shipyard workers found Solidarność (Solidarity), the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain. The long and hard battle to bring down communist dictatorship has begun.

Rotpunkt

November 2019 •English

Rotpunkt documents the advent, the agony and the art of the redpoint through Alex Megos’s efforts to redefine the boundaries of the form. The film traces the redpoint—which transformed rock climbing from an engineering problem into a brilliant test of mental and physical strength—from its origins with a ragtag bunch of tights-wearing revolutionaries in rural Bavaria, to its golden era with Wolfgang Güllich, to its new ideal in the German phenom Megos as he battles to unlock new levels of human potential.

Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza)

February 2010 •English

Going behind the usual images of war-torn Gaza, Swiss documentarian Nicolas Wadimoff offers this look at how people survive despite constant threat of danger. Children still play, rappers still create music and families still love one another. In addition to visiting the United Nations Food Distribution Center, Wadimoff films at a derelict amusement park and profiles the DARG TeaM rappers, whose politically charged music proclaims their defiance.

Guy Hircefeld: A Guy with a Camera

September 2018 •English

Guy Hircefeld, a veteran who served in the Israeli military at the start of its occupation of Palestine in the 1980s, now fights against the Israeli occupation. His only weapon is a camera.

Free Tibet

September 1998 •English

A film about the Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco in 1996.

Cervin 1865, une première tragique

March 2015 •German

The first ascent of the Matterhorn was made on July 14, 1865 by Edward Whymper, Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson, Douglas Hadow, Michel Croz and two guides from Zermatt, Peter Taugwalder father and son. Douglas, Hudson, Hadow and Croz are killed on the descent after Hadow slips and drags the other three men down the north face. Whymper and the two Taugwalders, who survive, are later accused of having cut the rope that connected them to the rest of the group so as not to be dragged into the fall, but the ensuing investigation finds no evidence of their guilt and they are acquitted. The Matterhorn is the last great peak in the Alps to be conquered and its ascent marks the end of the golden age of mountaineering. One hundred and fifty years later, a team undertakes the same expedition in order to unravel the mystery.

First in Line

February 1944 •French

A screen adaptation of the well-known novel by Roger Frison-Roche about the harsh lives of mountain guides and their families in the French Alps, near Chamonix and the French/Swiss/Italian borders... Like his father, Zian Servettaz is a dedicated mountain man. His Italian-born wife Bianca does not adjust well to his mountain village in France, and to the ever life-threatening dangers presented by his mountain guiding and climbing. She briefly returns to Italy and to her family. However, after Zian's insistence and trip to Italy, she returns to mountain life in the French Alps. Once back there, events will unfold, changing their lives as well as those of other mountain people forever.

Les Piliers Du Rêve

January 1987 •French

On the Thessalian plateau, a place famous in ancient Greek history, enormous and steep rocks rise, almost representing an epic clash of giants. In this mystical environment, Meteora once served as an aerial refuge for hermits and then for nuns of strict orders, who, renouncing the world, lived in the celestial peace of the peaks. This area is today a silent and fantastical climbing site, and some caves carved into the rock face remain inaccessible. Mountaineer Patrick Berhault and his French partner Patrick Cordier, one of the classic leaders of modern climbing, have set out to conquer these peaks steeped in history, which will never cease to be "The Pillars of Dreams."

Passion Extrême

January 1989 •French

The Walk

November 2023 •Arabic

Asil is a young Syrian refugee awaiting documents in Turkey while processing the trauma of losing her home and family. Her story gives voice to a charming gigantic puppet named Amal, who represents millions of migrant and displaced children in a walk from the Syrian border in Turkey all the way across Europe. Escorted and animated by a group of puppeteers who are themselves refugees, Amal’s epic journey is one of compassion and discovery.

To the Limit

February 2007 •German

At the Limit is a documentary about extreme climbing. In this sports documentary, Pepe Danquart shows brothers Thomas and Alexander Huber climbing in Patagonia and on the granite rock "El Capitan" in Yosemite Valley (USA). A key part of the film is their attempt at a speed ascent of the 1,000-meter-high route "The Nose," in which the two athletes aim to break the then speed record of 2:48:30 hours, set by Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama in September 2002.

Le Dernier Voyage de Patrick Edlinger

February 2017 •French

Chuy, The Wolf Man

September 2015 •English

Jesus 'Chuy' Aceves and a dozen living members of his extended family suffer from the very rare condition of congenital hypertrichosis, meaning they were born with excessive hair on their faces and bodies. Due to their appearance, they suffer from discrimination in all areas of their lives: the children are made fun of at school and abandoned by their 'non-hairy' parents, and the adults cannot find work unless they choose to exhibit themselves as freaks in circuses. This moving and visually arresting documentary is a portrait of Chuy and his family members. It examines their day-to-day lives and their struggle to find love, acceptance and employment.

Behind the Mask

November 2023 •English

Survivor Abduweli flees a Chinese Uyghur internment camp to Norway. Now, heading to Germany to confront a past torturer, his daughter’s panic attack forces a choice: exposing Uyghur genocide for the world, or shielding his family from painful memories.

Waltz with Bashir

June 2008 •Hebrew

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Stars at Noon

January 1959 •French

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.