La Face de l'Ogre

Matterhorn - The North Face In Winter

August 1976 •English

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.

Marco Étoile Filante

November 2008 •French

Avid for steep slopes, Marco Siffredi (1979-2002) obeys only one rule: not to fall. This gifted kid with hair sometimes blond peroxidized, green or blue clashed in his valley: Chamonix, mecca of mountaineering. His thing was to go up and down on a snowboard. . 90 minutes September 8, 2002, altitude 8848 meters, rare oxygen, his head already brushing the sky and his snowboard running, Marco Siffredi, 23, rushes from the summit of Everest in the Horbein corridor and its slopes at 50 degrees . A year earlier, he had already made the first descent of the mountain on a snowboard. But there remains another corridor… more direct. It's not a challenge, just a reason to be... However, that day, at the top of the roof of the world, his trace is lost...

Touching the Void

September 2003 •English

The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

The Brave

January 1970 •Albanian

Ilir is a pampered and egoistic child. However, his outlook on life changes when he goes on a trip with a group of mountain climbers.

Jean des Bossons

January 1947 •French

Jean des Bossons is a documentary-fiction which recounts the activities of a high mountain guide in 1947. Around Chamonix Mont-Blanc, the guide Jean des Bossons, interpreter by the mountaineer Armand Charlet, accompanies on mountain hikes, Jean-Pierre, an apprentice guide. The novice, skis on the shoulder, is already clumsy. The professional taught him how to travel on skis uphill and downhill, then mountaineering in ice and rock parishes. By dint of training, Jean-Pierre has made it his job. Guides are also lifeguards. A group went to a glacier to rescue a man who had fallen into a crevasse. During this rescue, Jean des Bossons is the victim of an accident. A drama that prevents him from practicing the profession, but not climbing. The man sinks into the fog and Jean-Pierre cannot find him.

The Fight for the Matterhorn

November 1928 •German

Struggle for the Matterhorn (German: Der Kampf ums Matterhorn) is a 1928 German-Swiss silent drama film co-directed by Mario Bonnard and Nunzio Malasomma and starring Luis Trenker, Marcella Albani, and Alexandra Schmitt. The film is part of the popular cycle of mountain films of the 1920s and 1930s. Art direction was by Heinrich Richter. Based on a novel by Carl Haensel, the film depicts the battle between British and Italian climbers to be the first to climb the Matterhorn. Trenker later remade the film as The Challenge in 1938.

The Climb

February 2017 •French

After 20 years away, Isabelle, a former climbing champion, returns to her village in the Alps for the funeral of her mountain-guide father. She decides to open up a new climbing route with the help of Kenza, her protégé - something she'd planned to do with her father. But the past and its secrets resurface through Antoine, a brilliant mountaineer who was Isabelle's first love.

The Slopes of Triglav

December 1932 •Slovenian

Miha invites his fiancée Minka to the dance, but he's tempted by another big desire of his - climbing. Frustrated Minka insists on the festivity, where she finds herself in a company of older hiker. However, all ends happily, as Minka and Miha, after many smaller adventures, meet at the top of Mount Triglav, where they sign the marriage contract, but also confirming their love for the mountains. In addition to its charming story, the movie features footage of picturesque Slovenian mountains.

Monte Miracolo

November 1949 •German

Nanga Parbat

January 2010 •German

Drama about the tragic Nanga Parbat expedition by the two Messner brothers in 1970, on which Reinhold Messners younger brother Günther died.

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.

North Face

October 2008 •German

North Face tells the story of two German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser and their attempt to scale the deadly North Face of the Eiger.

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.

Third Man on the Mountain

November 1959 •English

Famous British mountaineer Winter wants to climb a difficult summit, the Citadel. He goes to a small village but no guide wants to accompany him. A young man from the village, Rudi Matt, whose father died fifteen years earlier during an attempt to climb the Citadel, is determined to accompany him, with the help of his uncle. Winter also manages to hire a guide from a neighboring village and competitor, Emil Saxo. The roped party of four men then begins the ascent of the still untouched summit.

The Mountain

May 1956 •English

Selfish Chris Teller pressures his older brother, a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims.

Die Route

December 2010 •German

Tom and Mark are a close-knit rope team. While Mark dreams of Nanga Parbat, Tom furnishes the new house with his girlfriend Franziska. Tom has a serious accident on a particularly challenging route. Not only do Tom and Franziska have to rethink their life plans, but Mark also has to face a new reality. A story about friendship, guilt and responsibility.

Balance

June 2012 •Dutch

Friends Henderson and Morris are climbing a mountain, connected by a rope. They take an easy passage, but a loss of oversight leads to Henderson's fall. Morris cannot prevent falling too. Seconds later he finds himself hanging above an abyss, realizing the balance is unstable.

Nanga Parbat - Mein Schlüsselberg

July 2021 •German

A tragic expedition to the Himalayas, told by the great mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who lost his brother there in 1970, swept away by an avalanche during the descent. An epic tale set against a grandiose backdrop.

Five Days One Summer

November 1982 •English

A 1930s Scottish doctor (Sean Connery) goes climbing in the Alps with an infatuated niece (Betsy Brantley) he passes off as his wife.

Le Pilier de la Solitude

January 1959 •French