site.btaBansko Film Fest to Bring Together World's Leading Figures in Mountaineering on November 22-26

The southwestern town and ski resort of Bansko will host the 22nd International Festival of Mountaineering and Extreme Cinema on November 22-26, bringing together the world's leading figures in mountaineering. The programme includes movie premieres, motivational lectures, exhibitions, parties, a children’s programme, among others.

A total of 85 movies from 39 countries will be screened. They have been selected from over 300 documentary titles on mountaineering, climbing, cycling, travel, adventure, paragliding, extreme skiing and snowboarding, speleology, and mountain cultures. A film jury will choose the winners in nine categories.

The highlights of the programme are a feature film panel, which will present the Bulgarian premiere of the Danish film Nest from the Berlinale competition programme; the premiere of Reinhold Messner’s latest film Sturm am Manaslu; a film dedicated to the 550th anniversary of the father of modern astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus, and a night sky astronomy lesson; and events on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the first ascents of Everest and Nanga Parbat.  

Attending the Festival will be:

- Hans Kammerlander (Italy) - remarkable mountaineer, extreme skier, and mountain guide. The South Tyrolean was Reinhold Messner’s long-standing partner in the most important period of his Himalayan career - the final phase of his efforts to become the first person in the world to climb all 14 eight-thousanders on Earth. He climbed seven of them with him. Kammerlander also made the first ski descent from Nanga Parbat, which was witnessed by the participants in the first Bulgarian expedition to the summit;

- Ines Papert (Germany) - one of the best extreme climbers in the world; multiple Ice Climbing World Cup winner; holder of several world records in her field;

- Prof. PhD Wolfgang Nairz (Austria) - a leader of some tens of expeditions and the initiator of hang-gliding in the highest mountains in the 1970s and 1980s.

- Marcin Tomaszewski (Poland) - one of the most active Polish mountaineers and Big-Wall climbers;

- Ludovico Bich (Italy) - a mountain guide and photographer. He will present his exhibition, Black Snow, at the festival.