Chamje Khola (2012)

Wonders of the Monsoon

The wildlife and cultures of southern Asia have been shaped by one of the greatest phenomena on Earth: the mighty monsoon winds that sweep across this vast region, turning drought into deluge. All life – human and animal – is dominated by this rampaging weather system. From the northern shores of Australia to the highest peaks of the Himalayas and the wind-blown deserts of northern India to the lush equatorial forests of Borneo, this series makes an exhilarating journey through the lands of the monsoon. Along the way, it offers a taste of the variety and colour of the different regions’ most extraordinary wildlife and cultures and the way they cope with the tumultuous weather. This is the story of a relationship between humans and nature that has grown across thousands of years – all living in the shadow of the monsoon.

La Nuit Nomade

At an altitude of 4500 meters, on the highest plateaus of Karnak in the Himalayan région of Ladakh, in a lunar setting where the sky blends with the mineral immensity, director Marianne Chaud filmed the movements of these last nomads. Immersed for months in their community, speaking their language, she placed her camera as close as possible to their voices and gestures, offering viewers encounters of a rare intimacy. As much as the splendor of the landscapes, the extreme harshness of the living conditions or the emotion shared with these nomads, it is this closeness that creates the magic of the film.

Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest

Transcending cultural barriers and consistently going against the grain, female Nepali climber Pasang Lhamu Sherpa attempted to summit Everest four times in the early nineties. Although she was not allowed to attend school as a child, Pasang did not let that stop her from pursuing her dreams. After founding her own trekking company in Kathmandu, she blazed a trail for Nepali women via her efforts to summit Everest. Proving how big you can dream and how far you can go to achieve those dreams, she left a legacy not only for the family she has left behind, but for the myriad women following in her footsteps.

Annapurna III - Unclimbed

“Annapurna III – Unclimbed” is an award-winning 12-min documentary featuring the 2016 expedition to the Himalayas of Nepal led by David Lama together with Austrian alpinists Hansjörg Auer and Alex Blümel. Join the team in their feelings of fatigue, anxiety, exposure and ordeal during their 5 weeks attempting one of the world’s greatest, unsolved puzzles of alpinism: The unclimbed south-east ridge of Annapurna III.

Blindsight

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

Jannu, Chronicle of a Conquest

Three years after the 1959 expedition, abandoned 350m from the summit, Lionel Terray leads a new assault on Jannu, one of the most demanding peaks in the Himalayas. At the base camp, equipment and food rations are prepared. The conditions are optimal and the ascent can begin. The camera follows the progress of the mountaineers and Sherpas as closely as possible, from one high-altitude camp to another: installing fixed ropes, progressing over crevasses, in the middle of frozen towers, vertically down immense ice falls or along the edge of sharp ridges. From 7000m, oxygen bottles become essential, as the difficulty of the climb prevents acclimatization. The expedition is a total success: the majority of its members reach the 7710m summit.

Beyond The Edge

A 3D feature film about Sir Edmund Hillary's monumental and historical ascent of Mt. Everest in 1953 - an event that stunned the world and defined a nation.

Himalayas

Simon Richardson and James Lowsley-Williams head to the Himalayas on a quest to discover Nepal’s mysterious ‘Forbidden Kingdom’, the remote mountaintop city of Lo Manthang. Breath-taking views, lung-busting climbs, and incredible encounters with locals; Si and James are in for an unmissable gravel bike adventure! Their once-in-a-lifetime expedition begins in the chaotic streets of Kathmandu before embarking on a gruelling five-day ride up the ancient trade route that forges a path between Nepal and Tibet. Their epic ride sees them dicing with kamikaze trucks, enduring freezing rainstorms, taking a 228m bungee jump, and even a heroic attempt to beat a Himalayan KOM.

The Last Lost Kingdom

Following in the footsteps of his father, Folco Felzani embarks on an epic journey on foot in search of Mustang, the last lost kingdom, in northern Nepal. The story of a king without a kingdom. The adventure of a son without a father.

Sikkim

Satyajit Ray's poetic documentary was commissioned by the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim at a time when he felt the sovereignty of Sikkim was under threat from both China and India. Ray's documentary is about the sovereignty of Sikkim. The film was banned by the government of India when Sikkim merged with India in 1975. The ban was finally lifted by the Ministry of External Affairs in September 2010. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

Nanga Parbat - Mein Schlüsselberg

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.

Marco Étoile Filante

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...

Blutch

A four month odyssey by paraglider across Tadjikistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sikkim and Arunachal to the border of Myanmar. Four months of adventure, of encounters, of uncertainties, of effort, of flights in the heart of Himalayan landscape.

Karakoram

Account of the first French expedition to the Himalayas, which attempted to climb the hidden peak (Gasherbrum I) in 1936, from the preparations for the trip to the end of the ascent. After a long approach walk through quasi-desert regions, then on a huge glacier, the caravan of 700 porters arrives at the foot of Hidden Peak. The expedition was led by Henry de Ségogne, with Jean Charignon, Pierre Allain, Raymond Leininger, Jean Carle, Jean Deudon, Louis Neltner, Jacques Azémar, doctor Jeand Arlaud and director Marcel Ichac. Weather conditions, logistical problems and a strike among Sherpas forced the team to retire at 6900m on the south face. The film received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1938.

Manaslu: Mountain of Souls

The great successes and tragedies in the life and work of Hans Kammerlander, the renowned mountaineer.

Kukuczka

Jerzy Kukuczka is today considered the greatest Himalayan climber of all time. He was the second man to conquer all fourteen peaks over 8,000 meters. He accomplished this feat in just 8 years, an absolute record, and by multiplying winter ascents and new routes. A true force of nature, he died tragically in 1989, falling 3,000 meters during an attempt to climb the legendary south face of Lhotse (8,516 m). This powerful and moving film retraces the life, exploits, and career of a mountaineering legend, a modern-day hero, through previously unseen footage of his expeditions.

Walter Bonatti, King of the Alps

Walter Bonatti is THE mountaineering legend, capable of meeting the great challenges of mountaineering: K2, Drus, G4, Matterhorn, to name a few. But the summits reached are not points of arrival, they are intermediate stages which then push him on a journey around the world, in search of himself. His exploration, starting from the vertical walls, then moved towards horizontal paths and was always expressed towards the interior space where our fears and our desires reside. Where the man, sitting alone in front of himself, must decide to surpass himself or to adapt. And Walter never complied with them, he wrote his own rules and followed them all his life, allowing himself no loopholes or shortcuts. He built himself as a mountaineer, as an explorer, as a photojournalist and as a writer, but always and only with the intention of being an uncompromising man with his hands, his muscles, his heart and his head.

Lunag Ri, 2nd Attempt

Follow David Lama and Conrad Anker as they make a second attempt to climb the 6,907m Himalayan peak, Lunag Ri. Weather capers, technical challenges and health problems are just a few of the challenges Lama and Anker face.

Death Zone: Cleaning Mount Everest

A team of 20 elite Nepali climbers venture into the Death Zone of Mount Everest to restore their sacred mountain and the contaminated water source of 1.3 billion people. They ascend the highest point on the planet to the 150 bodies of deceased climbers and 100,000 pounds of rubbish that remain on the high slopes of Everest. This is the self-documented story of their life-threatening journey.

Everest At Any Cost

In 1983, three climbers became the first French people to reach the summit of Everest. Among them were expedition leader Pierre Mazeaud and a promising 25-year-old climber, Jean Afanassieff. Twenty years later, the two legends, accompanied by mountain guide Michel Pellé, retrace the steps of their exploit and make the trek from Kathmandu to the foot of the roof of the world. This is an opportunity to retrace the history of the successive assaults on Everest and to assess the current situation of a mountain that has become a victim of its own success: while Sherpas have been able to take advantage of Western enthusiasm and thus enrich themselves and equip the summit to make it more accessible, the site's attendance poses numerous problems, both human and ecological.

Mister Karim

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Little Karim

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Apö Karim, Ambassadeur de l'Himalaya

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Under The Eye Of Qomolangma

The French High Mountain Military Group (G.M.H.M.) expedition to Everest in 1981, led by General Pierre Astorg, took place on the north face of the mountain. Fifteen military climbers participated in this expedition, which lasted approximately ninety days. Their goal was to reach the summit by following a siege approach, but despite their efforts, the expedition failed to reach the summit. The French military, engaged since the beginning of March on the north face of Everest (8,848 meters), gave up less than 300 meters from the summit. The climbers, Jean-Claude Mosca, Hervé Sachetat, and Hubert Giot, gave up on setting up Camp 7, the last planned intermediate camp, at 8,600 meters. Poor weather conditions and the physical condition of the expedition members were the reasons for the failure of this meticulously prepared expedition...

Annapurna South Face

This entertaining film documents the first ascent of the very difficult South Face of Annapurna, a huge Himalayan wall that the right team could achieve the seemingly impossible. The ascent of the South Face of Annapurna in 1970 was one of those breakthrough ascents - both technically and psychologically. Chris Bonington assembled the cream of British mountaineering and American Tom Frost for the attempt. The documentary is punctuated by wry observation, understatement and cutting humor from a by-gone age when the game of taking huge risks was matched by a determination not to take it too seriously.

Himalaya: The Land of Women

At an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters, Sking is one of the most isolated villages in the Himalayan region of Zanskar. In just three months, from August to October, the Zanskaris have to harvest and store all their food for the coming year. All the women-young and old alike-work nonstop, from dawn to dusk, and worry about the arrival of winter. Filmed from the point of view of a subjective camera by a young female ethnologist, Land of Women offers a sensitive and poetic immersion in the life of four generations of women during harvesting season. We share their rare intimacy and gradually grow attached to them.

Superhombre

Horia Colibasanu is a dentist, father of two boys and elite climber. In 2008, he refused to abandon, at 7400 meters on the Annapurna, his sick companion, the Basque mountaineer Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, implanted his own life in danger. His action dazzled the climbing community. Despite this tragic incident, he continued to climb in pure alpine style, without supplemental oxygen. In 2017, the 40-year-old Romanian athlete will return to Everest, after two unsuccessful attempts. For the first time, Horia is attempting a solo ascent.

Galahad of Everest

Brian Blessed plays George Mallory in this intrepid recreation of his ill fated 1924 climb to Everest. Meeting Sir Chris Bonington, Rheinhold Messnerhe learns of the pitfalls that await him before setting off for his epic struggle with the mountain. Against all odds he reaches 26000 feet on the North face of Everest, and is a changed man

The Man Who Returns from Above

What compels a man to push the limits of what is attainable ever higher? After thirty years of relentless struggle with the highest peaks on earth, Marc Batard has finally found the answers to these questions. He had to reach the summit of Everest twice, once shattering the record for fastest time in 24 hours without oxygen, and climb the most difficult faces of the Alps to glimpse the path to inner healing. It was through physical suffering that he was able to confront the pain of his soul. He was finally able to talk about the violence of his childhood, the shock he carried like a ball and chain for decades. Having completed his summit therapy, Marc Batard tells his story in this documentary by Gilles Perret.

Cold - Behind the scenes

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Art of Freedom

The documentary film Art of Freedom answers the most poignant questions on the phenomenon of Polish expeditions to the Himalayas. Poles have reigned the highest mountaintops of the world for more than 20 years. They not only set down new trails, but new rules of behavior. They set themselves apart with an original style of climbing, endurance, conscientiousness about the overall well-being of the team - and solidarity.

The Wildest Dream

Uses astonishing visuals to tell the intersecting stories of George Mallory, the first man to attempt a summit of Mount Everest, and Conrad Anker, the mountaineer who finds Mallory's frozen remains 75 years later.

Partition Libre - Sur Les Traces De Patrick Berhault

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Cold

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.

Jurek

This documentary follows the feats of high-altitude climber Jerzy Kukuczka and his ascent to higher heights before his death in 1989.

Meru

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

Chogori, la grande montagna

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Storm Over Everest

As darkness fell on May 10, 1996, a fast moving storm of unimaginable ferocity trapped three climbing teams high on the slopes of Mount Everest. The climbers, exhausted from their summit climb, were soon lost in darkness, in a fierce blizzard, far from the safety of High Camp at 26,000 feet. World-renowned climber and filmmaker David Breashears, who aided the rescue efforts back in 1996, now returns to Everest to tell the fuller story of what really happened on that legendary climb. Through remarkably intimate interviews with the climbers and Sherpas many who have never spoken before on American television Breashears sheds new light on the worst climbing tragedy in Mount Everest s history.

The Holy Mountain

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Remnants of Everest: The 1996 Tragedy

As darkness fell on May 10, 1996, a fast-moving storm of unimaginable ferocity trapped three climbing teams on the slopes of Mount Everest. The climbers, exhausted from their ascent to the summit, were soon lost in the dark, in a ferocious blizzard, far from the safety of High Camp at 26,000 feet. This film tells the story of the five climbers who perished in this storm, marking the worst climbing tragedy in the history of Mount Everest. But most remarkably, it's the story of eleven climbers caught in the storm, and eyewitness accounts of their astonishing survival in the world's most unforgiving environment.

High Tension

Ueli Steck (Switzerland), Simone Moro (Italy) and Jon Griffith (GB) are not like 95% of the climbers on Everest: they don't use oxygen, altimeters (improperly called Sherpas), or fixed ropes. In 2013, the trio aims to repeat the arduous Western Spur. The Sherpas have the mission to equip the mountain with fixed ropes on this famous day, up to Camp 3: ropes without which customers of commercial expeditions could not climb Everest. An argument ensued, insults were hurled from both sides. The confrontation at Camp 2 degenerated: a Sherpa water bottle physically attacked the trio of Europeans. Blows and stones were thrown and threats led the trio to flee the mountain. The Réel Rock film crew, which is part of the climbing team, films this chaos without complacency.

Pura Vida (The Ridge)

On the south face of Annapurna, at 7,400 metres, Iñaki Ochoa de Olza is dying. His rope companion sounds the alarm. And, from the other side of the world, the biggest rescue attempt in the history of the Himalayas gets underway. For four days a dozen men including some of the best mountaineers in the world, from ten countries, set out to try to rescue their stricken comrade. Even beyond his peaks Iñaki is an exceptional man. As exceptional as the rescue attempt itself and the men who risked their lives to save him. Exceptional because their one driving rule is to live. To live in the only way possible: with pure intensity and honesty.

Women of K2

On some peaks in 2003, the statistics are impressive. For the K2 dubbed "wild mountain" or "ruthless mountain", only 240 reached the summit and more than 60 perished in the ascent. An unimaginable rate of one death in four to survive. And these statistics are even worse At the start of the 2004 climbing season, only five talented and determined women had reached the 8,616-meter summit of K2, but only two made it out alive. , they too perished while climbing other peaks of 8000 meters, these five women all disappeared in the mountains.

K2 La Montagne Inachevée

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The Summit

The Summit is a 2012 documentary film about the 2008 K2 disaster directed by Nick Ryan. It combines documentary footage with dramatized recreations of the events of the 2008 K2 disaster. On the way to and from the summit, eleven climbers died during a short time span creating one of the worst catastophes in climbing history. Much of the documentary footage was captured by Swedish mountaineer Fredrik Sträng. Sträng was planning to do a Documentary which was aborted due to the fact that he did not reach the summit. The footage was still valuable to help solving what really did happen since all the climbers had different stories about what happened.

Paragot-Bérardini, La Cordée des Voyous

Paragot and Bérardini: two climbers who fill all climbing enthusiasts with admiration. In Fontainebleau, Saussois, the Alps, the Andes, the Himalayas, and all over the world, they have left their names attached to the most difficult routes and the most prestigious peaks. Here, they recount only the climbs they completed together: famous expeditions to Aconcagua and Huascarán, firsts in the Alps and the Dolomites. An unwavering friendship, comical and tragic adventures—this is what they share with us in the warm atmosphere of their memories. "La Cordée des Voyous" will be included in Jean Afanassieff's film "La Grande Cordée," which deals with post-war proletarian mountaineering.

The World of Gaston Rébuffat

The World of Gaston Rébuffat is a documentary on mountaineering which takes place at Gendarme Du Pic Du Roc and Grande Candelle. Directed by Gilles Chappaz in 2009 and produced by Seven Doc, we find Christophe Profit, Françoise Rébuffat, Thierry Renault, Jean-Olivier Majastre, René Vernadet, Sam Beaugey and many others. Friendship of his rope companions, friendship of the mountain, friendship of all of nature, he spoke of the mountain with simplicity and happiness. A precursor, a visionary, Gaston Rébuffat was a resolutely committed person, without ever having spoken of an exploit, let alone a fight (among other achievements, he was the first to climb the six north faces of the Alps in a lifetime as a mountaineer).

Victory over Annapurna

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.

La Voie Terray

Terray. This name sounds like a challenge and evokes deep respect in the memory of every mountaineer. For all, Lionel Terray remains forever the "Conqueror of the useless", the example of a generous and mature mountaineer, far from any egocentrism and any ambition. Not only a pioneer and witness to the history of mountaineering, Terray is also remembered as a man and a master more than an athlete. Forty years after the tragic death of this extraordinary mountaineer and guide, who liked to think of himself as a "simple mountaineer", his former friends and the youngest generation of mountaineers come together in this film to celebrate and remember his legacy.

Bhutan: Following in the Footsteps of Matthieu Ricard

Buddhist monk and photographer Matthieu Picard as he returns to the Asian country in the Himalayas where he spent a decade after seven years away, revisiting breathtaking landscapes and experiencing local traditions.

Ueli Steck – Auf schmalem Grat

Deceased but not forgotten. In 2017, Switzerland's most famous mountaineer, "Swiss Machine" Ueli Steck, fell to his death in the Himalayas when he was just 40 years old. Three close friends travel again to the Everest region where he died. His family in Emmental has to deal with premature death.

Sadpara The Mountaineer

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Himalayan Epic

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.