Beyond Imagination – A Night with Mountains on Stage
Breath-taking panorama, unpredictable and challenging routes, a small dosage of humour and lots of self-reflection are only some of the characteristics that more or less describe all the six adventure documentaries presented as part of the 2019 Mountains on Stage Stockholm Edition. Mountain bikers, mountaineers, trail runners and climbers invite extreme sports enthusiasts and others to explore their world meanwhile sharing not only their joyful moments but also their failures. Their admirable resistance manifests in everything they do, always pushing the limits further day by day. While the images show something that goes beyond imagination and pumps up the adrenaline, the team of programmers could have worked just a tiny bit harder to select more stories of women athletes.
Mission
Mission by Kilian Bron and Pierre Henni takes us into the vastness of the Namibian desert. This epic short video doesn’t waste a second to establish the mood and suck in the audience with its masterfully edited images and forceful music. MTB rider Kilian Bron sets the tempo and the viewers follow him with ease. Not only his boldness and technical skills but also the everyday moments of life in this stunning corner of the world are captured. Before the sun goes down, time speeds up and slows down, thus giving the audience some time to admire the view and appreciate the serenity of moments.
Underdog
While Mission chooses to amaze with a sequence of aerial and close-up shots framing the landscape and highlighting the technicalities of a sport, Ellie Green & Matt Green’s Underdog examines the human soul under microscope lenses. It provides insights into the world or (ultra)marathon runners, some of whom takes up running to cope with their inner demons – as a form of therapy.
The 20-minute film follows outdoors journalist Damian Hall who has set the goal to finish among the 10 male runners at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (71km +10,040m ascent UTMB®), where usually full-time runners compete. Just like how Hungarian athlete and filmmaker Balázs Simonyi who has finished the Spartathlon Ultra Race several times explains his motivations for running in his feature-length documentary Ultra (2017), Hall starts by candidly sharing that he is in a mid-life crisis.
Despite the hardship faced, the short never ceases to balance humour and drama throughout the journey shown in this rather traditional documentary relying a lot on the interview with Hall. His self-reflective personality drives the narrative forward and plants the seeds of the comic and dramatic elements while at home or on the trail. His goal may have seemed far-fetched and impossible, but his determination and dedication made him unstoppable…
Between the Lines
In the French documentary Between the Lines (Entre les lignes) by Pierre Cadot & Thomas Guerrin, extreme skier and high-mountain guide Vivian Bruchez revisits some of his memorable routes in the mountains and talks about his process of finding new lines in the Mont Blanc range. The tale of personal achievement and talking-head interviews yet again constitute the core elements and the importance of shared experience, trust and group dynamic crystallized simultaneously.
Rather being serious in tone yet not forgetting adding a few pinches of humour, the film seamlessly and delicately switches between interior and exterior shots to explore the hidden parts of the mind and the mountains. Once Bruchez visualizes his paths by a permanent marker in a cosy room, the altitude and the longitude change and snow starts to appear on the screen. As always, first-person shots point the viewer in the direction of peaks and slopes and contribute to the creation of a visually stunning documentary accompanied by grandiose instrumental music.
Age of Ondra
‘Adam Ondra is the best climber in the world‘, says Alex Honnold (the subject of the Oscar-winning Free Solo) in the documentary Age of Ondra by Josh Lowell, Zachary Barr and Peter Mortimer. Comprised of archival and contemporary footage including interviews, the film gives an intimate portrayal of Czech professional climber Adam Ondra and his rather unique method of mental and physical preparation before every attempt to challenge himself, set a new record, and consequently inspire others.
Ondra’s versatility shines through every minute of the documentary that sometimes feels slightly too long. Good days and bad days and calm and loud moments alternate highlighting the various sides of Ondra’s personality. Although the film contains humour, the serious tone must prevail to understand the different mental states Ondra is in – indoors and outdoors. Not only beautiful landscapes on several continents but also dull rooms and climbing gyms full of excitement await exploration. Similar to many of other works selected to the programme, this one also benefits a lot of its subject’s candid, self-reflective monologues and the use of music.
Liv Along the Way
The style and structure of Anthony Bonello’s Liv Along the Way don’t differ much from the majority of the films showcased but one thing stands out: it gives voice to a female extreme sports athlete. The lack of women athletes and storytellers on expeditions has been addressed in recent years, including film festivals. While Bonello’s documentary also touches upon this particular issue, he focuses more on Liv Sansoz’s bold attempts to climb 82 summits above 4,000m in the Alps within a year.
The cameras literally and figuratively capture the ups and downs in Sansoz’s life, resulting in an honest and intimate portrayal of a determined and self-reflective woman, who is one of the best climbers in the world. As much as the stunning images showing the Alps and Sansoz completing summits make people awe, the interviews conducted in rather mundane rooms become essential in understanding her and her approach to life – and death. Although the film does not lack humour, the notion of mortality knocks on the door and waits for reactions.
The Pathan Project
In his reflexive documentary, Guillaume Broust tackles a variety of social and societal issues associated with climbing in one way or another, yet borrowing from the Western genre weakens his social commentary set in an unexplored valley of Pakistan. Keeping the tone playful and light from the very beginning to nearly the end, the film brings up the question of the risks of mountaineering, cultural differences, mountain tourism, unexplored areas in war zones, the bureaucracy around getting all the necessary permits, and the essential contribution of locals on expeditions.
The dialogue-heavy documentary following a team of Belgian, French and Argentinian climbers provides a behind-the-scene look of an expedition. It shows how new lines are established and the life in the base camp where cultures meet and cultural exchange occurs in a variety of forms. It ranges from poking fun at each other’s customs, gathering together to play music and dance, interviewing participants and asking them to share their views on others to name a few. Despite the prevalence of jokes and comic elements originating the team’s approach of always trying to have fun, the camera captures an array of emotions and intimately shows the aftermath of an accident.
Documenting the route to untouched peaks and breath-taking views presents the opportunity to refer to the Western genre developed to tell the stories of settlers conquering vast territories in North America – at the expense of Indigenous tribes. Thoughts on the filmmaking process and certain techniques employed repeatedly slips into the conversation recorded and introduce humour in the scenes quite often: a sequence of shots typical of Westerns accompanied by familiar music exemplifies this. While this clearly serves the purpose of communicating with the audience, the larger context of traditional Western films and the harm those have caused to Native Americans seems to be forgotten.
The Pathan Project manages to expand the picture in an engaging way to discuss what climbing in a non-Western country may entail while pleasing those fond of mountaineering and extreme sports. Nevertheless, playing around with references would have required slightly more research in an adventure documentary like this.
