From June 11 to 16, the fourth edition of the Chamonix Film Festival will feature a program of some 15 films. Here are the productions you won't want to miss.
Like every year, we had to choose from among the countless outdoor sports productions to select the films to be screened at the Chamonix Film Festival. For this fourth edition, fifteen films have been chosen from 170 proposals. The date is set for June 11 to 16 at Chamonix's Vox cinema to admire these productions, nine of which will be screened as previews during these five evenings. In addition, two out-of-competition films will be screened outdoors in the Parc Couttet on Friday and Saturday, with free admission.
Round-table discussions and conferences will also be held at the Maison des artistes in Chamonix. Finally, the festival will also be held in the mountains, with hiking and climbing outings organized by the Patagonia, Picture and Petzl brands. In the meantime, take a look below at our favorite films from this 2024 edition.
Chronoception
A few days ago, We Rock Sport unveiled interview with freerider Aurélien Lardy as part of the screening of his documentary Chronoception. The documentary will be screened at the Chamonix Film Festival, so this will be an opportunity to embark with the French skier to the far reaches of Kirghiztan. Following in the footsteps of nomadic peoples and the ancient silk routes, Thomas Delfino, accompanied by Léa Klaue and Aurélien Lardy, embarks on an expedition to reach one of the most remote places on the continent. The Kokshaal-Too range is located in the Tian Shan massif, on the border between Kyrgyzstan and China, and conceals a wealth of unexplored mountains and faces. This experienced team, accompanied by renowned guides Hélias Millerioux and Jean-Yves Fredriksen, find themselves propelled into a space where time seems to have suddenly stopped.
Keep it burning
The Karakorum is the wildest mountain range in the world. Among the spectacular Trango Towers overlooking the Baltoro glacier is the "Nameless Tower", perched at over 6200 m altitude. It was on this pillar that Wolfgang Güllich and Kurt Albert opened a sublime line called "Eternal Flame" (650m, 7c+).
Edu Marín, assisted by his brother Alex and his 71-year-old father Novato, attempts the second free ascent of "Eternel Flame". This feat comes 33 years after the opening of the route, and 13 years after Alex & Thomas Huber's first free ascent.
Maurice Baquet, L'accordé
A top musician, a member of the Groupe Octobre, a fantasist, a theater performer, a film actor, a mountaineer and a skier, Maurice Baquet was always on the move, and his life revolved around two common threads: the cello and the mountains.
In fact, he once defined himself as a "cellist-skier", "the only one" in this category, prompting world champion skier James Couttet to say: "Of all the skiers I know, he's the best cellist"; echoing this, André Navarra, Professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur, went one better: "Of all the cellists I know, he's the best skier".
Throughout his varied yet coherent career, Baquet has contributed to a joyful and artistic image of the mountains. To tell us about Maurice and all his adventures, who better than his alter-ego: Cérébos, that faithful cello that has never left him. From Paris to Chamonix, from theater stages to granite slabs and snowy slopes, let's follow Cérébos, cross the century and, above all... smile!
The last summit
Her name is Sophie Lavaud. She wants to go down in Himalayan history. But she's not a professional climber, nor does she claim to be a performer. There are 14 of them. Fourteen peaks over 8,000 metres, the giants of the Himalayas, the world of rare oxygen where no human can survive for more than a few hours. Sophie Lavaud has climbed 13 of the highest mountains on Earth. She is now just one summit away from the Himalayan grand slam. Will she succeed?
Back to Mont Aiguille
In 1492, Antoine Deville was the first man to climb Mont Aiguille at the request of King Charles VIII. But how did he achieve this feat? To find out, Stéphane Gal has led an incredible collaborative study that brings together history and mountains. Carpenters, historians and guides together attempt to model the route taken, more than 500 years after the pioneering ascent!
Little dream
Paragliding or wingsuiting, why choose? Christophe Tricou has combined the two, paragliding to the summit of the Grandes Jorasses and then jumping with a wingsuit. It's an original way to visit Walker Point.
Two point four
It's not your average family vacation, but it's not your average family either. Leo Houlding, his wife Jess, their two children Freya (9) and Jackson (5) climb Norway's national mountain over a 600-meter wall.
Gyalu-ri
From the peaks of Chamonix to the majestic peaks of the Indian Himalayas, three young steep skiers have a daring dream: to conquer the fearsome North Face of Nun-Kun on skis. This imposing double summit rises to over 7,000 metres, with a vertiginous 1,600-metre slope at 55 degrees. Following in the footsteps of the pioneers of mountaineering, their ambition comes up against the harsh reality of the Himalayan high mountains. A mismanagement of their climbing permit forces them to make a difficult decision. Faced with this unexpected constraint, they readjust their initial itinerary and set off in a new direction, exceeding their initial expectations.
In this daring reconfiguration, through their quest, philosophy and outspokenness, the film depicts the passionate escapism of a youth that achieves prowess, but finds itself confronted with a certain ambivalence. The story unfolds through the prism of the family, with parents encouraging their children in their daring dreams.