Still-frame from "Declaration of immortality" (pic. Piotr Korczak) dir. Martin Koszałka
At the 59th edition of the Trento Film Festival, which celebrated over 150 films devoted to the "mountain" genre, Marcin Koszałka's 2010 documentary was among 7 winners to receive the Silver Gentian
In a statement, the jury declared its appreciation for the film's "innovative method of using the various layers of film language to create a disturbing portrait. Through the handling of the composition, location and light, the director explores the loneliness in the fight against a professional climber with age and his own mortality". 2011 Festival Jury members: Marianne Chaud (France), Leena Pasanen (Finland), David Breashears (USA), Giorgio Fornoni (Italy) and Andreas Pichler (Italy).
Koszałka follows "Crazy" Piotr Korczak, one of Poland's most accomplished climbers, just as age forces his career into a slow decline and examines how his life changes for a man who once knew no bounds, but whose body becomes an impediment to his desire for immortality.
The annual film festival in Trento is dedicated to films on all aspects of mountaineering. According to the festival president, Egidio Bonapace, "The 59th Trento Filmfestival focuses its thoughts firmly on the mountains and how cinema, literature and mountaineering feats can help defend and promote mountain culture. This has been the Festival's task since it was founded in 1952 by the Italian Alpine Club and the City of Trento, later to be joined by the City of Bolzano".
The ‘Gran Premio Città di Trento - Genziana d'oro' (Golden Gentian) went to Summer Pasture, a poetic tale recounting the life of a nomadic Tibetan family in the remote province of Sichuan in eastern Tibet, by the American filmmakers Lynn True and Nelson Walker. The ‘Genziana d'oro del Club Alpino Italiano' for the best film on mountaineering went to director Alastair Lee for The Asgard Project. The film follows a good-natured team of climbers headed by the British rock climber Leo Houlding during the ascent of rock faces on Baffin Island. The special jury award went to the documentary Into Eternity by Danish director Michael Madsen. It offers a topical account exploring the dramatic long-term consequences of our society's thirst for energy resources, calling into question the limitations of our ability to understand the future and our capacity to control the power of the atom.
Trento Film Festival took place between April 28 - May 8, 2011. For more information see: www.trentofestival.it.
Source: Trento Film Festival Jury Statement, polishdocs.pl