Solving for Z

Lost in Karakorum

The epic 1500km bivouac flight of Damien Lacaze and Antoine Girard, two French paragliders and mountaineers, through the heart of the Himalayas and the Karakoram ranges. This journey is actually a prelude and acclimatization for their attempt to climb Spantik (7027m) from the nearest town in two days, using only paragliders. Is it truly feasible? What are the limitations of such an ascent? Can they earn a living from it?

The Race for Everest

The dramatic story of the British expedition that made the first ascent of Everest. Combining interviews with the surviving members of the 1953 British and 1952 Swiss attempt on Everest with rare archival material, this film tells the story of the race to climb Everest in the early 1950s and its climax in 1953.

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.

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...

Behind the Curtain of High Mountains

Uncharted Lines

Every climbing reward comes at the cost of a potential risk, but when you are a climbing pioneer, driven by the unknown and unexpected, you are willing to risk whatever it takes for the chance to find the perfect first ascent line. This is a story of exploration and discovery, a journey of friendship and solitude, a quest to fuel an obsessive passion. Starring Paul Robinson, Jimmy Webb, Daniel Woods, Chris Sharma and Niky Ceria.

Ready

Absinthe remains committed to documenting these amazing riders with the most timeless and stylish medium: Film. Following up to last year’s question ‘Optimistic?’, Absinthe answers with a crew of riders who overcome obstacles with spontaneity and skill in another full spectrum snowboard film that is down to have some more fun with snowboarding. Ready.

Double Decade

Double Decade marks Mack Dawg Productions’ 20th anniversary of filmaking. It is with great pride that we present this epic snowboarding film. Double Decade is a look into the past, and a look into the future of freestyle snowboarding. This movie is so ill it can only be rated S for Sick. Mack Dawg Productions, 20 years deep and still loving it. Damn, times flies when you’re having fun.

Flare - A Ski Trip

A short documentary about freestyle skiing made for the New Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department.

First Descent

First Descent is a 2005 documentary film about snowboarding and its beginning in the 1980s. The snowboarders featured in this movie (Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata, Terje Haakonsen, Hannah Teter and Shaun White with guest appearances from Travis Rice) represent three generations of snowboarders and the progress this young sport has made over the past two decades. Most of the movie was shot in Alaska.

Progression

Behind every breakthrough in the progression of climbing, there's a true story of doubt and determination, perseverance in the face of failure. From boulders, to big walls, to competition podiums, the climbers at the top of the game share a commitment to do whatever it takes to achieve their vision.

Maverick from the Edge

Joža Čop, an illiterate man of the people, earned great respect from his fellow compatriots. He once famously said: "I’ve never climbed for fame and newspapers, so that people could wipe their asses with me." The film is also a story of the cradle of Slovenia's intellectual and sporting elite, Slovenian vitality, confidence and national pride.

Oslofilm: Oslo. Et vinterturistsentrum

On a winter weekend, Oslo has much to offer, from skiing trips and cabins in the surrounding forests to urban nightlife in the city center // Oslofilm was a series of public information films about life in and around Oslo, produced between 1940 and 1980. Funded by the state, the films offer valuable insight into postwar Norwegian society. A wide range of Norwegian filmmakers contributed to the productions, resulting in a rich variety of styles and expressions. Several of the films also possess notable cinematic qualities, standing out as more than just informational material. The Oslofilms represent a unique and important chapter in Norwegian film history.

L'alpinisme au Népal

Mountain Ride

After years of mass tourism in the Alps, a rethinking is slowly taking place. Whether researchers, artists or philosophers, many are trying to approach the essence of the mountains in new ways.

Sahara Vertical

Following in the footsteps of Frison Roche, 7 climbers explore the main Hoggar massifs in Algeria. Their main objective is the ascent of the Garet El Djenoun summit via the north ridge, a long climb symbolic of a certain difficulty and a significant commitment, due to its location in the desert. They also attempt the Diedre Agresti, a daring route from the 70s, opened in around ten days on artificial, and unequipped; it is a path that has never been repeated; the objective is to do it free and almost only on wedges, with difficulties up to 7b/c in a sometimes very delicate rock... Excerpts from the film shot in 1970 by Henri Agresti on this same route, allow us to compare the technical and material means of the time to those of today. They also discover the beauty of the Algerian desert, its silence, its rock paintings, the customs of the Tuaregs, etc... a fascinating journey.

Hoggar '64

Filmed chronicle by mountain filmmaker Mario Fantin, of the 1964-1965 expedition of the Italian mountaineer Guido Monzino to the summits of Hoggar in the Algerian Sahara with the ascents of Garet el Djenoun, Tizouyag Nord, Saouinan and Iharen. The mountain ranges of the Hoggar desert turn out to be more complex and interesting than most mountaineers suspected at the time.

Valley Uprising

In the shady campgrounds of Yosemite valley, climbers carved out a counterculture lifestyle of dumpster-diving and wild parties that clashed with the conservative values of the National Park Service. And up on the walls, generation after generation has pushed the limits of climbing, vying amongst each other for supremacy on Yosemite's cliffs. "Valley Uprising" is the riveting, unforgettable tale of this bold rock climbing tradition in Yosemite National Park: half a century of struggle against the laws of gravity -- and the laws of the land.

Aventure à Bleau

Adventure in Bleau is a documentary about bouldering that takes place in Fontainebleau. Directed by Jean-Paul Janssen in 1980 and produced by Antenne 2, it is part of the series "Les Carnets de l'Aventure" and broadcast on the same television channel. It features different generations of the finest free climbing artists of the time: Patrick Edlinger, Catherine Destivelle, Lucien Bérardini, Jean Pierre Bouvier, and Bertrand Roche 'Zébulon'.

Warren Harding - Recollections of the First Ascent of El Capitan in Yosemity Valley

On November 12, 1958, nearly a year and a half after planting his first piton, Warren Harding climbed to the summit of El Capitan, the legendary face of Yosemite, which he became the first to climb via the equally legendary Nose route. An extraordinary undertaking closer to a heavy Himalayan expedition than to rock climbing. Climbing mainly on weekends in the fall and spring with companions whose level of skill was of little importance to him, Warren Harding spent a total of 47 days (spread over 17 months) on the face. 675 pitons (including 125 expansion pitons) and several thousand hammer blows were necessary to build his legend, despite the displeasure of the "Christians of the valley," as he somewhat sardonically nicknamed Royal Robbins and his cronies, who swear by style.