Everest Unmasked

Record of the first ascent of Everest made without the use of oxygen equipment, made in May 1978 by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. Could it be done? Would their blood vessels burst? Would they suffer brain damage leading to madness? Nobody was sure. Messner: 'I would never come here for trying Everest with oxygen. That is not a challenge for me.' A fascinating piece of history, well filmed by Leo Dickinson and Eric Jones (above the South Col Messner used a cine camera to continue the filming), featuring Messner and Habeler's thoughts. The film follows the usual sequence from Namche to Base Camp, through the Icefall, to Camps I, II and III. It also shows historical footage of the pioneering Mallory and Shipton expeditions.

La Huella de Karim

Documentary about Abdul Karim, the most famous porter of the Karakoram, born in Hushé, a small village in northern Pakistan where the only way to earn money to survive the harsh winters is to work as a mountain porter with the expeditions on the highest peaks in the country. He climbed with the greatest mountaineers: Messner, Kukuczka, Boivin, Bonington... But his last, most ambitious and revolutionary project of all was to create the first women's mountaineering team in Baltistan.

Daughters of Wisdom

An intimate portrait of the nuns of Kala Rongo, a rare and exceptional Buddhist Monastery exclusively for women situated in Nangchen, in remote and rural northeastern Tibet. These nuns are receiving religious and educational training previously unavailable to women, and playing an unprecedented role in preserving their rich cultural heritage even as they slowly reshape it. They graciously allow the camera a never-before-seen glimpse into their vibrant spiritual community and insight into their extraordinary lives. Some shy, some outspoken, all are committed to the often difficult life they have chosen, away from the yak farms and herding families of their birth. It is the story of their spiritual community, one that couldn't have existed 20 years ago but is thriving today.

The Holy Mountain

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...

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.

National Geographic - Everest, Una Sfida Lunga 50 Anni

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay made history as the first people to reach the top of Everest. Now, 50 years later, three sons of Everest's most celebrated climbers return to the mountain to challenge it again. Join their journey as they brave the elements and face death to climb 29,000 feet of wind-blasted rock and ice. And, relive the dramatic history of Everest from great triumphs to deadly tragedies, enduring rivalries and the unsung role of the Sherpa people—as National Geographic exposes the untold stories that lurk in the mountain's epic shadow and takes you on the ultimate Everest experience.

Merton: A Film Biography

In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social criticism. For nearly 27 years he was a monk of the austere Trappist order, where he became an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace. Merton: A Film Biography provides the first comprehensive look at this remarkable 20th century religious philosopher who wrote, in addition to his immensely popular autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, over 60 books on some of the most pressing social issues of our time, some of which are excerpted here. Merton offers an engaging profile of a man whose presence in the world touched millions of people and whose words and thoughts continue to have a profound impact and relevance today.

Das alte Ladakh

Tibet - Widerstand des Geistes

Lord of the Dance/Destroyer of Illusion

The documentary focuses on the annual Mani Rimdu festival of Tibet and Nepal, an event which encapsulates the Himalayan Buddhist experience.

オロ

A 6-year-old Tibetan boy leaves his family and flees to a refugee camp in northern India.

Art as a Weapon

Street art, creativity and revolution collide in this beautifully shot film about art’s ability to create change. The story opens on the politically charged Thailand/Burma border at the first school teaching street art as a form of non-violent struggle. The film follows two young girls (Romi & Yi-Yi) who have escaped 50 years of civil war in Burma to pursue an arts education in Thailand. Under the threat of imprisonment and torture, the girls use spray paint and stencils to create images in public spaces to let people know the truth behind Burma's transition toward "artificial democracy." Eighty-two hundred miles away, artist Shepard Fairey is painting a 30’ mural of a Burmese monk for the same reasons and in support of the students' struggle in Burma. As these stories are inter-cut, the film connects these seemingly unrelated characters around the concept of using art as a weapon for change.

Lyon Premier 8000, Au Gasherbrum II - 8035m

The "Lyon Premier 8000-Gasherbrum II 8035m" expedition, organized and led by Jean-Pierre Frésafond in 1975, was sponsored by the Lyon section of the Club Alpin Français and by Louis Pradel, Mayor of Lyon. The film traces the departure from Lyon of Berliet heavy trucks loaded with equipment, daily life in Pakistan, preparation for the expedition and the approach march with the porters, daily life at the base camp and in the camps. altitude of the members of the expedition: L. Audoubert, Marc Batard, F. Bourbousson, A. Chariglione, J. Dupraz, J.J. Forrat, H. and JP. Frésafond, B. Macho, Doctor A. Raymond, Y. Seigneur, J. Soubis, F. Valençot, B. Villaret de Chauvignypuis. Finally On June 18, 1975, Yannick Seigneur and Marc Batard reached the summit by opening a route along the south ridge. Bernard Villaret de Chauvignypuis, who was killed during the second assault, was the first victim of the Gasherbrum.

Free Tibet

A film about the Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco in 1996.

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.

Seek nothing, Just sit: Life in a Zen Monastery

A year of zen practice at Antaiji Temple in Japan. Many non-Japanese gather at this Soto school zen temple to do zazen 1,800 hours per year and live the zen ideal of self-sufficiency.

Le Royaume du léopard des neiges

Join the big cats as we get up close and personal with their journeys through growing pains, adulthood, survival struggles and unfamiliar territories. These seven films follow the lives of some of the most formidable feline predators - lions, leopards, tigers and cheetahs in intimate detail.

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

Earth

An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, awaits you in EARTH. Disneynature brings you a remarkable story of three animal families on a journey across our planet – polar bears, elephants and humpback whales.