Pavol Barabáš (1959) is the author of a large-scale of mountain-oriented and adventure films about peoples survival in extreme conditions. His films were shot in inaccessible wilderness, on wild rivers and glacial peaks, as well as in deep caves far away from civilization. He likes to look for stories the heroes of which go beyond their limits. He is fascinated by encounters with different cultures and he is mostly attracted by the territories of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the lands of natural people hidden deep in the jungle. His films present the manner in which man should treat the Earth. They emit love and respect for nature, enormous mental power and moral conscience.

Paul is a multi-award winning adventure filmmaker, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. As well as creating his own productions under his Hot Aches label, Paul also works as a freelance cameraman, director and editor for the broadcast industry. Skilled in observational documentary techniques, Paul puts his subjects at ease and allows the story to reveal itself. Many of his productions have won awards at national and international film festivals, appealing to both judges and audiences alike Aside from his professional interest in adventure sports as a film maker, Paul is a lifelong rock climber and general outdoor enthusiast with a love of mountain environments and a passion to portray their special qualities through the medium of film.

DAVID MORTON is a seasoned climber and guide, having climbed each of the seven summits from Aconcagua to Everest. A six-time Everest summitter, Morton’s decade of guiding has taken him to the tallest peaks of Bolivia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, the Alaska Range and the Himalayas. As a key team member of Eddie Bauer’s 50th Anniversary team to climb Everest, he helped chronicle and then co-direct the award-winning documentary High and Hallowed. David’s philanthropic efforts range from working with the Khumbu Climbing Center and Climb for Cancer Foundation, co-founding The Juniper Fund and promoting clean-water access along the Ganges. A father, husband, and Eddie Bauer guide team member, David lives in and adventures out of Seattle, Washington. FITZ CAHALL is a co-founder and Creative Director at Duct Tape Then Beer, Fitz started his career as a true dirtbag writer / naked subsistence hunter. He has an appreciation for fine (not-that-fine) beers, behavioral economics, his wife and two sons, and helping others realize their creativity.

Britton Caillouette is a filmmaker and photographer from Northern California. A student of history with an keen eye for photography, he directed his first documentary in war-torn West Africa while an undergraduate at Stanford. A habitual risk-taker with a love for challenging production situations, he’s brought his honest style of visual storytelling to top brands like Coors, Ford, Levi’s and Patagonia.

BRIAN HALL (www.filmandmountain.com) Throughout his career Brian has been a Mountain Guide (IFMGA), climbing at the highest level, with expeditions to the Greater Ranges including Everest (in winter), K2, Jannu, Nuptse, Makalu, Baltoro Kangri, Shivling, Ogre 2 and peaks throughout the Andes. His main focus in recent years has been facilitating safety, rigging and location advice on film projects. Brian’s numerous credits include the BAFTA award winning Touching the Void and the recent Everest feature film. Between 1980 and 2008 Brian co-directed the Kendal Mountain Film Festival, the major festival of its kind in the UK. Then, as result of developments in film delivery, Brian co-directed SteepEdge.com between 2011 and 2015, a film download website for the adventure sports and mountain community. Together with Keith Partridge he has produced a number of mountain films. Brian and his wife Louise split their life between the Peak District, UK and Queenstown, New Zealand. KEITH PARTRIDGE (www.adventurecamera.co.uk) Capturing the essence of adventure in more than 60 extreme films has taken Emmy award winning cameraman and filmmaker Keith Partridge to some of the worlds most hostile and spectacular environments from deep within the bowels of the earth on caving expeditions, through unchartered forests to the summit of Everest. His work includes documentary feature films such as Joe Simpson’s story Touching the Void, the BBC’s Human Planet series and epic adventure series Steve Backshall’s Extreme Mountain Challenge – Venezuela for which he was awarded the Guild of Television Cameramen’s Award for Excellence. For over 25 years Keith has been pushing the limits of extreme filmmaking. Productions in which he’s been involved have won dozens of international film awards, two BAFTAs and an international Emmy. His international award-winning book The Adventure Game, charting his experiences in filming at the ends of the Earth, was published in June 2015.

Aitor Bárez is a Spanish filmmaker and climber. He has been on many expeditions to Himalaya, Karakorum, Canada, Peruvian Andes... Always filming. Many times on the highest peaks: Everest (twice), Annapurna (twice), Manaslu, K2. He has produced many documentaries about mountain and extreme sport climbing with his production company Avista Multimedia. As a climber, he has sent some of the hardest friction slabs in granit in La Pedriza (8a on sight, 8b+ redpointed and 7c+ trad) and hard multi pitch routes (Octogenese 8a+,300m in Corsica). He is an experienced mountain skier too. His latest film, "Everest: A Superhuman Challenge", was his most challenging work and it got 2017 Best Mountaineering Film award in Ladek.

Born and raised in rural Bavaria, Teresa Hoerl was passionate about theatre, dance, and the fine arts from an early age. In 2004 she started her studies in theatre and drama at Munich and London University. 2006/2007 she showed her first live art projects, stage productions and video installations at Harold Pinter Drama Studio in London. Teresa Hoerl received her Master of Arts in 2009 and started further studies in lm directing at the University of Television and Film in Munich. So far she directed several short lms, commercial lms and music videos. In 2017 she released her short lm „Familienzu-wachs“ and won the Hessian lm award.

Josh Lowell has been climbing and making movies about climbing almost as long as youve been watching them. Remember Rampage (1999), Dosage Volume 1 (2001), Pilgrimage (2003), Dosage Volume 2 (2004), Dosage Volume 3 (2005), King Lines (2007)? Superstar talents like Chris Sharma, Katie Brown, Tommy and Beth Caldwell, Jason Kehl and Obe Carrion have made all of their projects BIG when it comes to high flying sports action. A-team talent combined with high quality visuals and stunning footage make Big Up Productions one of the leading climbing movie producers out there. Over the last 20 years Josh has climbed in exotic places all over the world but will always call his local crags of the East Coast, like the Shawangunks, home.

Polish Television journalist. Graduate of Cultural Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Currently she studies Organization of Film and Television Production at the Faculty of Radio and Television. She started working in the media in 2006, in the “Life of Siemianowice” weekly magazine. For five years she was the Deputy Editor-in-chief there. Since 2013 she has been connected to the Katowice division of the Polish National Television, where she makes reportages. She is the author of the “Our Beskidy” series and a reporter of the nationwide program “Has anyone seen, does anyone know...” that helps missing people and their families. Her passion is dance, photography and travels.

Stanisław Berbeka – born in 1985, in Zakopane. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Faculty of Graphic Arts, speciality: Photography. Currently owner of the Yak-Yak graphic studio in Zakopane.

Adam Clark Adam has seventeen years of directing different cameras around the globe but calls Salt Lake City, Utah, home. He is currently working on skiing the seven continents and is always working to spend as much time behind the camera as possible. He’s a ski bum at heart (actually mostly still just a ski bum) and is happiest while shooting family photos with his partner Annastasia and their new puppy, Theo. Isaiah Branch-Boyle Isaiah hails from Durango, Colorado, and lives full time in Seattle, Washington. He is a Director / Editor at Duct Tape Then Beer and spends his time outside of the edit cave hoofing it around the mountains and filming his heart out. Other films: Pauls Boots and Barkley 100.

Jim Aikman is an award-winning filmmaker and commercial director living in Portland, Oregon. He specializes in outdoor adventure films, character driven documentaries and commercial video. His work has taken him around the world, creating content for brands like National Geographic, The North Face and REI. With degrees in Film and English Literature from the University of Michigan, Jim has cultivated an interest in narrative theory and history to craft thoughtful, authentic stories about real characters. Jim has directed five feature documentaries, one feature narrative, and dozens of short documentaries and commercial campaigns, and is well versed in all aspects of video production.

Mathieu Le Lay is a French director and cinematographer since 2008. After he graduated in wildlife conservation at the University of Salford (UK), his passion for cinema, nature and wildlife led him to one year study at IFFCAM, the French wildlife film school. He has a personal style, a visual poetry that feeds the soul with images of rare beauty and a feeling of freedom. His art and his intimate quest are strongly connected. Guided by wild environments and mysterious atmospheres, his films tell genuine stories of the interaction between humans and nature, inspiring people to travel, discover and feel the raw subtlety of the world. With special interest in nature and adventure topics, Mathieu has directed independent films, wildlife documentaries and a series of portrait documentaries focused on the work of creative people. In the past decade, he has received several recognitions in international film festivals.

Jochen Schmoll is a filmmaker, director and DOP. Born in Ludwigburg in Germany, he has become known in the sports filming scene for his numerous documentaries, commercials and branded content productions for brands like Gore Tex, Jack Wolfskin and RedBull, covering some of their top athletes and accompanying them on their personal goals and expeditions. He has directed various documentaries where his skill as an extreme sport DOP and director are essential. Jochen likes to tell a story with as much emotional depth as possible. Being fluent in German, English, Spanish and French often allows him to put his protagonists at ease even before the camera is rolling. Jochen is based in Barcelona with an office in Germany.

Christian Schmidt is an independent writer and director focussing on the documentaries for television and cinema for many years. The graduated geographer and science journalist Schmidt frequently travels to remote corners of the earth as a mountaineer and filmmaker. His internationally award-winning films are known for the very personal stories they tell about exceptional protagonists in the realm of adventure, outdoor sport, society and science. Schmidt is based in Munich, where he lives with his girlfriend and their two daughters.

Julia Kaczorowska - photographer from Warsaw. Currently she studies press, commercial and editorial photography at the University of Warsaw. Julia loves mountains and travels.

Natalie Johanna Halla was born on November 18th 1975 in Linz (Austria) as the granddaughter of two well-known Austrian painters. At the age of 16 she spent one year with a Russian host family in Moscow witnessing the collapse of the Soviet Union. She studied law and translation (Russian, Spanish) at Karl-Franzens University of Graz, spent one semester with the ERASMUS program in Valladolid (Spain) and wrote her thesis in law at the Jerusalem University on “Implementation of Human Rights on the Example of Freedom of Religion in Israel”, for which she got an award for excellency. At the age of 22 she became an intern of the United Nations Drug Control Program in Peru. After several years of further studies and working in France and Spain, she concentrated on documentary film direction and production. In her films she is reflecting her personal experiences and visions of life and taking advantage of being able to communicate without the need of a translator (six languages). Mrs. Halla is also mother of three children. Since 2010 she has worked as producer, scriptwriter and director of several feature length documentaries, mainly humanitarian and social issues. Filmography: • 2017: Life in Four Elements (direction) • 2015: Childern of the Forest (direction, production) • 2010: Drugmothers (direction, production) • 2011: Gaelle (direction, production) • 2012: Separated (direction, production) • 2014: The heir of Liszt (direction, production) Awards/Nominations: • 2012 Cebu International Documentary Film Festival, Philippines: «Gaelle» wins the Best of Content Award. • 2012 «Gaelle» is selected by the Cervantes Institute to represent Spain worldwide under the patronage of the former Spanish Queen Sofia and the Peace Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus. • 2013 International Film Festival of Belize: «Separated» wins special Mention of the Jury. • 2013 Internat. Film Festival of Uruguay: «Separated» wins special mention of the Jury for the Best Film on Human Rights. • 2014 «Separated» achieves two nominations for the „Kunlun Jade-Award“ in China • 2014 «Separated» represents Fisahara at the 62nd International Film Festival of San Sebastian • 2014 «The heir of Liszt» wins the Award for Best Biography at the Cinetrofa International Film Festival in Portugal

Eric Crosland is the one of the founding directors at Sherpas Cinema, he has won numerous awards for his feature work in Into the Mind and All.I.Can, as well as his work in the commercial world. He lives in Nelson, British Columbia.

The film director STEVE WAKEFORD has worked as an editor and consultant for over 15 years in the fast turnaround market of live sports broadcasting - including being a core part of BAFTA and Emmy award winning teams. Steve makes his directorial debut with Magnetic Mountains, a provocative documentary exploring the psychology of risk taking in the mountains, based on his own experiences. Steve is a keen climber, skier and alpinist but first and foremost, a father, who enjoys sharing the hills with his family. The film producer MENNA PRITCHARD is a filmmaker, writer and designer - currently based in Chamonix, France. She has worked for a number of outdoor brands and companies, with projects varying from advertising campaigns and editorial pieces to production work for the BBC. A sleep-deprived mother of two; when not stuck behind a camera or laptop, she enjoys being outside with her family.

Lloyd is a self-taught photographer and film maker who specialises in action photography and short film documentaries. He previously was a university lecturer and completed a doctoral thesis using visual ethnography to study social issues among the Nepalese community in Hong Kong. However, he decided to to take the plunge and make something out of this passion for photography and filming and since then, Lloyd’s work has quickly developed with clients including National Geographic, Patagonia, BBC, The North Face, Lululemon Athletica, Scott Sports and more. From childhood, he has been hard-wired to exploring the outdoors whether that be on the land or in the water, and over the years, the camera has become Lloyd’s exploration tool.

Renan Ozturk is one of the founders of Camp4 Collective, a member of the The North Face athlete team for the last 10 years and spends his days telling real stories about the connection to the natural world. The films he has made over the years have presence in both the core mountain filmmaking community and mainstream worlds. ‘MERU’ won the Audience Choice Award at Sundance, while ‘SHERPA’ premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto. Renans expedition short films have a strong following on social media; from ‘El Sendero Luminoso’ for The North Face, to National Geographic’s ‘Down To Nothing’, shot in the Burmese Himalaya and developed into a NatGeoTV special. He is constantly searching for stories that move him and have a strong visual identity combined with deeply human moments; whether it be of professional athletes or a child seeing the mountains for the first time.

French director from Chamonix, co-creator of Yucca Films. Pierre Cadot has directed "So High" - a climbing movie with Romain Desgranges. This film as well as "Mountain of the Crystal Diggers" try to be focused on humans and nature. "They are main goals in my work with the willing to show something true, veritable and that gives another vision of the mountains".

Hannah Maia is an award winning filmmaker who likes to tell stories about things that make life worth living. Based in the North West of England she works under the name of Maia Media. Her background is in both social and visual anthropology and lately she has begun to dabble in illustration. She is also a passionate mountain biker and wild swimmer.

Siebe Vanhee describes himself as “a rock climber and adventurer” and for a young man he has already enjoyed an incredibly diverse range of climbing experiences around the world. Passionate about everything from sport climbing to big wall adventures, he is constantly exploring new directions and styles to see where his interests and skills take him. Having climbed indoors since he was ten years old, the Belgian was an early fan of sport climbing. His most treasured personal experiences came through rock climbing outdoors where he felt energised and excited by the mountain landscapes. When he turned 18, he embarked on a two-month odyssey in the USA and Canada where he discovered trad climbing. It was a moment that changed his life. Fascinated by the mental discipline and physical elegance required and the vast opportunities for new adventures, he felt as though he had discovered a whole new world of climbing. Hungry for more, the following year he embarked on the ultimate climbing ‘gap year’, buying a van and returning to North America for another seven months, where he tried everything from bouldering to big wall ascents in Yosemite and the Bugaboos. Since then he’s travelled the world in search of new challenges. In 2012 he flew to Venezuela, where he helped to open the steep, 21-pitch Big Wall – ‘Kids With Guns’ - on the table mountain Amuri Tepui. Since the Venezuela experience Siebe has travelled to countries like Greenland, Madagascar, Siberia, Argentina and Chile on a search for virgin Big Wall climbs. The goal was to find adventure, climb a virgin piece of rock and transform his freeclimbing skills to the remote Big Walls on which he often spends several days living the vertical life. His most outstanding Big Wall performance happened in February 2017 on the East face of Torre Central in Torres del Paine, Chile. Together with Big Wall veterans Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll and Nicolas Favresse, Siebe spent 19 days on the 1200-meter vertical wall in order to freeclimb the old aid-line ‘El Regalo de Mwono’ in which they succeeded. Siebe has a unique vision for climbing. Besides the identity as a climber he is also social worker and believes climbing can teach invaluable life lessons. The symbolic journey from base to summit, the need to overcome fear and acquire new skills, is a universal message he wishes to promote. “To develop your climbing is to develop yourself.” Siebe is now fully determined to seek out new adventures – and new personal challenges - every year.

PETER MORTIMER is the founder of Sender Films, which he started as a do-it-yourself rock climbing video production project in 1999. Peter was joined at Sender by his college friend Nick Rosen in 2004, and over the last decade the two have enlisted an amazing team to help grow Sender into a leading global adventure film company that produces acclaimed feature-length documentaries, cutting-edge television series and a variety of commercials. NICK ROSEN is a partner, writer, and producer at Sender Films. He is co-creator of the Emmy-nominated National Geographic Television Series, First Ascent, and co-director of the award-winning film, The Sharp End.

Cedar Wright and Taylor Keating are two Boulder adventure filmmakers who put humor and self deprecation first, keeping their stories a little bit humble, and a lot low budget. Cedar is a longtime professional climber for The North Face and has married his love for adventure with his love for storytelling. Taylor is also a climber, but makes a grand total of $0 for doing so. Together they make up Cedar Wright Productions, a production house dedicated to the 5 hour work week and passion projects.

Cedar Wright and Taylor Keating are two Boulder adventure filmmakers who put humor and self deprecation first, keeping their stories a little bit humble, and a lot low budget. Cedar is a longtime professional climber for The North Face and has married his love for adventure with his love for storytelling. Taylor is also a climber, but makes a grand total of $0 for doing so. Together they make up Cedar Wright Productions, a production house dedicated to the 5 hour work week and passion projects.

Warsaw based filmmaker, photographer and art director. Co-author of many popular and awarded TV commercials in Poland. His pictures were used in many articles and commercials. He has won Polish Creative Awards: in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015. In 2017 he finished his first documentary “Chasing The Breath” which won Audience Award on Pakistan International Mountain Film Festival and Award Winner in International Nature Film Festival, Hungary

NAVEED BARI Driven by his passion for film making and astounded by the beauty of his homeland, Bari bid adieu to his otherwise lucrative engineering career to setup Pakistan Explorer, barging into the world of Travel and Tour operations. With the mission to establish Pakistan on the map of International Tourism industry, he incessantly kept writing and conducting domestic tours with little or no sustenance. By the year 2014, he, along with his partner M. Haris Ansari, incorporated adventure film making into the fore. Bari designed and produced a few survival documentaries unprecedented in the history of Pakistani media. M. HARIS ANSARI A journalist and a film maker, M. Haris Ansari spent quite a few years of his early career struggling to make a living yet keeping his passion alive. In year 2014, he teamed up with Bari adding his share of fire for film making and love for traveling. Directing and co-producing travel documentaries and survival shows for digital platforms, Haris endured and persisted to create nail-biting work in a relatively short period of time. The combo of surviving in extreme conditions yet shooting with surprising ease clearly makes him a pioneer in Pakistan.