ZAK BENTLEY is a tree climber, filmmaker and photographer from Dorset, England. When not directing his own films, he camera operates for wildlife and documentary films, specialising in shooting at height, working for some of the worlds most accomplished natural history production companies, including Silverback Films and the BBC. His work has taken him across the globe, from uninhabited islands in the North Sea to the rainforest of Borneo.

ULISES FIERRO – a Mexico City Filmmaker focused on the documentary genre for more than ten years. Interested in deepening and researching in a sensitive and creative way what defines us, the idiosyncrasy, the popular culture, the human body – its forms and possibilities – as well as our conflictive relationship with the environment, nature/human being dichotomy. His current work, in a schematic way, could be divided into two: audiovisual creation and rock climbing. This second one is also his big passion and increasingly becomes inseparable from the first one.

JAIME MURCIEGO is a freelance filmmaker. During his career he has worked for different media such as Atresmedia or Zeppelin TV, as a filmmaker and animator. In 2015, he directs his first documentary short film, Boxgirls. This piece has been selected in more than 40 festivals worldwide. In 2016, after reading an article about the “Climbing Cholitas”, he decides to contact them and travel to Bolivia. There he understands why their dream is the Aconcagua peak, and concludes that their story must be told. PABLO IRABURU is the founder of Arena Comunicación. He has devoted over 20 years to the production of documentaries worldwide. He has been the Executive Producer, codirector and co-scriptwriter of the feature length documentaries Nomadak Tx, Pura Vida/The Ridge, Walls, District Zero and Elkarrekin-Together. All of them were premiered at San Sebastián Film Festival, and have been distributed internationally. He has also produced videoinstallations for museums and non-profit organizations.

JUSTIN JONES fuelled by curiosity and FOMO. He is a self taught story teller trying to do the most with his one wild and precious life. His passion is heading out on big impossible or crazy expeditions and picking up a camera to film what unfolds along the way. Hes been lucky to have directed two award winning documentaries - Crossing the Ice and Crossing the Ditch about two of his other expeditions; the first ever unsupported return South Pole expedition and the first kayak across the Tasman Sea. Justin is based in Bondi with his wife, Lauren, daughters Morgan and Dylan, and their wild beast (labradoodle) Ollie. CROSSING THE ICE AWARDS Banff Mountain Film Festival Win - GRAND PRIZE, ADVENTURE AND EXPLORATION, PEOPLES CHOICE Kendal Mountain Film Festival Win - GRAND PRIZE Sheffield Adventure Film Festival Win - BEST FEATURE FILM, Runner Up - GRAND PRIZE, 2nd Runner Up - SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE Vancouver International Mountain Festival Win - GRAND PRIZE 5 Point Film Festival Win - SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE, PEOPLES CHOICE, Runner up - BEST IN FESTIVAL NZ Mountain Film Festival Win - PEOPLES CHOICE Chamonix Adventure Festival Win - BEST STORYTELLING Dijon International Adventure Film Festival Win - Grand Prize + young directors Prize HORSKY Win - Prize for Humorous and Authentic Filming CROSSING THE DITCH AWARDS Kendal Mountain Film Festival Win - GRAND PRIZE Banff Mountain Film Festival Win - ADVENTURE AND EXPLORATION JUSTIN: Two Guinness World Records: - Longest unsupported, unassisted polar ski expedition - Longest Transoceanic double kayak expedition

MORGAN HEIM raises a camera to capture moments in an animal’s life that make us consider what that life means. Inevitably, those stories involve people as much as wildlife. She has covered such subjects as drug-cartel impacts on national forests to deer migrations, and wildlife endeavoring to survive on our roadways. A senior fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, her work has appeared in Smithsonian, Newsweek, BBC, Discover and National Geographic Traveler, with films in Telluride Mountain Film, Banff and Wild & Scenic among others. She hails from the small coastal town of Astoria, Oregon, where she spends every second she can hiking and beach combing with her dog, Javier. Jayme Dittmar is an Alaskan-based outdoors enthusiast and visual storyteller. She has produced national award-winning film for National Geographic, Patagonia, the Department of the Interior, Planet Forward, Montana PBS and various entities in the outdoor industry. When not filming or editing photos, Jayme can be found behind a dog team, hunting, fishing or climbing.

Born in Germany, RENAN OZTURK began his career as an expedition climber and landscape artist, spending years living in a tent beneath the big walls of U.S. National Parks and in the Himalayan Mountains. Renan has kept pursuing stories about our connection to the natural world, often set within extreme environments. In 2013, he was named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for his combination of cutting-edge first ascents and visual storytelling. Renan is a proud Sony Artisan. https://www.renanozturk.com/

The production team arrived just after Aleksandra had completed her project and, although the moment of success had passed, we strove to produce a film which was as spontaneous and natural as possible without neglecting the refined taste in every image. Our aim was to navigate the professionalism of the sportswoman with the deepest thoughts and feelings that passed through Aleksandra’s head surrounding the project with emphasis on the overall story of the person, rather than minute details of the climb. Living under the same roof together gave us the chance to make a strong bond with Aleksandra and her style of life. We could not have imagined just how focused one has to be in their daily life in order to succeed at a climb of this stature whether it was wearing rubber gloves while showering to maintain her skin or constantly monitoring the weather or eating. If we could define the film in three words, we would say: adrenaline, resilience and determination. Sardinia is an absolutely magical island and often we looked up from our screens only to realize we were lost in the majesty of the climbing and of the setting and we hope this translates through the film.

IGNASI LÓPEZ FÁBREGAS graduated in Illustration for l Escola Massana in 1993. Bio-filmography: Projecte inbestigadó, 2014 – Mano killer, 2016 Criaturitas, 2016 – Viacruxis, 2018 – Moscardones, 2019 – El Gran Hito (The Great Milestone), 2020

SŁAWOMIR BATYRA wrote and directed the documentary series (Canal+ Discovery) Mission: Explorer (2018), that seeks out scientists conducting pioneering research in the most remote corners of the world. With support from the Polish Academy of Sciences, the 10-episode production traveled to sub-Saharan Africa, the Arctic, Himalayas and Andes. His award winning documentary debut, The Great Theatre (2016), premiered at the prestigious Visions du Reel Festival in Switzerland and went on to more than 30 festivals (AFI Docs, Full Frame (USA), DocAviv (Israel), Cinema Verite (Iran). Batyra’s directing career began in the theatre. After studying at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Warsaw he founded the Warsaw Revolutionary Theatre: a communal theatre, inspired by the tradition of workers’ theatres of the 1930’s. He has a lot of experience in filming the Arctic. He has visited the far north many times with TV and documentary projects. There he finds his favorite type of hero: brave people facing the most extreme conditions on Earth.

Devenu explorateur à 19 ans «par accident», ELIOTT SCHONFELD est le plus jeune membre de la Société des explorateurs français. Il a déjà réalisé quatre films documentaires sur les expéditions qu’il a menées en solitaire dans les lieux les plus reculés de notre planète.

JIM AIKMAN has been working in media production since 2002, directing and producing award winning content across platforms. He is the Creative Director for Oregon-based production company Bedrock Film Works, where he produces non-fiction documentaries, podcasts and journalistic reporting. Jim is versed in all stages of production, crafting stories from conception to delivery and everywhere in between.

Working as a producer and director wasn’t foreseeable for GERALD SALMINA when being a pro windsurfer from 1989 to 1994. He was learning by experience while he was driven to capture the magic light and beauty of the Pacific Ocean in order to make money for a living as a windsurfer. Since 1996 he is running Planet Watch Film Productions together with his wife Ruth. Their aim is to document the realness, no matter how difficult it will be to make a movie in a remote environment. It’s all about telling stories when being in the wilderness filming athletes playing with mother nature’s pride and feeling privileged to record all these amazing features on camera. FILMOGRAPHY CINEMA FEATURE 2018 MANASLU - SPIRIT OF MOUNTAIN Producer & Director 2015 BROTHERS OF THE WIND Wildlife Producer & Director 2014 STREIF - ONE HELL OF A RIDE Producer & Director 2009 MOUNT ST. ELIAS Producer & Director TV DOCUMENTARIES 2018 FIRST ON EVEREST Director 2010 THE FELIX BAUMGARTNER STORY Producer & Director 2012 THE SIX GREAT NORTH WALLS OF THE ALPS Producer & Director 2016 SOS NEPAL Producer & Director 2017 GREGOR SCHLIERENZAUER Producer & Director PROMO 2018 AUDI E-TRON HILLCLIMB Producer & Director 2017 MARC MARQUEZ KITZBÜHEL Producer & Director 2017 MAX VERSTAPPEN Producer & Director 2017 VISIT WÖRTHERSEE Producer & Director 2016 RED BULL MOTORSPORTS Producer & Director

Born in Lemoa (Bizkaia, Basque Country), on 12th of December 1981, ALEX TXIKÓN is the youngest of 13 brothers and sisters. When he was no more than 3 years old, his brother Javi, the one who taught him to love mountaineering, took Alex to the top of Gorbea mountain, one of the most emblematic peaks in Basque Country. He joined Ganzabal Mountain Club at teenage and could try himself in Pyrenees, Picos de Europa and Alps for the first time. In his 17, he traveled to Pamir Mountains and he was just 21 when he reached the summit of his first +8.000 m mountain: Broad Peak (8.051m) in Pakistan. Alex Txikón has taken part in more than 30 expeditions so far, has climbed up to the summit of 12 of the 14 highest mountains and, chiefly, has lived the most incredible experiences in wonderful places all over the world and with the most amazing people he could never had imagined. The first important step in his career came in 2005 when joining Al Filo De Lo Imposible Spanish TV programme, working as a high altitude cameraman also for Edurne Pasabans "14 x 8.000" project. But, in 2011, although having received the invitation from Pasabans team for Everest, Alex Txikón felt having completed a stage and needed to start a new one looking for different ways of practicing mountaineering. Thats how he began to lead winter expeditions for which he is specially well known nowadays. These last years he has opted for projects that probably are less successful but much more valuables in terms of technicality, difficulty and commitment. North faces, new routes, alpine style, big walls its a risky but immensely satisfying choice. As well as alpinism, Alex Txikón practices rock climbing, BASE jumping and basque rural sport such as wood cutting; hes an insatiable adventureman, loves exploring, travelling and meeting new friends, something which must be part of any project or goal that he faces.

MICHAŁ SULIMA is a Warsaw-born film director and a graduate of Photography from University of the Arts London. Piano to Zanskar is his independent debut, marking an entrance into feature-length and documentary formats.

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 the director, with his partner Peter Mortimer, of the Emmy-winning documentary film Valley Uprising, and a co-creator of the globally acclaimed REEL ROCK films and tour. Nick began working as a writer/producer/director with Sender Films in 2005, and since then has created feature films and TV programs for NBC, The Weather Channel, National Geographic Channels International and The New York Times Online.

JOSH LOWELL has been climbing and making movies about climbing almost as long as you’ve 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.

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.

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. He has accomplished several ground-breaking expeditions, from the discovery of Stone Age people untouched by civilization in the rainforests of New Guinea, through the co-discovery of a mega-cave on the Chimantá plateau, to the first transit of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. His documentaries about the Slovak mountains also belong among those that are extremely viewer-attractive. His films have been awarded with more than 300 national as well as international prizes. He is a holder of the prestigious Grand Prize from the International Alliance for Mountain Film as gratitude to the filmmakers, directors and producers who have contributed throughout their careers – through loyalty and dedication, and with little regard for personal profit — to the evolution of mountain film into the prominent genre that it is today.

MACIEK JABŁOŃSKI – photographer and filmmaker working with National Geographic Poland. Owner of the F11 studio (f11-studio.pl) with MSc in Computer Science at Silesian University of Technology (Poland) and MA in Photography and Film Production at Poznań Academy of Arts (Poland). He feels best working at social reportage and documentaries. One of his latest productions includes the documentary ‘Killithon’, showcasing the highest starting marathon in the world which begins at the Kilimanjaro summit in Africa. ‘Killithon’ has won a Silver Winner award in the ‘Best Short Film’ and ‘Best Director - documentary’ categories at The Queen Palm International Film Festival in Palm Springs, California. The documentary was also screened at other various film festivals in Zakopane (Poland), Poprad (Slovakia) and Kathmandu (Nepal). As a mountain climbing and running amateur, Maciek loves mountains and traveling to the most remote places in the world. His photographs were published in many various magazines, including National Geographic, ULTRA, Trail and National Geographic Traveler. 

DAVID LOPEZ "CAMPE" is a filmmaker, photographer and athlete living in Madrid. He goes more than twenty years in the mountains. High level climber, adventurer and from years ago photographer and filmmaker. He makes works of photography and videos in remote and risky places in the mountains. With his photos he tries to transmit the adventure in extraordinary places and in his videos he mixes cinematography techniques to bring the mountains to everyone. He has shot great climbers from all over the world. His photos have been published in journals of mountain and climbing, his videos have thousands of reproductions and he has collaborated with international film producers.

Born in 1959 in Bydgoszcz, MIROSŁAW DEMBIŃSKI is a graduate of mathematics at the Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń (1983) and the Film Directing Department at the National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź (1990). In 1991 he established the Everest Film Studio, where he produced 44 films. He is an author of documentaries, among them being: Owoce ziemi czarnej (1992), Ganek (1998), Icarus (1999), Shared flight (2003), which were awarded more than 50 times, among others in Oberhausen, San Francisco, Calcutta and Krakow. A Lesson of Belorussian has already been awarded in Amsterdam, Leipzig, Kielce and Łódź.

RASTO HATIAR founded the company CEPER FILM, s.r.o., which deals with the production of documentary films, especially from the mountains As a cinematographer, he has collaborated on many projects. Among the most important is the collaboration with director Pavel Barabáš on the film series Stories of the Tatra I - IV, as well as the collaboration on the film about extreme sports of the Tatras without Limits, co-produced by Adidas. As a director and cinematographer, he produced a film portrait of the Olympian, kayaker Jana Dukátová, for the Red Bull company. He worked as a director and cinematographer in Bangladesh, where he worked for the UN, for which he has so far made 10 short films. He has won many international film awards: The best film V4 / Ski Cordillera / - festival Hory a mesto Bratislava The best sports extreme film / Killer Beauty / - Domžale International Mountain Film Festival - Slovenia The best adrenaline film / Killer Beauty / - Expedition Camera of the Czech Republic The best film in the category of air / Killer Beauty / - Mountains and the City of Bratislava Award for Inspirational Story of a Man "/ Blind Trust / - MFHF Poprad 2014 Literary Fund Award for the best Slovak film / Blind Trust / - Mountains and the City of Bratislava 2015 Jury Prize for Directing and for a Story with a Humanistic Dimension / Blind Trust / - EHO International Film Festival - Macedonia 2014 Grand Prix / Blind Trust / - International Outdoor Film Festival Prague 2015 Award for the best film / Blind Trust / - GO camera of the Czech Republic 2015 Audience Award / Ordinary Guys / - MFHF Poprad 2016 Audience Award / Ordinary Guys / - High Mountains Nitra 2016 Audience Award / Theory of Happiness according to Rybanský / - Expedition camera, Czech Republic 2018 The best film in the category Rock / Theory of Happiness according to Rybanský / - Mountains and the City of Bratislava 2018 GRAND PRIX / Theory of Happiness according to Rybanský / - International Festival of Mountaineering Films Teplice nad Metují 2019 JURY AWARD / Theory of Happiness according to Rybanský / - International Mountain Film Festival Poprad 2018 Audience Award / Theory of Happiness according to Rybanský / - Vysoké Hory Nitra 2018 Audience Award / Theory of Happiness according to Rybanský / - ZDRUFF - Mountains and the Town of Stará Ľubovňa 2018 GRAND PRIX / - Mountain Film Festival Poprad 2018 Audience Award / Summit Attraction / - International Mountain Film Festival Poprad 2018 Literary Fund Award / Summit Attraction - Mountains and the City of Bratislava 2019 The best climbing film / Theory of Happiness according to Rybanský / - CERVINO CINEMA MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL Cervinia - Italy 2019 GRAND PRIX / Summit Attraction / - Spotkania, Zakopane, Poland 2019 Best Climbing Film / Summit Attraction /International Climbing Film Festival Teplice nad Metují 2019 Award for Historical Contribution in Mountain Film / Top Attraction / - International Outdoor Film Festival Prague 2019

Self taught, over-worked, and under-paid, HENNA TAYLOR continues to make documentaries. Continually evolving her capacity for story telling in each project. She began making films in 2011 and has somehow survived the initial growing pains of making this type of art only to have realized that growth in this field of communication is persistent in its ever-layered capacity for discomfort. What keeps her engaged in her work as a filmmaker are the illusive, most subtle moments of life. The things that cannot be spoken using words or seen solely with the eye. This, it may go without saying given the nature of her medium, presents interesting challenges for Henna. But thank goodness for these challenges because they are what defend her against the obvious, and the utterly repetitive nature of what is already known. In case it is relevant, Hennas most recent film, Speak To Me Softly, was awarded "Best Mountain Short" at BANFF 2019. Her first adventure film was The Honeymoon Is Over, following Madaleine Sorkin’s first female ascent of The Honeymoon is Over on the Diamond in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. In January 2018 she began working on Wadi Rum which was focused on two Israeli climbers and a Bedouin guide, Mohammad Hussein, as they built one of the most challenging routes in Wadi Rum, Jordan. After the completion of Wadi Rum she created a version of the film for the Reel Rock 13 Tour called "Valley of the Moon". Both films have been showcased in many festivals around the world (see resume for details). Wadi Rum can now be purchased on Amazon Prime and has been picked up by television networks in Brazil and France. In March 2019, she worked with Fine Films as a DP, directed by Ida Rodriguez Joglar, on a project documenting 20 women as they climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

JAN ŠIMANEK is a documentalist, visual artist and a passionate trad climber. He participated in the internationally successful art projects (Banksy´s Dismaland 2015, Szpilman Award 2013, Zootropio 2012). For his climbing documentairies he has been awarded at many international mountain film festivals (2014-2019): Krakow (Special Jury Prize Award), Leipzig (Bergfilm Winner), Poprad (Best Portrait), Teplice (2 x Audience Award) etc. In 2015, he co-founded a trad climbing festival POVL, which takes place every year in Czech Republic. He has a Master in Photography (FAMU, Prague 2005-2011).

ELIZA KUBARSKA is a director, alpinist and traveller. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Wajda Film School in Poland. Since 2004 she directed awarded world-wide documentary films, often produced in extreme locations: What happened on Pam Island (TVP, 2010), made on Greenland; Walking Under Water, ZDF/Arte, 2014), filmed on the seas around Borneo and underwater, (Hot Docs Jury Prize and Special Mentions at Los Angeles IFF and Palm Springs IFF) and K2.Touching the Sky (HBO, 2015), filmed in Karakorum and one of the most awarded Polish mountain films in the history. Since 2008 she is a director of Vertical Vision Film Studio.