Most of the films that will be screened were made in extreme conditions, in places very difficult of access, at times in death-defying circumstances. Watching these films really is a unique experience and that is something that has made the festival increasingly popular.

This year’s edition is taking place under the honorary patronage of Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova. The Bulgarian National Radio is media partner of the forum.

More details about the current 17th edition of Bansko Film Fest from Petar Atanasov – chair of the International Mountain Film Festival Association:

“A diverse film programme. A record number of films in the entire history of the festival – more than 120 from 31 countries on 5 continents – presenting the best in this sphere from last and from this year. There is a highlight in the programme that is indicative of a new kind of quality – the Oscar-winning “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”. Film director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has one more Oscar to her name – for the film “Saving Face”, 2012. Geography films reach the least hospitable, the most difficult of access places on the planet.”

What films is Bulgaria presenting at the festival?

“Bulgaria is presenting six films which are most diverse. One of them is about the achievements of the most active mountain climber in Bulgaria in recent years – Boyan Petrov, who will be a guest at the festival. There is a film about Kiril Nikolov–Disl and the record he set, covering the Kom-Emine trail along the ridge of the Balkan Range. The film “Unknown Kirgizstan” tells the story of a cave expedition there. Another film is about the record for women set by Antonia Grigorova along the Kom-Emine trail. There is a film about the Patagonian Ice Sheet, and, finally the documentary “After the end of the world”, which offers an insight into the life of the Bulgarian researchers who have been exploring the windiest and coldest place on the planet – Antarctica – for 25 years.”

Who will be the guests to this year’s festival? Petar Atanasov:

“It is so difficult to single out names, but I will mention just a few. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner from Austria – the first and only woman in the world to have climbed all 14 highest peaks without an oxygen mask. Sarah Outen from Great Britain – the first woman to have circumnavigated the globe under her own steam – running, cycling, rowing - she has rowed solo across the Pacific and the Atlantic ocean. One of the world’s greatest climbers of all time - Peter Habeler, Reinhold Messner’s partner in the first climb of Everest without an oxygen mask. Eric McNair-Landry from Canada is 31 but has reached the South Pole twice and has crossed Greenland six times, a man with the greatest dog sledding skills, he has also crossed the Gobi desert. Polish ultra-trail runner Piotr Hercog, Malgorzata Wojtaczka, also from Poland, the fifth woman in the world to have reached the South Pole, which she did this year, following a 69-day solo trek. Nacer Ben Abdeljalil, the first Morroccan to have climbed Everest.”

Petar Atanasov describes the Bansko Film Fest children’s and youth programme as “a festival within the festival”. This event, targeted entirely at the young, features all kinds of different enterprises for children of different ages like workshops, seminars, lectures, orienteering races, instruction in the essential elements of scuba diving. On the sidelines of the festival there will be six exhibitions, five of which photographic and one – of paintings. A project by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute will also be presented – showcasing maps and the history of cartography of Antarctica.

English version: Milena Daynova