‘The Mountain God’ awarded best climbing movie
Citadel, by adventure film maker Alastair Lee, and featuring leading British climbers Matt Helliker and Jon Bracey, won the UIAA Award for Best Climbing Film at the 2016 Trento Film Festival on Saturday 7 May.
Citadel, dubbed ‘The Mountain God’ is an imposing 3,000m peak in one of the remaining untouched corners of the Great Alaskan Range: the Neacola Mountains. Due to their typically poor conditions and remote location they are largely unexplored. Helliker and Bracey, one the UK’s most formidable partnerships in alpine climbing, set an objective to make the first ascent of the extraordinary 1,200m long north-west ridge.
Director Alastair Lee embarked upon this project with the objective to push boundaries and capture hard alpine climbing like never before. Employing the latest cineflex technology combined with an innovative vision the final results are outstanding; the next dimension in mountain film. Citadel is a stunning visual experience. To match its visual prowess ‘Citadel’ is laced with a strong sense of narrative, human endeavour and a profound sense of respect for the mountain environment. The film is supported by the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), a UIAA member federation.
The winning film, selected from a shortlist of impressive candidates, received a cash prize of 1,500 euros when presented with its prize by UIAA Executive Board member Pier Giorgio Oliveti. The award was for the film which best captures the values of the UIAA and its commitment to the to the mountains, adventure and spirit of exploration. It was chosen by a jury headed by UIAA – International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation President Frits Vrijlandt.
“It is a huge honour to receive this award from this great festival, I am only sad that I cannot be there this weekend to celebrate with you,” explained director Alastair Lee. “I appreciate the judges’ verdict as making any climbing film, like climbing itself is a risky business and at times its necessary to put your own goals and ambitions to one side and make decisions for the greater good that can forfeit the climb and of course the film. In Matt and Jon we have two outstanding climbers who I am proud to have worked with, not only world class with their abilities in the mountains but their obvious love and respect for hills and the environment. I’m really happy that the message of the film and which is very personal to the climbers has been recognised. Many thanks to the climbers for taking me on this incredible journey with them, thanks to the judges and thanks to Trento this really means a lot to me.”
For more information about the Trento Film Festival please visit their site.
A founding member of the Trento Film Festival was the Italian Alpine Club, a member federation of the UIAA.
Nominated Films
The complete list of nominated films for the 2016 UIAA Award for Best Climbing Film are listed below. Please click to view the trailers (where available).
Climbing Higher (Czech Republic)
Climbing Ice – The Iceland Trifecta (United States)
Common Threads (USA)
Himalaya – Ladder to Paradise (China)