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Stories of spectacular expeditions and life close to nature
As part of MDAG online, a new section has just appeared! Mountain range section features films not only about conquering peaks, such as “The Wall of Shadows” or “The Last Expedition” by Eliza Kubarska, but also about what life looks like in closeness with nature. These include “Agent of Happiness”, and “A Flower of Mine”. On top of that, two very unusual expeditions – in “Everest Dark” and “Piano to Zanskar”. Watch until June 1 at MDAG.PL!
“The Wall of Shadows”, dir. Eliza Kubarska
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Film also available with audio description
Nada, a Sherpa who has summited Everest nine times, receives a job offer on an expedition to the sacred Kumbhakarna. The money earned could finance his son Dawa's medical education. The problem is that participating in the expedition means breaking a taboo and invoking the wrath of the gods. On the other side – three of the world's best alpinists: Pole Marcin Tomaszewski and Russians Golovchenko and Nilov, two-time winners of the Golden Ice Axe. Their goal: the virgin east face of Jannu, one of the most difficult in the history of Himalayan climbing. When they set off together into the mountains in February 2019, nature quickly shows that the last word belongs to her.
“The Last Expedition”, dir. Eliza Kubarska
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This is the true story of Wanda Rutkiewicz. The film's director, who is herself a mountaineer, sets off into the Himalayas in the footsteps of Wanda, who disappeared 30 years ago. Her body was never found. Some claim she stayed in a Buddhist monastery. The film explores Rutkiewicz's life and her mysterious final expedition, featuring well-known climbers: Reinhold Messner, Krzysztof Wielicki, and Carlos Carsolio, as well as the women close to her: her sister Janina Fies and manager Marion Feik.
“Agent of Happiness”, dir. Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó
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Film also available with audio description
In Bhutan – a tiny Himalayan kingdom – the ruler measures the happiness of his subjects. Surveyor Amber travels around the country interviewing residents, filling in a form designed to determine a citizen's level of happiness on a scale from 0 to 10. Over time, Amber begins to reflect on his own life. He is 40 years old, has a good job, dances and plays guitar – but is still looking for love. Will he be able to measure happiness? Can the pursuit of it be happiness in itself?
“A Flower of Mine”, dir. Paolo Cognetti
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The director wanders through the mountains around Monte Rosa – between Piedmont, the Aosta Valley, and Switzerland – with his faithful dog Laki, conversing at mountain huts with people who have chosen life at altitude. Among them is Marta Squinobal, who runs the only vegan mountain hut in the entire Alps at 3,585 metres above sea level, and Sherpa Sete Tamang. The melancholy of the approaching autumn and the solitude among the rocks create the atmosphere of these places – far from mass tourism and the bustle of the valleys. This is not a film about how the mountains can save us.
“Everest Dark”, dir. Jeremy Watt
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A visually stunning film depicting the Himalayas from a rare perspective – that of the Sherpas, without whom no expedition would take place. The famous Himalayan climber Mingma Tsiri Sherpa, a Buddhist, breaks a promise made to his family that he would no longer climb. He sets out on one final expedition to Everest to clear the sacred mountain of the bodies of mountaineers who remained on its slopes. Chomolungma – "Goddess Mother of the World" – has become a cemetery, full of frozen bodies of those who did not make it back down. The film shows the entire journey to the summit and serves as a reminder that the mountain demands respect – not conquest.
“Piano to Zanskar”, dir. Michal Sulima
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Film also available with audio description
In 2013, a teacher walks into Desmond Gentle's workshop at London's Camden Market with a request to tune a piano. She is soon to leave for a 1,000-year-old village in the Himalayan Zanskar – and is worried that the local school has no instrument. The village of Lingshed sits at an altitude of 4,267 metres, in one of the most isolated settlements in the world. For his 65th birthday, Desmond decides to take on the challenge: to transport a 100-year-old piano from London deep into the Indian Himalayas – across mountain passes, with the help of yaks and ponies. If he succeeds, it will be the highest altitude to which a piano has ever been carried, and the greatest achievement of his 40-year career.
The 23rd edition of MDAG online runs from May 19 to June 1 at mdag.pl. The titular patron of the event is Bank Millennium (https://www.bankmillennium.pl/).
