Himalayan Herders

National Geographic - Everest 50 Years on the Mountain

2003

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay made history as the first people to reach the top of Everest. Now, 50 years later, three sons of Everest's most celebrated climbers return to the mountain to challenge it again. Join their journey as they brave the elements and face death to climb 29,000 feet of wind-blasted rock and ice. And, relive the dramatic history of Everest from great triumphs to deadly tragedies, enduring rivalries and the unsung role of the Sherpa people—as National Geographic exposes the untold stories that lurk in the mountain's epic shadow and takes you on the ultimate Everest experience.

Statues Also Die

1953 · ★ 6.9

Commissioned by the journal Présence Africaine, this short documentary examines how African art is devalued and alienated through colonial and museum contexts. Beginning with the question of why African works are confined to ethnographic displays while Greek or Egyptian art is celebrated, the film became a landmark of anti-colonial cinema and was banned in France for eight years.

Nanga Parbat - Mein Schlüsselberg

2021 · ★ 7

A tragic expedition to the Himalayas, told by the great mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who lost his brother there in 1970, swept away by an avalanche during the descent. An epic tale set against a grandiose backdrop.

Funeral Chants from the Georgian Caucasus

2007

A short film set in the mountainous province of Svaneti, documents the performance of polyphonic men’s funerary laments common to the region.

Tibet: Roof of the World

2020 · ★ 8

Join us as we explore life on the highest mountain plateau on Earth. This beautiful and other worldly place is also one of the harshest on the planet. We follow the lives of some of the iconic creatures that call it home. From Tibetan wolves struggling to raise pups in the rugged peaks, and rare snub nosed monkeys facing family dramas on the forest slopes to chiru antelopes that travel hundreds of miles to give birth while facing death, and hardy pika who tough out the elements all year, whilst under constant attack. Discover how these extraordinary animals manage to not only survive, but also thrive on the roof of the world.

Superhombre

2019 · ★ 8

Horia Colibasanu is a dentist, father of two boys and elite climber. In 2008, he refused to abandon, at 7400 meters on the Annapurna, his sick companion, the Basque mountaineer Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, implanted his own life in danger. His action dazzled the climbing community. Despite this tragic incident, he continued to climb in pure alpine style, without supplemental oxygen. In 2017, the 40-year-old Romanian athlete will return to Everest, after two unsuccessful attempts. For the first time, Horia is attempting a solo ascent.

The Shaman's Apprentice

2001 · ★ 8

Scientist Mark Plotkin races against time to save the ancient healing knowledge of Indian tribes from extinction.

Sikkim

1971 · ★ 6.7

Satyajit Ray's poetic documentary was commissioned by the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim at a time when he felt the sovereignty of Sikkim was under threat from both China and India. Ray's documentary is about the sovereignty of Sikkim. The film was banned by the government of India when Sikkim merged with India in 1975. The ban was finally lifted by the Ministry of External Affairs in September 2010. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

Yarsagumbu, l'or de l'Himalaya

2011

Every spring, tens of thousands of men, women and children leave their villages for a dangerous trek to the high Himalaya to collect Yarsagumbu, a mysterious transmutation between plant and insect. Used in Chinese medicine, it is worth up to 60 000 USD a kilo, more than gold.

Keeper of the Mountains

2013

Keeper of the Mountains is a portrait of Elizabeth Hawley and her unlikely key role in the Golden Age of Himalayan mountaineering, her defiance of the traditional gender roles of her day and her decision to settle alone in Kathmandu in 1960, where she has famously lived life on her own terms ever since. Hawley, 91 and a former journalist, maintains the world's largest and most treasured archive of Himalayan mountaineering expeditions and her work is trusted by news organizations and publications around the globe. All this despite never having climbed a mountain herself.

The Velvet Queen

2021 · ★ 7.9

High up on the Tibetan plateau. Amongst unexplored and inaccessible valleys lies one of the last sanctuaries of the wild world, where rare and undiscovered fauna lives. Vincent Munier, one of the world’s most renowned wildlife photographers takes the adventurer and novelist Sylvain Tesson (In the Forest of Siberia) with him on his latest mission. For several weeks, they’ll explore these valleys searching for unique animals and try to spot the snow leopard, one of the rarest and most difficult big cats to approach.

Thread of the Needle

Ano Ravenia, a mountain village in Greece, young men leave to find work, learn a trade or serve in the Army while a young woman may leave her father's house only to enter that of her husband. The unmarried girls remain in the village amoung the elderly folk, meeting together to embroider their trousseaus and chat. In a rural Greek community, it is not the role of women to express their point of view in public. The film allows the spectator to sit in one of these casual sewing sessions where the girls talk about their wishes and problems, most of which revolve around marriages that will change their lives.