The Holy Mountain

Portrays the adventure of the first Dominican expedition to reach the top of Mount Everest in Nepal. It contrasts the highest mount in the world with the low lands of the Caribbean, as the three climbers surpass the difficult track to the top. At the same time, three Dominican children, son of fishermen, start their own challenge in climbing the highest mountain in the island.

The French adventurer Eliott Schonfeld crosses the Himalayas from west to east. Off the beaten track, his way leads him first through the wide valleys of Ladakh and over barren passes and glaciers to Nepal. There is always some seven-thousander in sight, but people and villages are the exception. Eliott's only companion on this lonely hike is his horse Robert. While the snowy and icy passages become a real challenge for the four-legged friend, Eliott feels in the bitterly cold nights on his own body that he may have saved too much on his equipment. Nevertheless, the minimalist adventurer explores his limits along the way and does without the last comforts of civilization: tent, sleeping bag and lighter. How little is just enough?

Record of the first ascent of Everest made without the use of oxygen equipment, made in May 1978 by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. Could it be done? Would their blood vessels burst? Would they suffer brain damage leading to madness? Nobody was sure. Messner: 'I would never come here for trying Everest with oxygen. That is not a challenge for me.' A fascinating piece of history, well filmed by Leo Dickinson and Eric Jones (above the South Col Messner used a cine camera to continue the filming), featuring Messner and Habeler's thoughts. The film follows the usual sequence from Namche to Base Camp, through the Icefall, to Camps I, II and III. It also shows historical footage of the pioneering Mallory and Shipton expeditions.

Although the mountain volcano Mauna Kea last erupted around 4,000 years ago, it is still hot today, the center of a burning controversy over whether its summit should be used for astronomical observatories or preserved as a cultural landscape sacred to the Hawaiian people. For five years the documentary production team Nā Maka o ka 'Āina ("the eyes of the land") captured on video the seasonal moods of Mauna Kea's unique 14,000-foot summit, the richly varied ecosystems that extend from sea level to alpine zone, the legends and stories that reveal the mountain's geologic and cultural history, and the political turbulence surrounding the efforts to protect the most significant temple in the islands: the mountain itself.

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

Daredevil mountain climbers on their attempt to break yet another speed climbing record.

The traditional healers in the Swiss and French mountains.

Directed by Marianne Chaud