Perhaps aware that homegrown Swiss cinema fills few buffs with a sense of wild excitement, this prosperous, tri-lingual nation has decided instead to play to its geographical strengths: last August saw the inaugural Swiss Mountain Film Festival, held in the Alpine village of Pontresina ('the highlands of the world!'), situated 1.8km above sea-level, and boasting peaks up to 4km high (the Piz Bernina and the Piz Zupò). The festival's remit is simple: it aims to pay tribute 'to all those directors who have chosen the mountain as the main subject of their cinematographic works'; and sure enough, the first edition saw a sidebar dedicated entirely to works out of Tibet and Nepal—though predictably, German and Austrian works dominated the remainder of the program. A second festival is due to run August 12th-18th this year, so break out those oxygen cylinders!
Image: (c) Pontresina Tourismus
