Messner

Messner

Opening with breathtaking aerial footage of the snow-covered Himalayas is this fascinating study of Reinhold Messner, probably the greatest mountain climber of all time and the first man to scale all 14 peaks higher than 8,000 metres. But for all his astounding achievements Reinhold Messner’s name remains synonymous with an ill-fated assault on Nanga Parbat (‘Naked Mountain’ in Urdu) in 1970 that resulted in the death of his brother, Günther, at the age of 23. Speaking candidly to documentary maker Andreas Nickel, Messner relates the story of his truly extraordinary life from childhood in a strictly disciplined family of 11 to his celebrated climbing partnership with Günther and later exploits including a return to Nanga Parbat. Featuring frank testimony by several of Messner’s siblings this portrait of a charismatic adventurer is also a rich examination of the important place mountain climbing occupies in the German psyche.

Andreas Nickel was born 1962 in Mühldorf and studied at the Swiss University Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Lausanne. He worked as a managing director before he released his first movie Zum dritten Pol in 2008. During the shoot he worked closely with Reinhold Messner, which led to his second documentary Messner.

Genre	Documentary, Biography
Year	2012
Director	Andreas Nickel
Screenplay	Andreas Nickel
Principal Cast	Florian Riegler, Hubert Niederwolfsgruber
Length	108 min

Screening details

Date/Time	Venue
Sun, 05 May, 8.00pm	Kino Cinemas, Melbourne
Mon, 06 May, 9.15pm	Palace Verona, Sydney
Wed, 08 May, 9.00pm	Palace Verona, Sydney

Classification: Under 15’s must be accompanied by a parent/adult guardian (General Festival Conditions)

Festival Screenings: Brixen 2012, Graz 2012, Torelló 2012

World Sales
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