The Draconians wins best short film at the Pirineos Mountain Film Festival

ByMoises Campos
the-draconians,-by-Joonas
  • French production directed by Maxime Moulin wins jury's favour and wins the €3,000 prize money
  • The best adventure and sports short film is the Swiss Eternal Flemme and the best culture and nature short film is the Spanish Ardiak, Ezkontza Eta Kontrabandoa.
  • Spectators award the Audience Award to Pico Lenin: The Beginning of the Road

The French film The Draconians has become the Best Short Film of the Pyrenees Mountain Film Festival in its 2024 edition. Maxime Moulin's work has been awarded by the jury for "an outstanding image quality to tell in a fluid way an authentic adventure in an unknown territory". The High Aragonese film festival also recognises Eternal Flemme by Nicolas Bossard (Switzerland) for Best Adventure and Sports Short Film, as well as to Ardiak, Ezkontza Eta Kontrabandoa by Andrés Salaberri (Spain) for Best Culture and Nature Short Film.

Spectators, for their part, have opted for Pico Lenin: The beginning of the road by Héctor Calvo, which won the Audience Award. The list of winners is completed with the Polish work Magda for best animation, the Finnish Pimeän Vieraat for best screenplay and the Mexican Reaching for the stars as best Ibero-American short film. Along with the competition awards, the festival also presents its Honorary Award, which this year goes to the Zaragozan climber Ángel López "Cintero", an icon and pioneer of mountaineering in Spain.  

The Pyrenees Mountain Film Festival reveals its 2024 list of winners, where the French work The Draconians won the €3,000 Best Short Film Award. Maxime Moulin's film has been highlighted for "an outstanding image quality to tell in a fluid way an authentic adventure in an unknown territory", in the words of the jury. This visual experience takes the viewer into Norway's most remote landscapes with two skiers and the filmmaker himself, a journey from the island of Senja to the heart of the Lyngen Alps.

Swiss production Eternal Flemme by Nicolas Bossard is the winner in the category of Best Adventure and Sports Short Film (€1,500), "for intensely conveying an adventure at the limit. A tribute to the pioneers of base jumping portrayed with spectacular images not lacking in humour". Meanwhile, the third of the financial awards, the Best Culture and Nature Short Film (€1,500), went to Spain; Ardiak, Ezkontza Eta Kontrabandoa by Andrés Salaberri manages to "portray in a very intimate way the life of a family over generations, always in a relationship of respect, harmony and symbiosis with the mountain", as the official report argues.

The list of winners is completed by the Best Animation Short Film (with a trophy awarded by the town of Benasque) for the Polish film Magda by Adela Kaczmarek, the Best Screenplay (with a trophy awarded by the town of Tarbes) for the Finnish film Pimeän Vieraat by Jenni Pystynen and Peritu Inkilä; and the Best Iberoamerican Short Film (with a trophy awarded by the town of Barbastro) for the Mexican film Reaching for the stars by Remi Vorano.

The jury formed by Chechu Arribas (Benasque), Ixeia Lacau (Barbastro), Jorge García (Huesca), Roger-Vincent Calatayud (Tarbes) and Juan Carlos Somolinos (Boltaña) has also decided to award two special mentions to the following short films Swimming Through from the United States, directed by Samantha Sander; and Something is changing from Spain, directed by Mikel Sarasola.

The viewers' vote was also reflected in the final Audience Award, which went to Pico Lenin: The beginning of the road by Héctor Calvo (Spain).

The only recognition that was previously known was the Honorary Award for 2024, a trophy that has a new design and will be collected this Thursday at the Teatro Olimpia by the Zaragozan climber Ángel López. Pioneer and icon of mountaineering, this climber, popularly known as "el Cintero", is at 87 years old the longest active climber in Spain and holds the first direct route to the west face of Mallo Pisón in Riglos by the route christened Serón-Millán, as well as openings in the Mallos de Riglos, the Peña del Moro in Mezalocha, Ricla or the Foz de Salinas. These achievements have earned him the Gold Medal of the Aragon Mountaineers and the Aragon Government's Lifetime Sports Master's Award.

THE PMFF FACES ITS FINAL STRAIGHT IN HUESCA

The Mountain, Adventure and Nature Film Festival of the Pyrenees enters its final phase where the focus shifts to the conferences and the presentation of the International Tour. On Friday 23rd the official venue will be the Ibercaja Centre - Palacio de Villahermosa, where Severino Pallaruelo will give the first of the conferences (17:30h), under the title "The Pyrenean House"; this writer and geographer born in Puyarruego will analyse the concept from all its prisms. After him, it will be Marina Fernández from Madrid who will take over with "La montaña mi patio de recreo" (19:30h); a review of her life experience as a woman in the massifs of the Peninsula where dreams, struggle, travel and fun are intermingled.

The premiere of the national and international tour of the PMFF will bring the festival to a close. On Saturday 24th at 19:30h, the Palacio de Congresos de Huesca will be decked out for the premiere of the special session made up of 9 films selected by the festival's own team from among the 21 in competition. Ardiak, ezkontza eta kontrabandoa, Tempo II. Movements in Jungle, Eiger Norwand, And yet, I remain, Something is Changing, Magda, Eternal Flemme, Swimming Through and the winner for Best Short Film The Draconians offer a unique visual experience on the big screen where you can enjoy different landscapes and modalities. After Huesca, the programme can be seen in Barbastro (15-March), Boltaña (6-April), Benasque (13-April) and Tarbes (6-April), as well as other locations in Spain and abroad that will be confirmed in the coming months.

The Pirineos Mountain Film Festival is organised by the Fundación Festival Internacional de Cine de Huesca with the collaboration of Peña Guara and with the support of the Diputación Provincial de Huesca, Ayuntamiento de Huesca, Gobierno de Aragón, TuHuesca, Aramón, Fundación Deporte Joven del Consejo Superior de Deportes, Fundación Ibercaja and Turismo de Aragón.

Check all the programme and ticket sales at www.pirineosmff.com.