Cinema, mountains, adventure and nature will be the main themes of the new edition of the Pyrenees Mountain Film Festival.

• 21 short films in competition, feature films, talks, exhibitions and the Trail "Hoya de Huesca" form the backbone of the programme.
• The "Prodigious Decade" of Aragonese mountaineering will be one of the main themes of this edition, in which Ángel López "Cintero" will receive an honorary award.
• The PMFF tour will be presented in Huesca on Saturday 24 February and will then go to Barbastro, Boltaña, Benasque and Tarbes.

The Pyrenees Mountain Film Festival will once again turn Huesca into the home of the best mountain, adventure and nature films. The event presents its new edition, which will be marked by a multidisciplinary programme with competition sessions, feature film screenings, talks, an exhibition and the return of the "Hoya de Huesca" Trail. Prominent guests such as Ángel López "Cintero", Severino Pallaruelo and María Fernández will be present between 19 and 24 February in the capital of Huesca.

The first of them will be recognised with the Honorary Award for his career and as a member of the "Prodigious Decade" of Aragonese mountaineering, a decade that will be the main focus of the 2024 programme. The culmination of the event will be the presentation of the tour on Saturday 24th at the Palacio de Congresos in Huesca, a special session consisting of a selection of 9 of the works in the competition; the main novelty in this area is that in addition to the provincial venues: Barbastro, Boltaña and Benasque, an international venue has been added: the French town of Tarbes. "It is an ambitious proposal, which seeks to satisfy the great lovers of mountain and adventure sports, but also to attract new audiences with the seal of quality that distinguishes our territory", says David Asensio, director of the festival.

The 2024 edition of the Pirineos Mountain Film Festival reveals its full programme, a multidisciplinary proposal that will have as its backbone the short film competition made up of 21 works from 12 European, American and African cinematographies. The Olimpia Theatre in Huesca will host the free screenings of the official section (17:00 and 18:30h) between Monday 19 February and Wednesday 21 February. A visual experience travelling through territories such as South Africa, Argentina, Finland, Colombia, Mexico, the United States and Spain, even the Pyrenees themselves.

Animation, fiction and documentary productions will compete for a prize of 6,000 euros and will show the spectator a complete amalgam of themes such as mountain, climbing, base jumping, freediving, mountain biking, skiing and kayaking. The jury made up of Ixeia Lacau, Chechu Arribas, Juan Carlos Somolinos, Jorge García and Roger-Vincent Calatayud will decide the winners, who will be announced on Thursday 22nd at a press conference. These awards have the backing and support of the venues: Best Short Film Award (3,000 euros), Best Adventure and Sport Short Film Award (1,500 euros), Best Culture and Nature Short Film Award (1.500 euros), Best Animation Short Film Award (trophy awarded by the town of Benasque), Best Screenplay Award (trophy awarded by the town of Tarbes), Audience Award (trophy awarded by the town of Boltaña) and Best Ibero-American Short Film Award (trophy awarded by the town of Barbastro).

The premiere presentation of the tour in the capital of Huesca will be the culmination of this kick-off and will take place on Saturday 24 February at 19:30h at the Palacio de Congresos de Huesca. A spatial programme consisting of 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 Draconians. After Huesca, the exhibition will come to Barbastro (15-March), Boltaña (6-April), Benasque (13-April) and Tarbes (6-April) in what is the confirmation of its international leap, building a cultural bridge between both sides of the mountain range that joins France and Spain. From then on, the annual tour will begin to visit other sites that will be confirmed in the coming months.

Ángel López Cintero and "The Prodigious Decade".

One of the highlights of the 2024 edition of the PMFF will be Thursday 22 February (Teatro Olimpia, 20:30h) when the Honorary Award will be presented to the Zaragozan climber Ángel López, popularly known as "el Cintero". The recognition highlights the career and work linked to the mountains and the natural environment of this pioneer of Aragonese mountaineering, he is also the oldest active climber in Spain and counts among his achievements openings in places such as the Mallos de Riglos, the Peña del Moro in Mezalocha, Ricla or the Foz de Salinas, as well as the first repetitions of the Espolón Clos, the Brecha de Roldán, the Puro de Vadiello or the Huevo de San Cosme. Together with Alberto Rabadá, Rafael Montaner and Juan José Díaz, in 1957 he achieved the first direct route to the west face of the Mallo Pisón in Riglos by the route they christened Serón-Millán.

After the award ceremony, the multi-award winning film "Yesterday's Mountains" will be shown, a film that won awards in Banff, Trieste and Torelló, among others, which focuses on the generation to which Ángel himself belongs. A group of men who marked an era and who will also be the focus of this year's exhibition: "THE PRODIGIOUS DECADE 1953-1963 of Aragonese Alpinism"; this compilation of unpublished and original materials deals with the ten years in which national climbing looked to Aragon and in particular to the routes opened by Rabadá and Navarro. Between 22 February and 23 March, the Ibercaja Centre - Villahermosa Palace will host the legacy of Pepe Díaz, Manuel Bescós, José Antonio Bescós, Rafael Montaner, Julián Vicente "Nanín" and "Cintero" himself, conquering the west face of the Naranjo de Bulnes or the assault on the north face of the Eiger.

A full programme of feature films

The programme will be completed with several feature films. Monday 19th (20:30h, Teatro Olimpia) will be the date for the premiere of Tañen Furo - Suenan Fuerte, a feature film by Javier Jiménez, which will also be shown in Barbastro on 16th March and which won the award for best documentary at the Fuentes de Ebro Festival; a journey through the sound of the Pyrenees through traditional instruments, ancestral music, dances and languages by the musician, DJ and producer Javier Idoipe.

On Tuesday 20th (20:30h, Teatro Olimpia) it will be the turn of the Polish production The Wall of Shadows. The filmmaker Eliza Kubarska takes the audience to Nepal to reflect on the relationship between foreign mountaineers and Sherpas, and the risks they take in order to achieve glory in the mountains. Viewers will have a second chance to enjoy this film in Boltaña on 5 April.

The third title will be seen in Barbastro on Saturday 16th March: Kina and Yuk. An exciting story for the whole family about life in the Arctic and parenthood for a pair of foxes.

Lectures by Severino Pallaruelo and María Fernández

Among this year's featured guests are Severino Pallaruelo and María Fernández. Both will visit Huesca on Friday 23rd February and their lectures will be held at the Ibercaja Centre - Palacio de Villahermosa. The first will be at 17:30h and in it the writer and geographer from Alto Aragon will analyse "La Casa Pirenaica" both as a building and as an institution, both in crisis; a review of the architecture of the area and the society looking at the past, present and future.

Marina Fernández, from Madrid, will be the second speaker on Friday with "La montaña mi patio de recreo" (The mountains, my playground). A review of her life linked to the mountain by the hand of her parents; "the three of us together have travelled, since I was born, practically all the mountain massifs of the Peninsula and some more outside it", she declares. She will also talk about the struggle to achieve her dreams and her vision as a woman in this area.

Within the parallel provincial programme, there are several outstanding activities such as the presence of Severino Pallaruelo in Benasque on 12th April or the screening of The Wall of Shadows on 5th April and the photography exhibition "Tresmiles del Pirineo" (5th and 6th April) in Boltaña. Barbastro will also organise the photographic exhibition and conference "The Pyrenees without Briet. 100 years of changes in the landscape" (14 March).

Sport is back with the IV Trail "Hoya de Huesca".

The festival will once again include a sports area, this time marked by the return of the Trail "Hoya de Huesca". https://p-guara.com/wordpress/secciones/carreras-por-montana-2/carreras-por -montana-2024/ivo-trail-hoya-de-huesca/  organised by Peña Guara and now in its fourth edition. A competitive race with two routes (26K and 16K) that will be held on Sunday 18 February and will run through some of the most important natural and heritage sites in the region, such as the Montearagón Castle or the Saso de Tierz Trenches.

Registration https://apuntame.click/evento/trail-hoya-de-huesca-2024 are open until 13 February and prices vary (between €15 and €30) depending on the distance and whether or not you are a member of a federation. The fee entitles the runner to a runner's bag, toilets and showers, medical assistance and cloakroom, and the winners will also be awarded with lots of gastronomic products and bottles of vermouth.

The expected return of the race is a major logistical effort as declared Manolo Bara, president of Peña Guara, "first the pandemic and then the works of the highway made it impossible to organize this Trail, but finally this year it will be possible to return to enjoy our environment in a race that was very popular since its inception. We have to thank the work and support of many people and institutions for making this possible", he concludes.

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, Instituto Aragonés de la Mujer, Fundación Ibercaja and Turismo de Aragón. Consult the full programme and ticket sales at www.pirineosmff.com