ARTICLE

Interview with Ski Mountaineer, Axel Naglich, in the documentary Mount St. Elias

By InCinemas / 06 May 2011 (Friday)

[Interview with Ski Mountaineer, Axel Naglich, below]
[Trailer of Mount St. Elias below]

Thanks to the European Film Festival, we now have the opportunity to watch movies from European countries in theatres from 5 to 15 May 2011 at GV Vivocity. Do note that there is only one screening for each movie so make full use of the opportunity and purchase your tickets in advance!

Tickets at $10 are available on-line at www.gv.com.sg and at all GV Box Office.
All complimentary passes and credit card promotions are not valid for the film festival.

GV Movie Club members enjoy $1 off European Union Film Festival 2011 tickets!
Members must login to their membership account or present their membership card before purchasing tickets.

[Mount St. Elias Official Site]

[Synopsis] Set against the backdrop of Alaskas dangerous beauty, three of the worlds greatest ski mountaineers attempt to climb and also attempt the worlds longest ski descent on Mount St. Elias. Austrian ski-mountaineers, Axel Naglich and Peter Ressmann, and American free ski-mountaineer, Jon Johnston, realise their passion and above all strive to survive this breathtaking challenge.

Awards:
- Best Documentary: 2009 Thurnersee Film Festival
- Jury Grand Prize Best of Show: 2009 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival
- Grand Prize of the Festival: 2009 Kendal Film Festival

Here at InCinemas, we are honoured to have the opportunity to find out more about the feature documentary, Mount St. Elias, which will be screening tomorrow Saturday at 5pm. There aren't a lot of seats remaining so make your move quickly! And find below an interview exchange we have with Axel Naglich, one of the ski mountaineers featured in the film.

Q: Share with us the difficulties you face when filming this documentary feature. Were there scenes that require more than one take?
Axel: The problem of this whole project: It is all outside and this is a big mountain. You have to find a system of filming that is resistant to the temperatures all capable to cover the whole mountain. All this in accordance to the limited budget. The detail: You don’t really know what will happen, it is hard to make a storybook! i. e. of course we didn’t plan to end up in a storm …..

Q: Tell us about your opinion on working with director Gerald Salmina.
Axel: Gerald is a friend and partner of mine. I have been working with him for more than 15 years so we know each other pretty well. The idea to this project appeared in discussion with Gerald and we set up the whole project together. Due to the limited budget we had to minimize a lot of expenses and cover many jobs in this project with his or my person (means we were very “busy”!). As we were busy planning and budgeting this film for more than 4 years not knowing if we will ever manage to succeed (reach the summit and ski the mountain), it was a very intense and sometimes stressfull situation.

Q: How does filming this documentary benefit you as a ski mountaineer or to the community of ski mountaineers?
Axel: We tried to produce an authentic film about a mountaineering and skiing project and bring it also to people who maybe don’t know what we are doing up there in the mountains and also to motivate the people to go out there and enjoy our beautyfull planet.

Q: What do you think the audience will take away from this documentary?
Axel: I hope a lot of inspiration to “go for it”!!

You may be interested in:
[The 21st European Union Film Festival this May 2011]
[VSIFF Screenings this Weekend 6, 7 and 8 May!]
[Celestial Movies Starhub TV Channel 868 this May 2011]

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Interview with Ski Mountaineer, Axel Naglich, in the documentary Mount St. Elias