"JUREK" WINS IN KOREA
Korean festival Ulju Mountain Film Festival International announced the winners of this year's edition. "Jurek" by Paweł Wysoczański was honoured with the Grand Prize.
24 films from 13 countries of the world participated in the competition. The jury awarded prizes in four categories, as well as the special award and the main award - Grand Prize of the Festival. It is the award which went to the documentary film "Jurek" by Paweł Wysoczański.
In the justification of the jury's verdict, we can read that it is a moving film, depicting the depth and complexity of the character of one of the greatest mountain climbers of all times. An extraordinary amount of archive materials from the Golden Era of Polish alpinism and emotional interviews, combined with splendidly reconstructed scenes and with perfect editing, create a really exceptional film.
"Jurek" tells the story of Jerzy Kukuczka, who died on 24 October 1989 during the Lhotse expedition. It was the first time when he went to the Himalayas with money, equipment, and as a really famous person. The documentary by Paweł Wysoczański does not, however, concentrate on the mystery of the Himalayan mountaineer's death. It shows a person who climbs up, higher and higher - literally, but also metaphorically and symbolically. From a bootblack to a millionaire, from a socialist worker to an international media star, from the man who climbs without any money and equipment to the real competitor of Reinhold Messner in the competition to climb the Crown of the Himalayas and the Karakoram. Interviews with family and friends, archive materials, photographs, recordings, excerpts from television programmes and interviews make up the portrait of the Himalayan mountaineers in 1980s. It is also the image of the times in which they lived - hard and colourful at the same time, when idealism was more valued than fame.
The full list of the winners is available here.