When the sun sets on the Matterhorn …

The Matterhorn is Switzerland's most famous mountain, even though it is not the highest. Switzerland Tourism/C. Sonderegger/swiss-image.ch

The curtain is about to go up on the Mountain Film Festival in Zermatt and once again the most famous of all Swiss mountains will play a starring role.

The festival kicks off on July 11 with a series of short films on extreme rock and ice climbing in the Alps, in the deserts of Africa and the United States.

The Matterhorn makes it onto the big screen on the second night of the festival, with an airing of the 1955 Swiss classic, “Whympers Weg aufs Matterhorn” (Whymper’s route to the Matterhorn).

The feature-length docudrama follows a local mountain guide hired by an American woman who wants to retrace the steps of the first man to climb the Matterhorn.
The film was made by the guide himself, August Julen, whose running commentary in German, English and French lends the film a special charm.

Julen is back on July 14 with a film in German and English about Zermatt’s local culture.

Sean Connery

The American melodrama, “Five Days One Summer”, which stars Sean Connery and was set in Switzerland’s eastern Engadine region, will be aired the same evening. The 1982 film was directed by Fred Zinnemann, best known for the Hollywood classic, “High Noon”.

The festival ends on July 15 with the Japanese film, “Narayama”. It tells the story of ancient rites in a mountain village and was awarded the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival 20 years ago.

All films will be screened in the “Vernissage” cinema.

swissinfo