DMFF #14: another action-packed festival full of fun and films!

Awards Show

As tradition has it, the culminating point of the festival week is the Awards Show. The stage set for this year’s show was a makeshift building site, in keeping with the festival theme: mountains and man-made structures. Proceedings were presided over by Jeroen, aptly turned out in builder’s attire and ably assisted by a similarly dressed Jesse. Winners were called to the podium in turn to collect their Steinmann trophies under the watchful eye of the jury from behind an architect’s drawing board.

See you next year!

Awards Walk

Arriving punctually for the Awards Show were a group of hikers, who had set off by foot at 9 o’clock that morning from the Apollo Kino in Aachen to walk the 25 kilometres to the Royal Theater in Heerlen. Part of the route included the Lousberg in Aachen and the Wilhelminaberg in Kerkrade.

Bergen&Boeken Brunch

The less energetic amongst festival-goers settled down to a brunch of coffee and rolls to listen to three authors – Sholeh Rezazadeh, Kaya Erdinç and Max Hermens – interviewed by Benti Banach. All three read passages from their works and during the interlude, singer Mahnaz Heygharnejadi entertained the audience with two arousing songs from her homeland in Iran. The session was rounded off by Andrew Davies who talked about the new DMFF book, Mapping the Mountains.

Summit2Summit Ride

Neither too hot, nor too cold – just quite overcast – conditions for this year’s traditional Sunday cycle ride from the Royal to the highest point in the Netherlands, the highest point in Belgium – and back! – were pretty perfect. The full distance of the ride was 140 kilometres, but two alternative Summit2Summit routes had been set out this year: a shorter 95-kilometre itinerary for racing bikes and a 108-kilometre ride for gravel bikes. Pancakes were served up at the halfway stage at the Wesertal reservoir near Eupen. Yummy!

VIP guests in Heerlen

Friday evening saw the première of the Himalayan epic Shambhala in the Royal: reason enough for the Nepalese ambassador in the Benelux to travel to Heerlen to witness this grand event. He was warmly received by Jordy Clemens, the Heerlen executive councillor responsible for culture.

Lively literature evening in Aachen

Extra chairs had to be chartered to accommodate all those who had come along to attend our mountain literature evening in Literatuurcafé Vers, in the heart of Aachen. Authors Christhoph Wenzel and Jürgen Nendza, as well as visual artist Anett Frontzek – whose exhibition was opened on the night and which can be visited during the month of November – were interviewed by our very own Hannah Kuhn about their creations.

Films and filmmakers

Each new day brings a new clutch of film makers to the Dutch Mountain Film Festival. Some of them are here to attend the Filmmakers’ Programme on Friday, others for the screening of their own films and, of course, for the Awards Show on Sunday! Biel Macià was at the Apollo Kino in Aachen on Wednesday evening for the showing of the climbing film Montserrat, integral 107, likewise Jan Ciallella for Diciassette. Both were on hand to talk about their films and answer questions from an attentive audience.

Kids workshop stop-motionfilm

Under the watchful eye of film maker and ‘Fröbelfrau’ Lisette Wansink, 17 local youngsters got down to work on their own stop-motion film about climbing heroes Axie and Dennis. The afternoon kicked off with a viewing of the film, Axie en de Wunder Dachsies: the kids were so excited they got to see the film a second time around! Afterwards, they were all given a miniature ‘theatre box’ with which to create their own film. The results of their efforts were later shown on the large screen, to the great delight of the young audience!

Meanwhile in Berghut Halverwege

On the same night as the official opening, just across the border in Vaals, architects Remy Kroese and Marlies Vermeulen had organised an evening of entertainment in Berghut Halverwege. A sold-out audience listened as the couple talked about their ideas with respect to living and working in their self-contained Berghut, and the screening of Bergwiesen, vom Schwenden und Heuen provided the perfect accompaniment.

Architecture in the GTB Lab

Elma Durmisevic, founder and creator of the GTB Lab, first gave a guided tour of this fascinating building that serves as a test lab and knowledge centre for circular construction.
Following this, visitors were treated to a viewing of the documentary Matteo Thun, architect of the mountains and later, listened to the musings of Emmanuel Laugs, an ecological architect specialising in the restoration and transformation of half-timbered houses, leading to a meaningful discussion.

Screening of ‘Gondola’ at Kabelbaan Valkenburg

Valkenburg’s very own chair-lift served as the backdrop to the screening of this entertaining feel-good film. To get to the ‘theatre’ at the Wilheminatoren, towering above Valkenburg, visitors first had to climb aboard the lift. Having enjoyed this wonderful film, which tells a story of romance in a cable-car (the gondola), everybody took the return trip down under the star-studded heavens.