Schedule and Tickets

Create your own ticket-packs for Mendi Film 2025

Choose Date:

Friday, December 12, 2025

10:00	MENDI PRO Euskalduna 12 dic 10:00 Euskalduna Jauregia MENDI PRO Friday December 12 – 10:00 Euskalduna Bilbao Tickets: Free admission until full capacity. Tickets must be obtained on the Euskalduna Bilbao website 3rd edition of the conference aimed at promoting and bringing together the mountain film industry within the framework of BBK Mendi Film Bilbao Bizkaia. The grant Mendi Film Beka will have a special section in the session, with the presentation of the winning project of the 2026 grant, which in its 6th edition is supported by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia through its Department of Basque Language, Culture and Sports, and the Mendi Film. The grant is intended for the creation of documentary film projects that aim to promote mountain culture through audiovisual media. The Mendi Pro conference will be rounded off with a Master Class and a Panel Talk: Master Class: "Champions of the Golden Valley. From idea to the Oscars". Speakers: Ben Sturgulewski and Katie Stjernholm, director and producer of the film. The Mendi Film Official Selection film ‘Champions of the Golden Valley’ is aiming for an Oscar nomination. Its director, American Ben Sturgulewski, is one of the most prolific filmmakers at Mendi Film, having submitted 12 works to the contest. He made his debut in 2011, winning the Audience Award with ‘Solitaire’, and in 2022 he received the Best Soundtrack Award for ‘Creation Theory’ in recognition of the work of Griff Netanyahu Burn and Goth Babe. Katie Stjernholm and both work at the production company Sturgefilm. Panel Talk: "Desperately looking for funds" Speakers: Crystal Merrill, director of the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride (USA), filmmaker Michael Brown, filmmaker/producer Elena Goatelli, and filmmaker/producer Ángel Esteban. Topic: Sustainable funding models; strategies for obtaining funding from investors, platforms, and festivals; keys to finding adequate funding and distribution; Mountainfilm Telluride grant models.
16:00	Mendi talk GEURE(R)A Euskalduna Bilbao 12 Dic 16:00 Euskalduna Jauregia GEURE(R)A JANIRE ETXABE, TOTI MARTÍNEZ DE LEZEA, ELI AZURMENDI, JUANTXO ZEBERIO Friday December 12 – 16:00 Euskalduna Bilbao Geure(R)a is a book that transforms vertical dance into sound, images & words. Originating in Janire Etxabe's stage work with Harrobi Dantza Bertikala, it pays tribute to the women burned at the stake during the witch hunts, rooted in Basque memory and culture. It is Illustrated by Eli Azurmendi and accompanied by poetic prose crafted by Toti Martínez de Lezea, with music by Juantxo Zeberio. This combined work offers a dynamic, evocative, powerful and poetic artistic experience that celebrates the resilience and transformative power of women.
17:30	Euskalduna Bilbao 12 dic 17:30 BHAGIRATHI III, ODYSSEA BOREALIS - L'IGNOTO ESISTE ANCORA Euskalduna Jauregia BHAGIRATHI III 2025, Spain, 40min Director: Rubén Pérez Blázquez EUSKADI PREMIERE Four veteran mountaineers, Mikel Sáez de Urabain, José María Andrés de la Torre “Chemari”, Rubén Pérez “Ino” and Alex Kammerlander, strangers to each other, travel to the Indian Himalayas to climb the south-western pillar of Bhagirathi III (6,454 m). Seven days hanging on the wall, in both storms and extreme cold, will test their limits. The greatest achievement will be returning together as friends more than reaching the summit. ODYSSEA BOREALIS - L'IGNOTO ESISTE ANCORA 2024, Italy, 44min Director: Alessandro Beltrame EUSKADI PREMIERE Mateo della Bordella, Alex Gammeter, Silvan Schüpbagh and Symon Welfringer, challenge the icy waters of eastern Greenland in an epic 300-kilometer odyssey. Their goal: to scale the untouched northwest face of Drøneren, standing 1,200 meters high, navigating in kayaks to approach there. Driven by the primal instinct of exploration, these modern Ulysses are not seeking conquest, but the pure essence of adventure. With ingenuity and determination, they dive into a world where curiosity is the only compass.
19:10	See What I Saw: Karakoram (15min) Euskalduna Jauregia SEE WHAT I SAW: KARAKORAM 2024, Pakistan / Netherlands, 16min Director: Boris Peters NATIONAL PREMIERE Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Karakoram Mountain range in Pakistan, the film reveals the stark contrasts between the overwhelming beauty of nature and human vulnerability. An 18-day glacier expedition through the Karakoram (Pakistan) forms the backdrop for a physically and mentally demanding journey. Boris Peters creates visual contrasts by placing two perspectives side by side - mirroring the sensory overload the landscape evoked.
19:45	Euskalduna Bilbao 12 dic 19:45 PREMIO WOP MENDI FILM 2025, CHAMPIONS OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY Euskalduna Jauregia WOP MENDI FILM AWARD 2025 CATHERINE DESTIVELLE Friday december 8 – 19:45 Euskalduna Bilbao Climber, mountaineer, writer, editor and conference speaker. Catherine Destivelle probably never imagined where her first steps climbing the boulders of Fontainebleau, where her parents took her to play as a child, would lead her. At 16, she was already climbing in the Verdon. Her victory in the first world climbing championship in Bardonechia (1985) propelled her into the professional world. Then came the leap into mountaineering: the first solo female winter ascent of the north face of the Eiger, the first absolute repeat of the Bonatti route on the north face of the Matterhorn, the Trango Tower, the ascent of the south-west face of Shisha Pangma... all of which forged her path. In 2020 she was awarded the Piolet d'Or for her career. She founded the publishing house Les éditions du Mont-Blanc with the aim of transforming the mountain itself into an educational tool. The books she publishes reveal incredible mountaineering stories and share a love of the mountains. “My goal is to build a bridge between cultural history, sporting heritage and the ecological and scientific concerns of the times we live in”, she says. Her publishing team is deliberately made up entirely of women. WOP Mendi Film Award winners: • Basque and Navarre Mountaineering Federations (2024) • Edurne Pasaban (2023) • Eduardo Martínez de Pisón (2022) • Sebastián Álvaro (2021) • Baltistán Fundazioa Foundation (2020) • Nives Meroi and Romano Benet (2019) • Juanjo San Sebastián (2018) • Peter Habeler (2017) • Sir Chris Bonington (2016) • Josep Manuel Anglada (2015) • Drawn film by Jeremy Collins (2014) CHAMPIONS OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY 2024, Afghanistan, Germany, United States, 81min Director: Ben Sturgulewski NATIONAL PREMIERE Up in the snow-capped mountains of Afghanistan, in the remote region of Bamyan, a homegrown ski culture is emerging. At the heart of this movement is Alishah Farhang, a former Winter Olympic hopeful whose dream of being the first to represent Afghanistan in alpine skiing, transforms into a mission to bring his passion for the sport to his homeland. Equipped with handmade wooden skis and second-hand gear, young athletes from rival villages come together to compete in a ski mountaineering race, like no other. The event becomes a powerful catalyst for unity and hope, showcasing the transformative power of sport to bridge deep divides. And when their world is suddenly upended, Alishah and the athletes must call upon those lessons learned on the slopes.