From the middle of 19th century the European mountaineers started to climb the peaks of Corsica. The island offered an exotic atmosphere to the climbers of that time, who were fascinated by these high mountains in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Some famous climbers like Francis F. Tuckett, the painter Edouard Th. Compton and George Ingle Finch climbed the peaks of Corsica. On an island lacking all mountain facilities, mountaineering aroused curiosity among the inhabitants: there were no refuges, but sheepfolds, not porters but mule drivers. The German, Felix von Cube, had led three expeditions on the island starting in 1899 and was the pioneer of the mountains of Corsica. He published several articles that would become useful to his successors. More recently, in the sixties, Kurt Diemberger, the famous film-maker and expert in the Himalayas, would arrive on the island to climb its walls. In 2005 Kurt Diemberger returned to the island at the age of 75 to climb the symbolic peak of Corsica: le Capu Tafunatu, the mountain with the huge hole in the middle.
Directors
IRMTRAUD HUBATSCHEK
Irmtraud Hubatschek was born in Klagenfurt, Austria in 1960 and has lived in Corsica since 1994.
Since 1993 she has worked with Erika Hubatschek to manage their archives of pictures about life in the Alps, organise books and art calendars for publication and deal with exhibitions. Filmography includes: L'île des orgues (2000), Vom Leben am Steilhang (2002), L'île des orgues (2000), Vom Leben am Steilhang (2003) selected at the Mountain Film Festival of Trento, and Notturno di Corsica (2005).
JOËL JENIN
Joël Jenin is a French writer and filmmaker, specialising in documentary films for television. Her broad filmography includes:Les chemins du Filosorma, Marsulinu: la vallée des bergers, Les bergers corses au Tyrol , La transhumance des truites , L’Ile des Orgues , Sang de yak, Le Cap des marins, Du cap Corse à Punta Arenas, Le chant des pierres, Partitions oubliées, Danube, fleuve d’Europe, Le péril vient de la mer and Les bergers d’Alzu, the ordinary and extraordinary life of mountain shepherds, selected for the Festival du Pastoralisme et grands espaces, in 2004.
Une vie sur la pente raide, selected for the Mountain Film Festival of Trento in 2004, the International Festival of mountain film of Tegernsee and awarded at the International Film Festival of mountain film of Autrans in December.