Do you love exploring? Experimenting? Hiking? Travelling? Well, we have great news: head to the celebration of the mountains and people who are united in their curiosity in the world and drive to push boundaries.

Passion and Adventure

To conquer the world’s highest peaks, smash climbing records and push the boundaries of what’s possible, you need a spirit of a dreamer, an adventurous streak and the courage of an eternal voyager. We will meet mountaineers, conquerors of rocks and inspired explorers at the 21 Kraków Mountain Festival.  

Since its inception, the event’s focus has been on two film competitions, for Polish and international productions respectively. This year’s jury includes Bartek Bargiel, Franciszek Berbeka and Leszek Dawid. For the international competition, they are joined by special guest and head juror Rosanna Stedile, programme coordinator of the acclaimed Trento Film Festival. The Audience Award will also be an important distinction at this year’s event.

“This year’s selection was fascinating, since we received over 200 applications, but it also made it very difficult. Eventually, we chose 33 international films and eight Polish productions. We will certainly see great sporting feats, from alpinism and rock climbing to skiing and mountain biking. Importantly, we will also explore themes of environmental protection. We will meet great personalities from the mountaineering world, as well as artists. We’ll take a trip to the Himalayas and near the North Pole, to Nepal, India and North America, and even to the West Bank. There will be plenty of energy, suspense, drama and emotion,” promises Piotr Turkot, programme director of the festival.

The event also features traditional meetings with authors and literary discussions, numerous workshops including high-altitude first aid, and meetings with great personalities from mountaineering circles. Kraków is visited by the influential rock climber Chris Sharma, as well as Edu Marin, Seb Berthe, Klaas Willems and Berthe, Bartek Ziemski. The organisers will also hold a memorial to the popular climber Kacper Tekieli who died in May 2023 in an avalanche as he was descending from Jungfrau in Switzerland; he was an important guest at recent editions of the festival.

See you at ICE Kraków in December, fans of mountain adventures! And if you don’t get a chance to watch all the films during the festival, you’ll have until 31 December to catch up on Play Kraków.