Special mention: "The Curse of the Mountain", Dariusz Zaluski / Oswald Rodrigo Perera

The main jury of Echo decided on several categories this year. Among them: best feature film, best climbing film, best mountaineering film, best culture & nature film and the Grand Prix. A Special Recognition Award - to the aforementioned film was also announced.

The decisions were read by Ivo Baru - a member of the jury, who said about this film:

Warm and emotional, above all because of the characters through whom the story is told: Jan Lenchovski (in addition to the desire to climb Nanda Devi, he also has an additional motive - to repeat the success of his great-grandfather who was part of the expedition that in 1939 for the first time climbed Nanda Devi) and his grandmother (who devotedly keeps a stack of letters and other memorabilia from her untimely father).

The parallel with the 1939 expedition is an excellent solution that does not "drive" through the film. The impact of World War II gives a different context to Nanda Davi's conquest viz. it makes success absolutely irrelevant and invisible. It is this irony that gives the film an interesting quality: personal success makes it absolutely absurd, even a loser, from one perspective, but on the other hand it gives it even more importance, because certain feats a person does for himself, not for the sake of others.

Congratulations!