Henri Agresti

Isabelle Agresti

François Lespinasse

After reading the book "Guide to Hoggar Climbing," guide Pierre Agresti and his wife Isabelle Agresti set off into the Hoggar massif in the Algerian Sahara and tackled the west face of Garet El Djenoun. After a first attempt in 1967, they successfully reached the summit in 1970 and, with an old camera, made a film that remained unused for 25 years. In 1996, they decided to bring the past back to life through the ascent and encounters with the Tuaregs in the rock salt mines of Amadror. The film was shown in competition at the Trento Film Festival in 1997.

The Kabyle people define themselves first and foremost through the spoken word. Every gesture, every moment of their daily lives can give rise to a language of verse, metaphors, and proverbs. After all, isn't it said that in the mountain foothills they call home, verbal dueling was a common pastime? It is a reality difficult to visualize when one looks at the immigrant society where these men and women—often illiterate—are relegated solely to the roles of manual laborers and housewives; one can hardly imagine the eloquent orators they become when they return to their native tongue.

This film presents the point of view of an Arab from Algeria who rebels against colonization. He analyzes the process of awareness, the transition to revolt, to armed insurrection. Algeria and the settlers are seen through this lens and not the way a Frenchman saw the country. He gives voice to the Arabs at a time when this word was not heard: sometimes it was not even produced, at least publicly. The testimonies are based on real propositions, most of them were made to the author during his stay in Algeria from 1948 to 1956, then in 1958 and 1959. The comments are borrowed from the texts of Arab theorists of the revolution Algerian. This film thus completely evacuates the point of view of those who are not insurgents; he does not give the opinion of the colonists. It is the direct expression of what was the revolt of a colonized person: it thus constitutes the very type of the historical document.

In October 1984, Pierre Béghin, an engineer from Grenoble, and Jean-Noël Roche, a high-mountain guide, completed the Himalayan ascent of Dhaulagiri (8,172 m). The expedition's context: seven people crossed Nepal to Muri, collected accounts from trekkers—including that of the author Robert Rieffel—and attended Sherpa prayers at base camp. Then, the two of them embarked on a rocky and snowy route without supplemental oxygen. At over 5,000 meters, on the mountain of winds, Jean-Noël Roche made a paragliding flight. The climbers brought back footage with their Super 8 camera from 6,500 meters, but only photographs have been able to confirm their presence on the summit ridge of the seventh highest peak in the world.

On April 29, 1983, three French alpinists reached the summit of Jannu, having climbed its 7,710 meters via the very steep southwest spur. The success of Luc Jourjon, Jean-Noël Roche, and Roger Fillon echoed that of the 1962 national expedition, which had been celebrated by Lionel Terray alongside the leading climbers of the time, Desmaison, Paragot, Magnone… But in 1983, the goal was no longer simply to wave a French flag on a virgin summit. The focus was already on a more "alpine" style, and there was even the idea of ​​descending from the top… by air!

A Viking boy is left behind after his clan battles a Native American tribe. Raised within the tribe, he ultimately becomes their savior in a fight against the Norsemen.

Learn how to climb Great Gable in the Lake District, via the Arrowhead ridge climb.