The film “Mountain Leader”.

“The summit is a secondary thing, the important thing is the person who is born during the climb.”

Making a film from a domestic environment is, paradoxically, far, far more difficult than, say, from the Amazon rainforest. Especially when you want to capture in an interesting way a place as well known to all Slovaks as the High Tatras and at the same time a specific craft, a community of people such as mountain guides. I know most of them well. They are strong personalities, authorities who have to rely on themselves and only themselves in everything when doing their dangerous job. Mountain guides are reviled by many, admired by others, and not tolerated by others. It is a difficult craft to grasp and one for which few are suited. Even today, carefully selected aspirants go through a demanding training of several years. Not all succeed. The film is not a profile of an individual, but rather a look at the profession, or rather the mission, of mountain guides. And a little bit about its flip side. Organized guiding in the Tatras will be 150 years old. That is why I am glad that the 30th International Mountain Film Festival in Poprad managed to prepare such a Tatra film about this traditional craft.

Pavol Barabáš
www.pavolbarabas.sk