REQUIEM IN WHITE
Passing without Dignity
STREAMING
Online Release Date: TBA
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REQUIEM IN WHITE – Passing without Dignity
With this documentary film, Harry Putz stages a haunting cinematic homage to the dying of the glaciers in the Alps. Through in-depth interviews, he weaves science and emotion into an oppressive documentary. Shot at 14 glaciers in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, the film poses an unavoidable question at the end: ‘How do we want to say goodbye to our glaciers?’
The glaciers in the Eastern Alps are dying – irreversibly, scientists agree. But while the ‘eternal ice’ is disappearing, tourism is booming. In summer, visitors crowd into glacier lifts to touch the last remnants. Skiing operations are running at full speed and interventions in nature are taking on ever more drastic forms: Slope stabilisation, glacier covers, snow depots, artificial snow systems, massive terrain levelling – a race against time.
Synopsis
The filmmaker Harry Putz was born into a ski-mad family in Lech am Arlberg. His grandparents were the first ‘foreigners’ to arrive and bring unimagined prosperity to previously impoverished regions. Skiing became a popular sport. He became a professional athlete himself and completed his summer training on the glaciers in the 90s. His subsequent profession as a filmmaker allowed him to see the glaciated mountain world with different eyes. The boom in winter sports from the middle of the 20th century made business-minded people in all Alpine countries realise that the increase in the number of ski lifts and kilometres of pistes was matched by a seemingly endless increase in demand. The technological progress of the 1960s and 1970s made it possible for cable cars to advance into the glacier regions. However, this pioneering era has not lost its momentum and there are endeavours to redevelop untouched glacier areas.
Protagonists
Georg Kaser (IT) – Climatologist and glaciologist (IPCC report / Nobel Peace Prize), University of Innsbruck
Jakob Falkner (AT) – Managing Director Bergbahnen Sölden
Philipp Falkner (AT) – Authorised signatory Bergbahnen Sölden
Gerd Estermann (AT) – Natural scientist and activist
Karin Seiler (AT) – Managing Director of Tirol Werbung
Reinhard Klier (AT) – Tyrol cable car manager, managing director of the Stubai Glacier
Liliana Dagostin (IT) – Austrian Alpine Association, Spatial Planning and Nature Conservation
Maurus Bamert (CH) – ProNatura, Head of the environmental education centre ‘Zentrum Aletsch’
Michael Krautblatter (DE) – Permafrost expert, professor of geology and geography
Lindsey Nicholson (UK) – Glaciologist, University of Innsbruck
Barbara Pucker (AT) – Hohe Tauern National Park, National Park Director Carinthia
Tobias Hipp (DE) – German Alpine Association, Alpine Spatial Planning
Elmar Pichler-Rolle (IT) – Chairman of the Vitalpin Association, vitalpin.org
Egon Seebacher (IT) – Managing Director Alpin Arena Schnals, Schnalstal Glacier
Birgit Sattler (AT) – Ecologist and limnologist, University of Innsbruck
Kilian Volken (CH) – Alpinist and mountain guide
Gian-Peter Niggli (CH) – Mayor of Samedan/Engadin
Moritz Nachtschatt (AT) – Managing Director of ‘Protect Our Winters Austria’
Verena Tanzer (DE) – Bayerische Zugspitzbahn, Spokesperson and Public Relations
Nina Knittel (AT) – Economist, Wegener Centre Graz
Crew
Additional camera: André Costa, Bernie Kofler, Hannes Mair
Dramaturgical assistance: Leyla Pirouzi
Production assitents: Vincent Pirouzi, Stuart Knowles, Omar Barubaev, Tobias Büttel, Christine Levy
Photography: Stuart Knowles, Luca Jänichen, Martin Stoni, Franz Güntner
Design: LWZ Studio
Editors: Hannes Kropik, Martin Obermayr
Cinema distribution: Volker Hölzl
Website: Bernhard Haaser
In the media
Canal9 – Nachrichten Schweiz
Deutschlandfunk – Sonntagsspaziergang
Die Presse – Abschied nehmen von Gletschern
ORF Tirol – Tirol heute
FM4 – OKFM4
OE1 – LEPORELLO
ORF Topos – Wege aus der Wasserkrise
puls4 – Das Ende der ewigen Eisriesen?
Rai News – AVS: „Unberührten Lebensraum am Berg für nächste Generationen erhalten“
Der Standard – “Requiem in Weiß”: Die Gletscher in den letzten Zügen
Bergauf – Österreichischer Alpenverein – Der schleichende Abgesang der Gletscher in den Alpen
TIROL ISCH TOLL – Vom würdelosen Sterben unserer Gletscher
Freizeit Tirol – Das würdelose Sterben unserer Gletscher
Freeskiers.net – Eine Hommage an schwindende Gletscher
Studium.at – Tourismus bis Mikroben: Forscher über Folgen vom Gletscherschwund
unser-tirol.com – Internationales Jahr der Gletscher ausgerufen
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