Zauberberge – Die Wildnis der hohen Tatra

Director: Pavol Barabáš

Pavol Barabáš (1959) is the author of a large-scale of mountain-oriented and adventure films about peoples' survival in extreme conditions. His films were shot in inaccessible wilderness, on wild rivers and glacial peaks, as well as in deep caves far away from civilization. He likes to look for stories the heroes of which go beyond their limits. He is fascinated by encounters with different cultures and is mostly attracted by the territories of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the lands of natural people hidden deep in the jungle. His films present the manner in which man should treat the Earth. They emit love and respect for nature, enormous mental power and moral conscience.
Pavol Barabáš has accomplished several ground-breaking expeditions, from the discovery of Stone Age people untouched by civilization in the rainforests of New Guinea, through the co-discovery of a mega-cave on the Chimantá plateau, to the first transit of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. His documentaries about the Slovak mountains also belong among those that are extremely viewer-attractive.
His films have been awarded with more than 200 national as well as international prizes. He is a holder of the prestigious Crystal Wing award, which is annually granted to the most notable public figure in Slovakia. In 2006, he was given the Award of the Union of Slovak TV Programme Producers and of the Literary Fund for his long-term contribution to environmentally-oriented audiovisual productions. Recently he was awarded the GRAND PRIZE 2011 of the International Alliance for Mountain Film for the work of presenting the mountains and extreme regions of the world through important documentaries of climbing and exploration.