Ladek Mountain Festival (Polish name: Festiwal Górski im. Andrzeja Zawady w Lądku-Zdroju) is the largest and the oldest event of its kind in Poland and one the most important in the world.

Among our speakers we've been having the biggest names of the climbing and mountaineering community. We also hosted the Piolets d'Or Award Ceremonies for 3 years, 2018-2020.
Each year a couple of thousand enthusiasts of the mountain sports and outdoor adventures come in September to a little town of Ladek in the southwest of Poland (very close to Czech Republic and Germany) to participate in this gathering.

The Film Competition is one of the main axes of the festival, along with the Book Contest, key speakers’ presentations, outdoor workshops and music events.
As always, this year's edition will be full of films from around the world, meetings with filmmakers, networking opportunities, inspiration and good vibes.

We warmly invite you to share your mountain film with the Polish audience.
Also, come and join us in person!

The 2025 festival dates are September 4th to 7th.

2024 LINE-UP
https://www.festiwalgorski.pl/filmy-konkursowe-2024/

2024 WINNERS
https://www.festiwalgorski.pl/results-of-the-2024-ladek-mountain-festival-film-competition/

Grand Prize – 2500 EUR – Franklin
Best Film About Climbing – 800 EUR – Climbing Never Die (Reel Rok 18)
Best Film About Mountaineering – 800 EUR – Sophie Lavaud. The Final Summit
Best Film About People & Mountains – 800 EUR – Adra
Best Film About Mountain Sports – 800 EUR – Ashima
Best Film About Adventure & Exploration – 800 EUR – Chasing Casper
Best Polish Film – 2500 PLN – Postards From The Verge ("Pocztówki znad krawędzi")
Best Short Film – 600 EUR – The Slow Lane
People’s Choice Award – 2000 PLN – The Last Expedition ("Wanda Rutkiewicz. Ostatnia wyprawa")
2nd People's Choice Award – Stronger Than Ever ("Silniejszy")
3rd Choice's Choice Award – The Silent Escape ("W krainie ciszy")

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2023 LINE-UP
https://festiwalgorski2023.sched.com/directory/artists

2023 WINNERS
https://www.festiwalgorski.pl/en/results-of-the-2023-mountain-festival-film-competition/

Grand Prize – 2500 EUR – Ice Merchants
Best Film About Climbing – 600 EUR – Transcendence
Best Film About Mountaineering – 600 EUR – Burning the Flame (Reel Rock 17)
Best Film About Man & Mountains – 600 EUR – To the Hills & Back
Best Film About Mountain Sports – 600 EUR – Wild Waters
Best Film About Adventure & Exploration – 600 EUR – Subterranean
Best Polish Film – 2000 PLN – Życie w biegu (Life On a Run)
Best Short Film – 600 EUR – Egoland
People's Choice Award – 2000 PLN – Z góry widać lepiej (From Above You Can See Better)
People’s Choice Award 2nd place – Wild Waters
People’s Choice Award 3rd place – Subterranean

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2022 LINE-UP
https://festiwalgorski2022.sched.com/directory/artists

2022 WINNERS
https://www.festiwalgorski.pl/best-mountain-movies-2022/

Grand Prize - 12 000 PLN - A White Dream
Best Film About Climbing - 2000 PLN - The Way
Best Film About Mountaineering - 500 EUR - The Last Mountain. Story of Tom Ballard
Best Film About Man & Mountains - 500 EUR - Cows on the Roof
Best Film About Mountain Sports - 500 EUR - An Accidental Life
Best Film About Adventure and Exploration - 2500 PLN - House of the Gods
Best Polish Film - 500 EUR - The Way
Best Short Film - 500 EUR - Reel Rock 16: Big Things to Come
Honorable Mention - Sonder
Honorable Mention - Reel Rock 16: Barefoot Charles
People’s Choice Award - 2000 PLN - Polonina, My Dream
People’s Choice Award 2nd place - Kosiak
People’s Choice Award 3rd place - A White Dream

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2021 LINE-UP
https://festiwalgorski2021.sched.com/directory/artists

2021 WINNERS
https://www.festiwalgorski.pl/2021/09/28/the-best-mountain-movies-we-present-the-verdict-of-the-jury-and-of-the-audience/
Grand Prize – 10.000 PLN – "Everest. The Hard Way"
Best Climbing Film – 2000 PLN – "Action Directe" (Reel Rock 15)
Best Film About Man And Nature – 2000 PLN – "Big North"
Best Film About Adventure And Exploration – 500 EUR – "Godspeed, Los Polacos!"
Best Film About Man And Mountains – 2000 PLN – "My Upside Down World"
Best Film About Mountain Sports – 2000 PLN – "North Country"
Best Polish Film – 2000 PLN – "Our Mountains"
Best Short Film – 1000 PLN – "Migrants"
Honorable Mention – "Myrtle Simpson: A Life On Ice"
Honorable Mention – "Deep Roots" (Reel Rock 15)
Honorable Mention – "Climbing Iran"
People's Choice Award 1st place – 4000 PLN – "Black Ice" (Reel Rock 15)
People's Choice Award 2nd place – "Follow the Red Rabbit"
People's Choice Award 3rd place – "Shaman's Nightmare"

You'll find the detailed rules on our website. In English:
https://www.festiwalgorski.pl/rules-and-regulations-of-the-film-competition-2024/

And in Polish:
https://www.festiwalgorski.pl/festiwal-filmow-gorskich-2023/regulamin-konkursu-filmowego-2024/

Please read them carefully, as a submission to the Film Competition implies acceptance of all the rules by the entrant. If you have any doubts or questions, don't hesitate to ask: filmy@festiwalgorski.pl.

Here below are the most important rules.

During the submission process, there's an administration fee to be paid, depending on the film's runtime and the submission date. Shorts are under 40 minutes, feature documentaries are longer than 40 minutes.

This year we accept mountain films produced in 2022, 2023 or 2024 and the “mountain” theme can refer to the mountain environment, mountain culture or more generally, mountain community values.

​File format recommendations: NON-SUBTITLED ​full HD​ ProRes or ​mp4​ h​264​,​ ​bitrate ​around 20 Mbps​, ​AAC Audio Codec​, ​48,000Hz​.​

Only complete submissions will be considered. They have to include an online screener, film description, credits and specifications as requested in the submission form.

In the selection process, the priority will be given to the films that haven't been and won't be available online for free before September 8, 2024.
The selection will be made taking in consideration the festival screening time available during the in-person event on September 5 to 8, 2024 so all the films can be screened at least once.

2024 IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES:

January 20, 2024 – opening of the submissions
April 30, 2024 – closing of the submissions
May 31, 2024 – (at the latest) notification for the filmmakers about the acceptance to the Film Competition of the submitted titles
June 15, 2024 – last day for the film representatives to let us know whether they will come to the festival
September 5 to 8, 2024 – screenings at the Ladek Mountain Festival in-person event
September 5 to 30, 2024 – online festival screenings
September 12, 2024 (at the latest) – announcement of the Film Competition winners at the festival’s website and FB page

A representative of each film accepted to the Film Competition will be invited to attend the festival. It is usually one person per film, can be a filmmaker or a protagonist.
They will have the opportunity to introduce their film on stage and to do the Q&A after the screening. We do not cover the flight / travel expenses, but we'll be happy to provide the film representative with the accommodation and the Pass that gives access to all the festival events.

Ladek Mountain Festival is a hybrid event. The title selected for the Film Competition will also be part of the online festival September 5 to 30, 2024 on our platform Filmygorskie.pl. It offers a protected DRM streaming, with access granted exclusively to the festival's audience with passes, geoblocked to Poland.

We don't pay screening fees for the in-person nor online festival screenings. We do however pay the license fee for the screenings arranged by the Ladek Film Distribution – please see here below.

We invite the films selected for the Film Competition to participate in Ladek Film Distribution project that offers films to all the mountain, outdoor and travel events around the country. Some titles of our choice can also be screened in cinema venues in big Polish cities. The agreements concerning Ladek Film Distribution will be discussed separately with the filmmakers and the agreed license fees will be paid.

We look forward to watching your mountain films!

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Sacha Aranicki

    Great Festival, great people, great fun.
    Definitely a place to enjoy the 2025 version !

    September 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Sacha and François for sharing your film with the community of the Ladek Mountain Festival!

  • Matt Raimondo

    I wish I could have attended but was thrilled to be selected, the festival looked epic from afar and communication was great.

    September 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you, Matt! It was a big pleasure to show your film to the Ladek Mountain Festival's audience.

  • Marcin Jamkowski

    If you are into mountain film the Ladek Film Festival is a must! Crowds of people loving mountain culture, great hosts, perfectly streamlined organization and best parties on the planet :-) Proud to get in Ladek our 2. Audience Award for the film "Stronger than Ever". Will definitely come again to Ladek with the next film or without one.

    September 2024
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    Response from festival:

    It was a huge honor to host the Polish premiere of your film, Marcin and we're glad to hear you enjoyed the festival time with us. See you at the next one!

  • One of the most amazing adventure festivals I have ever visited! Overwhelming program with tons of activities, amazing atmosphere, world class guests and presentations, outstanding hospitality and perfect communication with the whole festival team!

    September 2023
  • Bartlomiej Pieklo

    Great festival! I recommend it to everyone.

    September 2022