The 22,000-strong Hunza people live in a remote valley in the northwestern part of Kashmir. Eugen Schuhmacher's color film IM SCHATTEN DES KARAKORUM (1955) about a German-Austrian expedition to the Batura glacier is less interested in their alpine achievements than in the austere life of the Hunza and the extreme conditions in which they live. In unhurried shots, he observes their everyday lives and celebrations and describes the landscape, flora, and fauna of the Himalayas. The dramatic denouement shows the dramatic, aborted ascension of a seven thousand meter peak. "No image was staged, no tricks were used, no cheap effects were used to generate tension" is how Schuhmacher described his film, which was awarded the Bundesfilmpreis in 1955. (jpg)
An event by CineGraph Babelsberg in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv and the Deutsche Kinemathek. (18.5.)
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