COLONYA Palma Muntanya Film Fest Turns 17

rom 19 to 27 October, the COLONYA Palma Muntanya Film Fest (Mostra de Cinema de Muntanya de Palma) returns for its 17th edition. Over nine days, venues across the city will host 24 films from 11 countries, including 21 Balearic premieres, nine of them Spanish premieres. Since its start, the festival has now screened 247 films to almost 36,000 spectators. This year's motto is a fitting one for anyone who has ever stared up at a steep climb: "Never give up, even if things get difficult halfway."

‍

Fourteen films from eight countries make up the competitive short-film section, chosen from 467 submissions from 86 countries. Three prizes of €500 each will be awarded: the Colonya Prize (audience vote), the Balearic Mountaineering and Climbing Federation Prize (best mountain film), and the Kenia Outdoor Prize (best nature and ethnography film).

‍

The festival opens at the Teatre Municipal Xesc Forteza, where screenings run from 19 to 24 October. The programme then moves to CineCiutat on 25 October, Ca n'Oleo on 26 October and the Teatre Principal on 27 October.

Film Still from Glacier Tropical

O

n 20 October at 19:00, Catalan alpinists Marc Toralles and Bru Busom, this year's Piolet d'Or winners, join a conversation at the Teatre Municipal with Tomeu Rubí and Cati Lladó. They star, alongside Rubén Sanmartín, in L'essència del compromís, directed by Adrià Martínez. It follows a new alpine-style route on the 6,634-metre Yerupajá in Peru's Huayhuash range.

‍

The closing night is a world premiere. Hatua, screening on 27 October at 19:00, follows Mallorcan Mix Manresa, who has been paraplegic since the age of 24, as he climbs Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) on an adapted bicycle. The film also covers his preparation in Mallorca and Sierra Nevada, monitored by a specialist medical team. Manresa will attend with Joan Forcades, Enric Subirats and Mireia Vicente, and the evening will be presented by Neus Albis.

‍

Closer to home, the festival looks at Mallorca's own mountains. On 26 October at 18:00, Ca n'Oleo hosts a conference on canyoning in the island's torrents from 1830 to 2024, with experts Xisco Gràcia, Lluís Vallcaneras and Antoni Josep Sosa. It covers the history of exploration and of the rescue teams, and the 33 canyoners and hikers who have died in 29 accidents in 11 Tramuntana torrents. Two Mallorcan filmmakers also present their views of the Serra de Tramuntana, one in essay form and one in fiction.

‍

The wider programme brings in guests from across the mountain world. They include Joel Badia, director of EVEREST 1985, and Thibaut Louvrier, director of freeride documentary La Source du Freeride. Larissa Corino and Patricia Meschick present their debut Roca: Substantiu Femení, about women in climbing. Freeride snowboarder Núria Castán, who became world runner-up in 2024 after surviving an avalanche, also takes part.

‍

The Premi Colonya is a € 500 award for best film voted on by the public, the Premi Federació Balear de Muntanyisme i escalda is a € 500 award for best mountain-focused film, and the Premi Kenia Outdoor is a € 500 award for the best film on nature and ethnography.

‍

Full schedules, tickets and film details are at palmamuntanyafilm.com.