High Tatras – A Wilderness Frozen in Time

Hohe Tatra

The Tatra mountain range forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland, with some foothills in the Czech Republic. Exploring the natural world of the Tatras is a journey back in time to an age when ploughs were pulled by horses and trees were felled with axes and handsaws. It is one of the last European wildernesses that still allows sufficient space for large predators. The wild, romantic meadows and pastures seem like something out of  a fairy tale – as do the stories told by the shepherds around the campfire. They speak of lonely, hot summers, of violent storms and blizzards, of lurking wolves and battles with brown bears.

Directed by Pavol Barabas, written by Pavol Barabas and Harald Pokieser. Camera: Tomáš Hulík. A Cosmos Factory/ARTpoint production for ORF in co-production with WDR and NDR Naturfilm in association with the Slovakian Ministry of Culture.


Austria from Above – Journeys in a Balloon

Sepp HuberJosef Huber, one of Austria’s best balloonists, takes to the skies and floats high above the autumn landscapes as he ponders the joys and dangers of his profession and the amazing journeys he undertook for the ORF documentary format UNIVERSUM: over Lake Neusiedl, across Upper Austria’s Alm Valley, above the Vienna Woods, and into the Carnic Alps and the moors of the southern Burgenland province.

Five episodes of four minutes each for the ORF format “Herbstzeit”. Writer and Director: Manfred Christ, Camera: Bernhard Wallentin, Edit: Adi Wallisch. Commissioned by the ORF, 2007.