On her TrentoFilmfestival debut last year, young French director Marianne Chaud won the Italian Alpine Club's Gold Gentian. This year, her second entry, Himalaya, le chemin du ciel, has won the top prize of all: the 58th Gran Premio "Città di Trento" - Gold Gentian for Best Film

The camera also pans across the peaks of the Himalayas in the Best Film for Exploration or Adventure category, with the Premio "Città di Bolzano" - Gold Gentian going to Birdman of the Karakoram by British director Alun Hughes.

The Italian Alpine Club's Gold Gentian for Best Film on Mountaineering or Mountains goes to Alone on the Wall by US directors Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen. While Nanga Parbat, the film which started out as one of this year's favourites has won the Premio Luciano Emmer, a critics prize awarded for the first time this year.

The international jury at the 58th TrentoFilmfestival, which was chaired by Maurizio Zaccaro, and also included Alan Formanek (Slovakia), René Vernadet (France) and Michele Radici (Italy), was unanimous in its verdict to award the top prize to Marianne Chaud. The verdict reads "Through [...] bright, innocent eyes, we enter the fascinating world of the monks from Phukthal monastery with its spirituality, habits and daily life. The film was shot with great insight by the director, who is an expert on the local culture; she films these scenes with a hidden film-camera and it is clear that she puts her heart into every one".

The jury wrote that Birdman of the Karakoram "whisks the audience off on one of the most innovative and extreme adventures that have ever been undertaken in the Himalayas. [...] The white-knuckle sequence over the Shispar Pass will go down in the history of adventure documentaries."

The jury of the Premio Emmer (which comprised the directorate of Italy's National Union of Film Journalists, Silvio Danese and Andrea Maioli) lingered on the director's great sensitivity and stated that it "hoped the film, shown for the first time in Trento with Italian subtitles, will reach our screens as quickly as possible."

JURY PRIZE: Salt by Michael Angus and Murray Fredericks (Australia)

Australian photographer Murray Fredericks ventures into the remote areas of Lake Eyre to brave storms, mud, breakdowns, salt, solitude and most of all himself; the purpose was to find hidden beauty and to cleanse himself so that he could discover his true nature. The film, which consists almost entirely of photography, dives deep within this medium to combine magnificent, intense shots with film of a life cut-off from the rest of the world.

SILVER GENTIAN: FOR THE BEST SHORT FILM: Oyan by Esmae'l Monsef (Iran)

This brief yet intense tale recounts the daily-life of a young postman who takes letter from one side of the border to another and of a mysterious girl, their recipient; with a deft touch of narrative class, the director affords an insight into real life in Iran's rural areas where the environment distends time, one of the themes in Iran's great tradition of cinema and directors.

Silver Gentian: for the best medium-length film: Polyarnik by Nikolay Volkov (Russia)

Directed skilfully and at times humorously, Polyarnik shows how the simple story of a son who leaves his home for a job in the icy wastes of the north can be both enjoyable and highly original. It is also an opportunity to peer into the most hidden parts of life and the film's characters, which include the young man's elderly mother, the wonderful Romualda Flyorovna, who anxiously awaits the return of her beloved son to their small village in Byelorussia.

Silver Gentian: for the best artistic-technical contribution: Mount St. Elias by Gerald Salmina (Austria)

Three hardcore extreme skiers throw themselves from Alaska's Mount St. Elias (5489 m). The film includes breathtaking shots of skiing on avalanches, sheer slopes, and death-defying leaps.

The director's perfect technique places us at the centre of the action and affords moments of pure magic.

Premio "Città di Bolzano" - Gold Gentian: for the best film on exploration, or adventure: Birdman of the Karakoram by Alun Hughes (United Kingdom)

This film whisks the audience off on one of the most innovative and extreme adventures that have ever been undertaken in the Himalayas. Director Alun Hughes straps himself into a flimsy two-man paraglider with John Silvester and, with no oxygen at more than 6000 metres, scared, cold and permanently on the verge of a crisis, captures the peaks of the Himalayas from a completely new point of view. The white-knuckle sequence over the Shispar Pass will go down in the history of adventure documentaries. 

Italian Alpine Club Prize - Gold Gentian: for the best film on mountaineering or mountains: Alone on the Wall by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen (United States)

Alex Honnold, one of the US's greatest climbers, undertakes a free solo climb of the legendary Regular Route of the Half Dome in Yosemite. During his climb, Alex takes enormous risks that even a less experienced audience will appreciate. The cameras were perfectly placed on a face that offers very few ideal locations.

Gran Premio "Città di Trento" - Gold Gentian: for the best film of all, possessing high artistic qualities that correspond to the cultural aims pursued by the Festival: Himalaya, le chemin du ciel by Marianne Chaud (France)

This film is the touching story of the young Buddhist monks of Zanskar in India told through the eyes of Kenrap, an eight-year-old boy who was recognised as the reincarnation of an old monk when he was five. Through his bright, innocent eyes, we enter the fascinating world of the monks from Phukthal monastery with its spirituality, habits and daily life. The film was shot with great insight by the director, who is an expert on the local culture; she films these scenes with a hidden film-camera and it is clear that she puts her heart into every one.