#interview #rockclimbing #film

Swissway to Heaven, co-produced in 2021 by Guillaume Broust and Cédric Lachat, directed by Guillaume Broust and featuring elite climbers Cédric Lachat, Nina Caprez, Fabien Dugit, Tobias Suter, Roger Schaeli, Beat Kammerlander, Claude Remy and Stephan Siegrist won the great Transylvania Mountain Festival – Mountain Film Trophy in 2021.

For our festival’s 2021 edition, themed Above The Summits, the film also won the TMF Best Climbing Film Award. Therefore a double applause for the “Swissway to Heaven” team!

The key image of Swissway to Heaven rockclimbing film.

For our festival’s 2021 edition, themed Above The Summits, the film also won the TMF Best Climbing Film Award. Therefore a double applause for the “Swissway to Heaven” team.

During 2021 – 2022 this particular film impressed the audience and the juries across mountain film festivals, by wining important awards. Here is the updated list:

  • Winner Award of Transylvania Mountain Film Festival, Cluj-Napoca (RO)
  • Alpine Camera in Gold at Mountain Film GRAZ (AT)
  • Best Narrative Award at FIFAD – Festival international du film alpin des Diablerets (CH)
  • Award JM BOIVIN at Dijon International Film Festival (FR)
  • Best Climbing Film at Transylvania Mountain Festival, Cluj-Napoca (RO)
  • Coup de coeur du Jury at CIM – Mountain Festival de GAP (FR)
  • TV Slovenia Award at Festival Gorniskega Filma (SI)

The 55-minute film, was such an amazing project that included so many incredible encounters and discoveries in the breathtakingly beautiful country of Switzerland! That is why we asked Guillaume to answer us a few questions about the making of the film.

Official Swissway To Heaven (2021) poster

How did you engage in this project and where from did this idea came up?

Guillaume Broust: Cédric came to me with this idea of talking about the evolution of climbing and opening routes in Switzerland. He wanted to make a movie in his homeland. And also to talk about the history of the climbing there. At the end I was quite anxious, because I didn’t know anything about Switzerland!

How long did it took to film all the climbs and scenes?

Guillaume Broust: The shooting started in the summer of 2019, and it finished during the summer of 2020. Cédric wanted to send all the routes in a single year (which was absolutely crazy to achieve!) but he couldn’t do the Eiger because of the weather conditions.  And still, it was a great performance! After all the climbing and shooting the post production was about 8 months!

Still image from the Swissway To Heaven project in Lautrebrunnen. Photo by: Guillaume Broust

How does the filming and climbing happen, technically?

Guillaume Broust: We didn’t wait for the send. Because we only had very short windows for filming. A couple of days or so.

So the climbers fixed all the ropes in the routes first. Then the cameramen come. They shoot only the part which were interesting for the film. And then the climbers try to send the route on their own, with their own cameras. It’s only for WoGü (Rätikon) that we were able to be there for the send.

Still image from the Swissway To Heaven project in WoGu. Photo by: Guillaume Broust

What was the public reaction across the world?

Guillaume Broust: The film is doing great. We already won a few awards in several International film festivals, although the pandemic is not making the projections very easy. People laugh a lot and that’s what we wanted to! Because Cédric is a very funny guy. I’m curious what will be the audience on the internet.

Would you do it again?

Guillaume Broust: Sure ! Going out with Cedric is always fun, and very safe because he is also a caver so he knows how to fix a route! But also because he met very interesting people along the way!

How did you receive the great news about winning the TMF – Transylvania Mountain Festival 2021 Mountain Film Award?

Guillaume Broust: We were very happy because it’s always an honor to be awarded. We work hard for more than a year to be able to screen documentary films like this to a real audience, with people reactions and feedback. And it’s always a pleasure to watch it on a big screen with a good sound system!

A short message to Romanian audience and climbers

Guillaume Broust: Thank you very much! And really hope to come and visit you one year at the Transylvania Film Festival!

Guilaume Brouts – portrait. Photo by Stephane Denys

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Guillaume Broust is an award-winning filmmaker, with more than 20 years of experience in outdoor films and documentaries in some of the most remote and vertical places in the world. With over 200 films featuring climbing, paragliding, mountaineering, and skiing, as well as a number of awards to his name, Guillaume has created his own style and cinematographic universe.

Thank you Guillaume Broust for always being an active promoter of mountaineering, skiing, rock climbing, paragliding and adventure on Earth in general. We appreciate your life-time work and are looking for you next projects to be presented worldwide and in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Swissway to Heaven (2021) – Full movie is also available online, for free on Petzl’s YouTube channel.

To admire Guillaume’s full work please visit the official links:

Guillaume Broust About The Making Of “Swissway to Heaven”– an interview prepared by Diana Roșca (Ciorba)

published: 30.07.2022 / Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, Romania