IAMF GRAND PRIZE 2024 TO RENAN OZTURK

Ever since the founding, the IAMF members have been interested in honouring those who, through their
talent, have changed the world of mountain film. We wish to express our gratitude to the filmmakers, directors and producers who have contributed throughout their careers to the evolution of mountain film into the prominent genre that it is today. With this in mind, IAMF created in 2002 the IAMF Grand Prize, recognizing career leaders in mountain film. The winners include directors such as Gerhard Baur, Lothar Brandler, Pavol Barabas, Kurt Diemberger, Ermanno Olmi, Werner Herzog, Dariusz Zaluski, Michael Dillon and, in 2023, Eliza Kubarska as well as producers such as Swiss Television or Sender Films.

This year the International Alliance for Mountain Film decided to award the Grand Prize to Renan
Ozturk, in recognition of his career as a director of movies dedicated to mountains and climbers,
realised with the competence of those who are part of the mountaineering community and the
sensitivity of an artist, combined with great cinematography skills.

Expedition climber and landscape artist, in 2013, his unique blend of pioneering first ascents and
visual storytelling earned him the title of National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.
Today he is a commercial and documentary filmmaker, an expedition climber, and a photojournalist. His films have gained global attention, including MERU, for which he was both cinematographer and subject and which took home the 2015 Audience Choice Award at Sundance Film Festival. Another career highlight is the critically acclaimed SHERPA, where he was a cinematographer and co-director. THE LAST HONEY HUNTER, about the harvest of wild and toxic honey in the Hongu river valley of Nepal, is a requiem for a fading way of life and a tribute to the resilient human spirit. THE SANCTITY OF SPACE is a film conceived as a tribute to the legendary explorer, mountaineer and photographer Bradford Washburn, retracing his steps and revisiting his iconic images. Those and other films won numerous awards not only in most of the International Alliance for Mountain Film festivals.