IAMF GRAND PRIZE 2025 TO SÉBASTIEN MONTAZ-ROSSET

Ever since the founding, the IAMF members have been interested in honouring those who, through their talent, have changed the world of mountain film. IAMF members wish to express their 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, Eliza Kubarska and, in 2024, Renan Ozturk 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 Sébastien Montaz-Rosset, a director who has grown in the world of mountain images by interpreting the possibilities offered by new media. As a mountain guide, he began filming and photographing his clients during excursions, and then posting his shots on the first blogs for skiing
and mountaineering enthusiasts on Mont Blanc. In this way he was noticed by some brands, who asked him to follow the exploits of top athletes. His first direction was a web series with Kilian Jornet, with whom he then created many projects. Since then, he has recounted the adventures of the greatest athletes of many of the most recent extreme mountain sports, such as high-line, skydiving, wingsuit flying, without neglecting skiing and Himalayan mountaineering.
His technique has evolved in the field and in his films you can find great quality in the shooting, sometimes alongside raw moments that show the difficulty of the situations and the physical and psychological commitment. A cinema made by instinct, born without a script, collecting images based on the emotions of the moment, to then identify the most captivating elements around which to grow the story. In this phase, the professional collaboration with his wife Davina Beyloos, producer and often co-director of the films, plays a fundamental role. A cinema that has won Montaz-Rosset Studio several awards, also in the festivals of the International Alliance for Mountain Film, because it leads viewers into the heart of the action, alongside the athletes, using the most contemporary technical and narrative possibilities.