Jury 2024
The jury members of the Grand Prix Graz competition and the category prizes are known for their expertise in areas such as film art and photography, alpinism, journalism and film history. Due to their professional qualifications, the members of the Mountainfilm Graz selection committee also have a great understanding of a wide range of cultures around the world.
Wolfgang Thaler (Austria)
Since completing his education at Film Academy Vienna in the 1980s, Wolfgang Thaler has been working as a cinematographer, creating both feature films and documentaries, sometimes also directing them. For his camera work, he has received awards both in Austria and abroad. He gained recognition mostly thanks to his collaboration with two directors – Michael Glawogger, creating film such as Whore’s Glory, Megacities, and Workingman’s Death; and Ulrich Seidl, with whom he collaborated on Dog Days, Import/Export, the Paradise trilogy and Safari, among others. His latest work was on the acclaimed Netflix series Unorthodox and Transatlantic. From 2008 to 2023, he lectured at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
Fredrik Blomqvist (Sweden)
Born in Sweden in 1969 and already working in his father’s advertising agency as a child, Fredrik Blomqvist developed his skills in film and photography at an early age. Later working as a cameraman and journalist for the Swedish television channel TV4, things got really exciting for him in 1995, when he accompanied Göran Kropp on his daring solo expedition to Mount Everest. The internationally acclaimed film about daredevil Swedes was a worldwide sensation and dramatically changed the course of Fredrik’s career: As cameraman, interviewer and editor, he formed a one-man film team for countless expeditions, mostly to the North and South Poles. Today, he runs a production agency in Jönköping.
Mario Casella (Switzerland)
Writing and mountaineering are the two great passions of Swiss journalist, filmmaker and mountain guide Mario Casella. For many years, he worked as a foreign affairs cameraman for radio and TV stations in Italian-speaking Switzerland. After working as a foreign correspondent in Washington DC (USA), he returned to Switzerland, where he spent his time writing, pursuing his own film projects and taking part in various expeditions. Several of his books have won awards, including Nero-bianco-nero, Il peso delle ombre and Oltre Dracula. Together with director Fulvio Mariani, he made internationally acclaimed films, for which the two were honoured with the Albert Mountain Award 2018. His work as a mountain guide has taken him to places such as Tibet, Kyrgyzstan, Alaska and the Peruvian Andes.
