Who are the EFS?

BRIAN HALL      
Brian is co-director of the Kendal Mountain Film Festival and co-founder of the EFS.

He has over 35 years experience at the top level of mountaineering. Work as a Mountain Guide (IFMGA, internationally qualified) and expedition member has taken him climbing and skiing to many regions of the world; making first and landmark ascents in the European Alps, Himalaya (including expeditions to Everest and K2) and Americas.

Brian has worked on over 50 productions in a variety of roles including Mountain Safety, Associate Producer, Second Unit action director, Actor and climbing stunts and location still photographer

In particular, logistics and safety on the BAFTA award winning film Touching the Void, on features such as Descent, Bridget Jones, the Bond Die another Day , Alien vs Predator and Shackleton. Plus numerous TV productions such as Survivors, Top Gear, Mountain Men, Wild Climbs, Gladiators, The Face and The Edge in worldwide locations - K2, Matterhorn, Denali, Jordan, Vietnam, South Africa, Canada, USA, Borneo, South Georgia, Everest and of course throughout Europe.

GRAHAM HOYLAND      
Graham is co-founder of the Extreme Film School. He works as a producer and director at the BBC in Manchester.

He has been involved in six filmed expeditions to Everest and in 1993 became the fifteenth Briton to climb the mountain. His trips to Everest have been part of a life-long goal to answer the question “did Mallory and Irvin reach the summit? Including the search for the camera that his uncle Howard Somervell gave Mallory. It was during one of these expeditions that the legendary climber’s body was found. His film “Lost on Everest” was a finalist at both the Banff and Kendal Festivals.

He has also filmed and climbed Denali and sailed a yacht to Antarctica.
He has recently been producing “Dragons Den” for the BBC and is also a regular contributor to the travel section of “The Independent” newspaper.

RICHARD ELSE      
Richard Else is Director of the Durham Media Academy at St. Chad's College, University of Durham and a Director of the independent production company Triple Echo Productions. Richard is regarded as one of Europe's most experienced remote location film makers.

Wild Climbs, BBC 2, has won a total of 11 awards worldwide. It built upon the success of previous BBC 2 series The Face: Six Great Climbing Adventures; Wilderness Walks and The Edge - 100 years of Scottish Climbing. An episode from the latter was described by the Daily Mail as, 'a perfect documentary' and received a Scottish BAFTA. These films also won prizes at film festivals in Canada; America; mainland Europe and Japan. Other key films include Mountain Rescue (Inside Story BBC) and an exclusive portrait of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa for BBC 2's Correspondent. He is currently series producer of BBC Scotland's prime time series The Adventure Show.

MARK BATEY 
Mark Batey is a video journalist working for BBC television in Newcastle. An experienced news and documentary director, he made the move into camera work five years ago to shoot a trans-Saharan expedition attempting to drive a double-decker bus to Ghana. Since then he has filmed, edited and produced numerous news films for BBC Look North and national BBC news. He is a regular guest trainer in the BBC's video journalism training school based in Newcastle.

KEITH PARTRIDGE      
Keith Partridge is an international award winning cameraman with twenty years experience of working on high production-value projects for cinema and broadcast. Films in which he has played a key role have won over 15 international film awards and the BAFTA award for outstanding British film 2004 for ‘Touching the Void’. His work has taken him to some of the most remote and hostile environments on the planet including the Himalayas, the Andes and the Arctic and Alps in winter. His pioneering work with lightweight camera systems has enabled the acquisition of high quality pictures and sound in extreme locations.

He has lectured at Teesside University, the BBC’s National Personal Digital Production Centre and to the Royal Television Society, Royal Geographical Society and the British Academy of Film & Television Arts. He has also been a jury member at the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Canada.

Now living in Scotland he is a keen climber, skier and mountain-biker. Personal trips have led him on first ascents in East Greenland, Winter expeditions to Iceland’s Vatnajokull icecap and climbing and biking trips around the world.

Also meet some of the 2006 participants