The Grand Prize has been awarded to The Beckoning Silence (UK, 2007, director Louise Osmond).
The 73-minute film tells the story of Tony Kurz, whose climbing colleagues were killed during the first attempt to conquer the Eiger in 1936.
Touching the Void's Joe Simpson returns to the Eiger to tell Kurz's heroic battle for survival, while confronting his own climbing demons and rediscovering the thrill of the climb that once made him feel so alive.
The film was also a winner at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Festival director Mark Sedon said the diversity of films to be screened at this year's festival was outstanding.
"The different emotions, senses and imagination to be stirred by this collection of films is quite unreal. The viewer will gain an insight to many different worlds, challenges and experiences and be entertained at the same time," he said.
All 45 films chosen as finalists will be screened from July 4-8 at the Lake Wanaka Centre.
Other category winners are:
• Best New Zealand-made film: First Light (NZ, 2007, director Guy Ryan), a film on surfing around the Otago and Catlins coastline.
• Best film on climbing: Baffin: An Island Of Children (France, 2006, director Sam Beaugey).
• Best film on mountain, culture and the environment: Edge of Eden: Living with Grizzlies (Canada, 2007, directors Jeff and Sue Turner).
• Best short film: Trip Box II (France, 2008, director/producer Claude Adam).
• Best film on skiing: Lost and Found (US, 2007, directors TGR) Best film on adventurous sports and lifestyles: By Own Strength (Sweden, 2007, director Renata Chlumska and Blomqvist Productions).
