An ode to Mount Rigi, a cinematic reflection on rural and Alpine Switzerland.

Picture gallery

For 35 years, Erich Langjahr has been occupied with images of life in Switzerland's countryside. During this time, he has made eight films about how the farming tradition collides with a mainly globalized world – the strongest of which is possibly the 20-year-old Bauernkrieg, in which the helpless anger of the farmers is apparent as they realize they aren't actually needed anymore.

Since Erich Langjahr directed Das Erbe der Bergler in 2006, Swiss theaters have seen an unprecedented wave of documentaries glorifying country life. Langjahr's movies have nothing to do with this trend: Mein erster Berg proves this even more expressively than his earlier films.