Events
Guilford, Connecticut
On April 7, there will be a very special set of events about “The Volunteers: Mountain Rescue Brings Us Home” in Guilford, Connecticut. The day will begin with a screening of the broadcast version of our film at acclaimed, award-winning Guilford High School. A series of discussions about the film will follow with students in a wide variety of courses. On hand for these discussions will be Sarah Stephan, one of the stars of the film, who will be flying in from Seattle, Washington; composer and musician Alex Greene, joining us from Memphis, Tennessee; and co-creators Mark S. Weiner and David Ritsher, the latter of whom will be coming in from Berkeley, California. Joining us on Zoom from Austria will be our two Austrian stars, Markus Isser, medical training director of the mountain rescue service of Tyrol, and veteran rescuer and helicopter medic Alois Stöckl.
At the end of the day, at 6 p.m., there will be a public screening of the film at the wonderful Guilford public library on the town green. Register here.
Image from:
Princeton Environmental Film Festival
The 56-minute cut of our film will be screening as part of the Princeton Environmental Film Festival! Register here.
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Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Public_Library
Arlington, Virginia (private screening)
Greetings, Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group (SMRG) and Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) Mountain Section! See you soon! Details TBA.
Los Angeles!
Join us at the Visitors’ Center of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) Temple off Santa Monica Blvd., at 10707 North Temple Way, for a screening of the 56-minute version of our film, introduced by a videotaped message from Gov. Anton Mattle of Tyrol! With a Q&A and reception to follow sponsored by the Austrian Consulate.
Please send a message to the contact form on this website for information about how to RSVP.
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Source image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles#/media/File:Los_Angeles_with_Mount_Baldy.jpg
We’re coming to Britain!
Join us in the University Central Hall at the University of York! Details TBA! A lecture about “The Volunteers” will follow about one month later, on April 28, the course “Project and Operations Management for Business and Management Students” taught by Prof. Yuan Huang.
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Image from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York#/media/File:Clifford's_Tower,_from_south.JPG
Calgary!
1:00 p.m. MDT at the Austrian Canadian Cultural Centre at 3112 11 St NE, Calgary, AB. Buffet Lunch, Free Public Screening, and Dessert Reception with Writer, Director, and Historian Mark S. Weiner
Georgia Tech!
Come join us at the Student Center Walter G. Ehmer Theater (Atlantic) at Georgia Tech.
Louisville, Kentucky
We’re coming to Kentucky! Join us at the Speed Art Museum for a wonderful evening, along with Doug McCall of Seattle Mountain Rescue! Doors open at 5:40.
Brigham Young University!
We’re delighted to be playing at one of our favorite campuses in America, Brigham Young University! Courtesy of the Global Environmental Studies program at the Kennedy Center! Please note that we’ll be screening a short version of the film at BYU. To see the full version in Utah, on the big screen, come to the Zions Indie Film Festival two days before. For details, see here: https://kennedy.byu.edu/the-volunteers-mountain-rescue-brings-us-home-screening-and-q-a-2025-02-27.
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Source image location here.
Zions Indie Film Fest
We are thrilled to be joining the Zions Indie Film Fest in Orem, Utah! Come join us!
Dickinson College! Details TBA!
We’ll screening as part of a class at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Details and time TBA.
The University of New Orleans (time TBA)
“The Volunteers” will play in the Big Easy, at the Performing Arts Center, The University of New Orleans. Time listed is provisional. Details here.
American-Austrian Cultural Society, at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC
Join us for a screening of “The Volunteers” at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC!
Comox Valley Search and Rescue
We’re honored to know that Comox Valley Search and Rescue will be hosting a private screening of “The Volunteers” today in the Stan Hagen Theatre at North Island College, in Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada.
Northern Michigan University
“The Volunteers” will be screened as part of an introduction to film course! Q&A on Zoom to follow. See you soon! We love Michigan!
Graz!
Join us in at The Quartier Leech in Graz, Austria for a joint exhibition and film screening.
Exhibition and Film Screening about Austrian Ski Champions and Refugees as U.S. Mountain Soldiers during World War II and on the Philosophy of Civilian Mountain Rescue in Seattle and Tyrol
Exhibition & Brief Presentation:
Alpinism Meets Antifascism: Austrians in the 10th US Mountain Division in World War II
In a pop-up photo exhibition titled So it was that we trained in this valley shrouded with smoke, historians Florian Traussnig and Robert Lackner present their research about Austrians in the famed 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army during World War II: Mostly refugees from National Socialism—about one hundred Austrians, among them skiers and mountaineers—served with the only unit in the Army specialized in mountain and winter warfare. Their experiences, from training in a high valley in the Rockies of Colorado, to combat duty against the German Wehrmacht in Italy, are shown mainly through the interpretative lens of a (Jewish) refugee soldier and are documented in a biographical online portal.
Film Screening:
The Volunteers: Mountain Rescue Brings Us Home (Die Freiwilligen: Beheimatet mit der Bergrettung)
A historian and law professor considers how mountain rescue offers a model for building a better society. Two mountain rescue organizations—one near Seattle, Washington, the other in Tyrol, Austria—are linked by a surprising connection. Take a journey with scholar Mark S. Weiner from North America to Austria and back again as he considers the origins and meaning of their work and how it can heal contemporary political divisions. Both groups have grown from a strong sense of place … because before you can save a stranger, you first must love your home.
(Hinweis: Die Veranstaltung findet großteils in Englisch statt, der Film hat deutsche Untertitel)
Program:
6 p.m. “Soft Opening” of the poster exhibition
7 p.m. Presentation of the online portal & Filmscreening “The Volunteers”
Afterwards, Get-Together with drinks and snacks
Gefördert von der US-Botschaft in Österreich (Ausstellung) & dem Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies (Film)
In Kooperation mit Österreichisch-Amerikanischer Gesellschaft für Steiermark, Zentrum für Inter-Amerikanische Studien (C.IAS) der Uni Graz, Chapter International Summer School Seggau (GUSEGG) der Alumni Community der Uni Graz und Fulbright Austria Alum Chapter Styria
University of Tübingen
Join us at the German-American Institute of the University of Tübingen, Germany!
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg_T%C3%BCbingen_03.jpg.
Heidelberg Center for American Studies
Join us at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies in Heidelberg, Germany! Details TBA.
Cinematograph·Leokino Screening
Join us in Innsbruck for this special screening to thank our partners in Tyrol. All our proceeds will go to support the mountain rescue service in Austria! Information here.
Danube Institute Screening
Join us for a film screening at Danube Institute and consider how The Volunteers: Mountain Rescue Brings Us Home implicates key issues in contemporary political philosophy and the politics of Europe.
Das Kino Panel
Attend a panel discussion of scholars to discuss The Volunteers: Mountain Rescue Brings Us Home, including the students from the University of Innsbruck who created our German subtitles.
Salzburg Mountain Film Festival
We’ll be headlining opening night at the Salzburg Mountain Film Festival, with a party to follow!
Philosophical and Historical Perspectives on Mountain Rescue
Department of Social and Legal Philosophy, University of Salzburg.
Come and hear producer-director Mark S. Weiner discuss the underlining philosophical issues at stake in our film. Location: HS 205 in the Faculty of Law, Business and Economics, Churfürststraße 1, Salzburg.
Transatlantic Mountain Cinema Symposium
Join us in Innsbruck, Austria for a sneak peak and artist talk at “Transatlantic Mountain Cinema” symposium hosted by the University of Innsbruck.
Friday Harbor Film Festival
No need to travel to beautiful San Juan Island. Instead, join us through the online portal of the Friday Harbor Film Festival! Purchase tickets here.
Poulsbo Film Festival
To learn more about the festival and to purchase tickets, see their website. We’ll be playing at 2:30 at historic Moe’s on Liberty Bay. Doors open at 2:00. See you there!
Celebrate Seattle Mountain Rescue
Join us to celebrate Seattle Mountain Rescue and its new home in beautiful North Bend along with Petra Schneebauer, Amabassador of the Republic of Austria to the United States, and other dignitaries —and with members of the mountain rescue service of Tyrol. Doors open at 3:00! The film starts at 4:00! For tickets, see here.
Portland!
There will be a private screening of “The Volunteers: Mountain Rescue Brings Us Home” in downtown Portland hosted by The Honorary Consul of Austria and co-sponsored by the Portland State Department of World Languages and Literatures and the Austrian American Society of Oregon. For details, contact Honorary Consul Birgit Hayden at office at austrianconsulteportland dot org.
Film Fest St. Anton
Join us on opening night in St. Anton am Arlberrg, Austria for a 15-minute sneak peek and Q&A!
NH Docs/Best Video Screening
Join us at our beloved local Best Video Film & Cultural Center in Hamden, Connecticut!