2015 Mountainfilm on Tour Savannah: Fire on the Mountain

Staff Report From Savannah CEO

Friday, November 6th, 2015

FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN screens at Mountainfilm on Tour Savannah’s special Veteran’s Day event, Monday, November 9, at 6:00p.m., at Service Brewery in Historic Downtown Savannah.

The film won grand prize at the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival and screened at Sundance Film Festival. Mountainfilm on Tour Savannah brings the film back for an encore performance.

FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN celebrates the United States’ indomitable snowmen, the men of the 10th Mountain Division, America's only mountain and winter warfare troops. This award winning film is an emotional portrait of the mountain warriors' creation, grueling training, and daring World War II exploits.

United by their love of the mountains, the 10th attracted championship skiers and mountaineers. Their first battle was the spectacular night climb of Italy's Apennine Riva Ridge where they surprised the Germans on top. That led to a push that ended World War II a week earlier in Italy than the rest of Europe.

After the war, they pioneered the United States' infant ski industry and became the backbone of its outdoor education and conservation movements. FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN comes full circle as it follows members of the 10th Mountain Division on their 1995 re-climb of Riva Ridge. Again, the Germans were waiting on top, but; this time, veterans from the United States, Austria, Germany and Italy, now members of the International Federation of Mountain Soldiers, celebrated a coming together of old foes turned friends and renewed their pledge for world peace.

Following the screen will be a Q&A with filmmakers Beth and George Gage as well as Hugh Evans, one of the last surviving original members of the WWII division.

Service Brewery, located at 574 Indian St., is a unique and apt venue. It is run and owned by veterans.

Cost is $15, and beer tasting is $4 per glass. Part of the proceeds will benefit the Raider’s Project, a veteran’s non-profit group.