The Squeeze

Silence of the angels is a story about three men and one face. It took place between March and May, 1996, on one of the most beautiful mountains in the world, 6828 meters high Ama Dablam. After seven days of very demanding climbing, Vanja Furlan and Tomaz Humar managed to overcome the northwest face of Ama Dablam and reach its summit. Their only connection with the valley was Zvonko Pozgaj, who monitored their efforts from their base camp. Pozgaj used the transmitter to direct and encourage them, while diligently recording and writing down all the events during those dramatic days. The results of this fantastic expedition have been known for some time. The mountain ascent was named as the greatest world mountaineering achievement in 1996 by the international mountaineering community. Vanja Furlan bade farewell the very same year, while Tomaz Humar met his end on Langtang Lirung in Nepal, 13 years later. At only 19 years of age, Tomaz's son has become the youngest person cycling the globe. He is proud of his father, and also of his legacy: "I hope that one day I will be of the same importance to my son as my father was to me. A role model and someone to be proud of. My father was a man whose dreams were much greater than his fears. He taught me many things, but two of them left an indelible mark upon me. Never yield in your life and don't waste your pride. When you do that, you're left with nothing. And do not stop when the going gets tough. I shall follow this advice in future, too." This film is a respectful homage to one of the international, greatest achievements of Slovene mountaineering and a memorial to one of the outstanding Slovene mountain climbers, Vanja Furlan. At the same time, it is a movie about the transiency of life, the passage of time, mortality and memory. And faith in freedom, power, beauty and the vastness of the human spirit. The film is dedicated to Vanja Furlan and Tomaz Humar.