As of 14 January 2016 new episodes of the series Balkans Heights will be broadcasted every Thursday at 21:30. We bring you stories about impressive nature and people belonging to it. The series depicts natural beauties adorning the entire Balkan region, while simultaneously investigating the link between the local population and the highest peaks of their countries.
After the broadcast, all episodes of the series will be available at:
http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vrhovi-balkana
As well as on the official Al Jazeera Balkans Youtube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/AJBalkans
Writer: Zahrudin Isakovič, the author of series
VRHOVI BALKANA / THE BALKAN HEIGHTS
The second season of the series Balkan Heights will soon be launched. After Triglav, Velebit, Prenj and Stara planina (Old Mountain), Al Jazeera Balkans viewers will be able to see up-close eleven mountains situated in the south-east of Europe: Kamnik – Savinja Alps, Gorski kotar, Vranica, Maglić, Durmitor, Prokletije, Rtanj, Rila, Šar-planina, Olimp and Meteora.
Visiting all these mountains in one season is very demanding, arduous and occasionally dangerous mountaineering work. In addition to that, producing films about these mountains was almost a mission impossible. Nevertheless, thanks to professionalism, good production, knowledge, endurance, devotion, fantastic partners on the ground and also good luck of the team working on the production of this series, we made it.
A great challenge for us lay not only in the limited and extremely difficult conditions (weather, full filming schedule and great psycho-physical efforts), but also in the fact we wanted to produce a series that will captivate and please our viewers.
The first part of the series, in particular the documentary about Triglav, had high ratings, which encouraged us and provided guidance as to the direction in which we should proceed. So we tried to make a series that will simultaneously be interesting, educational, and in a way (and why not), entertaining. For you, our viewers, we climbed the highest Balkan peaks, spent fortnights trying to catch reddish dawns on the mountains and sundowns on their tops, hung out with chamois for hours and generally filmed nature in all its glory.
I cannot say which sight fascinated us more: morning dew we caught while climbing through Dolina suza (Valley of Tears) to the highest peak of Prokletije, the night spent on Musala, the rooftop of Balkan, where together with the chamois we watched the sun go down, or the excitement I felt when I saw on the screen the heart shaped Trnovo lake (in the region of the Maglić mountain) that we filmed using a drone… It was our hearts that were involved in every aspect of the filming and we felt childlike joy at every successful frame.
Balkan mountains are impressive in their size, strength and beauty. At the same time, people inhabiting those mountains, their valleys and slopes, are no less interesting or fascinating from the mountains themselves. Spending time with renowned mountaineers of the region like Stipe Božić, Bojan Rotovnik, Dragan Jačimović, Vasilije Vujović, Marko Blečić, Ilina Arsova, Viki Grošelj, Davo Karničar, Matevž Lenarčič, Gregor Kresal, Milan Kučan, Edin Durmo, Jure Miljak, Slađo Jukić and Braco Babić also made this experience unforgettable. They provided an immeasurable human element to our series.
True, there were bad days during the filming, when things, and cameras, didn’t work out, when guests cancelled interviews and rain or snow made the filming impossible. But, even in those moments we didn’t wallow in despondency. The thought that it is all going to pass and that the series, despite everything, will find its way to our viewers, gave us new strength and bolstered our determination, necessary for this kind of work. It is then that professionalism and human qualities of the team working on the project came to the fore.
During the hard moments we held onto the motto: For viewers to enjoy, we sometimes have to suffer! Fortunately, our enjoyment in the filming was immeasurably greater than the moments of disappointment.
Finally, I, as a passionate mountaineer, found endless pleasure in the fact I managed to interest a part of the team to start climbing mountains themselves. During one of the hardest climbs in the series, the climb onto Maglić, under difficult conditions caused by snow, we were joined by twin brothers Nihad and Sead Kreševljaković, who, with great effort and determination, managed to view Bosnia and Herzegovina from its highest peak.
Dear viewers, I sincerely hope you will enjoy this series. That will be the greatest satisfaction and reward for all the efforts we invested in its making. And, if after watching the films, you yourselves take a backpack and head towards the mountains, our happiness will know no limits.
Zehrudin Isaković
„Second season of the series Balkan Heights every Thursday at 21:30 on Al Jazeera Balkan“
Od 14. januara 2016. četvrtkom u 21:30, pogledajte nove epizode serijala Vrhovi Balkana. Priče su to o impresivnoj prirodi i ljudima koji joj pripadaju. Serijal vam predstavlja prirodne ljepote koje krase čitavu balkansku regiju, istovremeno istražujući vezu lokalnog stanovništva i najviših planinskih vrhova njihovih zemalja.
Sve epizode serijala Vrhovi Balkana će, nakon emitovanja, biti dostupne i na http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vrhovi-balkana
Kao i na zvaničnom Youtube kanalalu Al Jazeere Balkans: www.youtube.com/user/AJBalkans
Piše: Zehrudin Isaković, autor serijala
VRHOVI BALKANA
Pred nama je emitiranje druge sezone serijala Vrhovi Balkana. Nakon Triglava, Velebita, Prenja i Stare planine, gledatelji Al Jazeere Balkans moći će izbliza upoznati jedanaest planina jugoistoka Evrope: Kamniško – Savinjske Alpe, Gorski kotar, Vranica, Maglić, Durmitor, Prokletije, Rtanj, Rila, Šar-planina, Olimp i Meteori.
U jednoj sezoni obići sve ove planine vrlo je zahtjevan, naporan i, na trenutke, opasan planinarski posao. Međutim, snimiti i filmove o svim ovim planinama, bila je gotovo nemoguća misija. Zahvaljujući profesionalizmu, dobroj produkciji, znanju, istrajnosti, požrtvovanosti, fantastičnim partnerima na terenu i, na koncu, sreći tima koji radi na produkciji ovoga serijala, uspjeli smo.
Veliki izazov za nas bio je kako u limitiranim i vrlo oteženim uvjetima (meteorološkim uvjetima, zgusnutom rasporedu snimanja i velikim psiho-fizičkim naporima) napraviti serijal koji će zadovoljiti i zainteresirati gledateljstvo.
Velika gledanost prvog dijela serijala, naročito filma o Triglavu, dala nam je ohrabrenje i putokaz u kojem smjeru treba nastaviti. Nastojali smo snimiti serijal koji će istovremeno biti zanimljiv, edukativan, pa pomalo, zašto ne, i zabavan. Za vas, naše gledatelje, popeli smo se na najviše vrhove Balkana, proveli na desetke dana hvatajući crvenkaste zore u planini, zalaske sunca na njihovim vrhovima, satima se družili s divokozama i snimali prirodu u svoj njenoj ljepoti.
Ne mogu procijeniti koji su nas prizori više fascinirali: jutarnja svježina koju smo hvatali dok smo se kroz Dolinu jezera uspinjali prema najvišem vrhu Prokletija ili noć provedena na krovu Balkana – Musali, dok smo zajedno s divokozama ispraćali dan na zalasku. Ili uzbuđenje dok sam na ekranu gledao srcoliko Trnovačko jezero (regija planine Maglić) kada smo ga snimali dronom… Upravo srcem smo ispraćali svaki detalj snimanja, svakom se uspješnom kadru veselili kao mala djeca.
Planine Balkana su impozantne svojom veličinom, snagom i ljepotom. Istovremeno, ljudi koji nastanjuju planine ove regije, njihove doline i pobočja, nisu ništa manje interesantni i fascinantni od samih planina. Druženje s velikanima planinarstva u regiji kakvi su Stipe Božić, Bojan Rotovnik, Dragan Jačimović, Vasilije Vujović, Marko Blečić, Ilina Arsova, Viki Grošelj, Davo Karničar, Matevž Lenarčič, Gregor Kresal, Milan Kučan, Edin Durmo, Jure Miljak, Slađo Jukić i Braco Babić također je bilo nezaboravno. Oni su našem serijalu dali taj ljudski nemjerljiv doprinos.
Tokom snimanja bilo je i loših dana, kada nam nije išlo od ruke i od kamere, kada sagovornici otkažu intervju ili kiša i snijeg onemoguće snimanje. Ni tada nismo dozvolili da nas obuzme malodušnost. Pomisao da će sve to proći, a da će serijal, uprkos svemu, ipak naći svoj put do gledateljstva, ulijevala nam je novu snagu i osnažila strpljenje, koje je neophodno kod ovakve vrste posla. Tada su dolazili do izražaja profesionalizam i ljudski kvaliteti ekipe koja je radila na projektu.
Da bi gledateljima bilo lijepo – nama ponekad mora biti ružno! – bila je deviza koja nas je vodila u teškim trenucima na terenu. Srećom, uživanje u snimanju bilo je neuporedivo veće, negoli trenuci razočarenja.
Na koncu, meni kao pasioniranom planinaru, neizmjerno je drago što sam dio produkcijskog tima uspio zainteresirati da i sami počnu planinariti. Na jednom od najtežih uspona u serijalu – penjanju na Maglić u teškim snježnim uvjetima – pridružili su nam se i braća blizanci Nihad i Sead Kreševljaković, koji su uz veliki napor i pokazanu požrtvovanost, uspjeli pogledati Bosnu i Hercegovinu s njenog najvišeg vrha.
Dragi gledatelji, nadam se da ćete uživati u ovom serijalu. To će biti najveća satisfakcija i nagrada za napor koji smo uložili u njegovo snimanje. A ukoliko nakon odgledanih emisija i sami uzmete ruksak i krenete put planina – našoj sreći neće biti kraja.
Zehrudin Isaković
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