Running until Friday, the festival will show 50 films and feature several exhibitions and other events.

The organisers selected the 50 competing films from a total of 93 entries from across the world. The films are divided into four categories ranging from climbing to nature and culture, adventures and mountaineering.

The festival will also show for the first time "Tone, javi se!" (Tone, Copy That!) by Boštjan Slatenšek, a film dedicated to Tone Škarja, a legend among Slovenian alpine climbers.

The festival will moreover feature several exhibitions, including one dedicated to the Aljaž turret, an iconic metal structure standing atop Triglav, Slovenia's highest mountain.

This will be the 9th edition of the international festival that attracts above all climbers and mountaineers but hopes to open its doors to laymen as well.

"We are really trying to show that the doors of the Mountain Film Festival are wide open and that the festival has a very rich programme," festival director Silvo Karo has told the STA.

The festival will also feature a number of lectures, including by US free climbing legend Lynn Hill and Maurizio Zanolla, a pioneer of Italian sport climbing.

While most events will take place at the Ljubljana Cankarjev dom arts centre, screenings and other events will also be held at cinemas in the nearby town of Domžale, in Celje and in Ptuj.