The 13th edition of the WOP Mendi Film Award has announced its 2026 winner: Sayed Alishah Farhang, an Afghan refugee living in Germany and the protagonist of the film ‘Champions of the Golden Valley’, which won the Grand Prize at the 2025 BBK Mendi Film Bilbao Bizkaia International Mountain Film Festival.
The award, sponsored by The Walk On Project Foundation and Mendi Film, recognises the promotion of values and the social work associated with the winner, which are reflected in the film in question.
Sayed Alishah Farhang nurtured his dream of organising and hosting a backcountry ski championship in Bamyan, his hometown, one of the areas most affected by the Taliban uprisings in Afghanistan. His dream was to turn the mountains and skiing into a means of promoting health, leisure, happiness and gender equality in a society that is depressed and weighed down by conflict.
A potential Olympian, ski coach and mountain guide, he ran the Bamyan Ski Club for 12 years, which hosted ‘The Afghan Ski Challenge’. This event brought together participants from different ethnic backgrounds, was open to women, inspired dreams amongst the younger participants, and instilled the values of participation, equality and camaraderie amongst the youth of the valley.
However, since the Taliban regime seized power in 2021, Sayed Alishah Farhang has had to flee the country with his wife and two children. Today, they are Afghan refugees in Germany.
The film ‘Champions of the Golden Valley’, directed by Ben Sturgulewski and produced in the United States, tells this whole story with exquisite cinematic flair. Premiered at Tribeca, the film won more than 50 awards, including a National Emmy in 2026 for Outstanding Long Sports Documentary and the Grand Prize at the Mendi Film festival in 2025. Acquired by the Olympics, who now has it streaming for free worldwide on Olympics.com.
The WOP Mendi Film Award ceremony will take place on Saturday 12 December, at the 5.00 pm screening, at the Euskalduna Conference Centre Bilbao, the venue for the BBK Mendi Film Bilbao Bizkaia festival, which runs from the 4th to the 13th of December 2026.
THE WOP MENDI FILM AWARDS WINNERS LIST
2026: Sayed Alishah Farhang
2025: Catherine Destivelle
2024: Basque and Navarra Mountain Federations
2023: Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar
2022: Eduardo Martínez de Pisón
2021: Sebastián Álvaro
2020: Baltistan Fundazioa
2019: Nives Meroi - Romano Benet
2018: Juanjo San Sebastián
2017: Peter Habeler
2016: Sir Chris Bonington
2015: Josep Manuel Anglada
2014: Drawn
