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The race to grab the last great prize in mountaineering, K2 in winter, left five dead. It exposed deep fault lines in alpinism today: pressures from commercialization, toxic effects of social media, and long-brewing tensions between those who’ve been marginalized and those who’ve always basked in the sport’s glory.
+ MoreThe race to grab the last great prize in mountaineering, K2 in winter, left five dead. It exposed deep fault lines in alpinism today: pressures from commercialization, toxic effects of social media, and long-brewing tensions between those who’ve been marginalized and those who’ve always basked in the sport’s glory.
In The Last First, master documentarian Amir Bar-Lev tells a complex, harrowing, and moving story that unpacks the industry of extreme mountain climbing and its changing culture. Focusing on a 2021 expedition, mountaineers John Snorri Sigurjónsson, an Icelander, and Pakistani father-son team Ali and Sajid Sadpara set out to be the first to summit K2 in the winter, when the mountain’s conditions are the cruelest. The men soon find themselves sharing the treacherous ascent with influencer climbers and their film crews, commercial expedition clients, and Nims, a Nepalese celebrity mountaineer, and his team of Sherpas.
The Last First takes us to the icy heights and unpredictable weather of K2 and reveals a surprising and layered story — one of strategy and determination, class and caste, money and power — all under life and death circumstances. — KY
Available in person only.
Amir Bar-Lev
John Battsek
Sean Richard
Sarah Thomson
Howard T. Owens
Ben Silverman
Joe Carey
Will Pugh
James Packer
Taylor Levin
Kerstin Emhoff
Amir Bar-Lev
Ali Brown
Will Kane
Olive Faure
Tom Hodge
Lottie Allan
Ventureland
John Battsek
j.battsek@venture.land
Amir Bar-Lev’s directorial credits include Fighter (2001), My Kid Could Paint That (2007), the Emmy-winning The Tillman Story (2010), Happy Valley (2014), and Long Strange Trip (2017). Bar-Lev also co-produced Trouble the Water, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2008 Academy Awards.
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(1hr 40mins)FESTIVAL HOST STATE
FESTIVAL HOST STATE
FESTIVAL HOST STATE
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