Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Thursday, November 5: SHERPA
Jennifer Peedom’s tense look at the dangers and economics of mountain climbing made its debut at Sydney this Summer. It has gone on to screen at Telluride, Toronto, Melbourne, Aspen, and London, among others.
What began as a record of an Everest ascent from the perspective of the often-overlooked mountain guide becomes a much more complex and harrowing tale as Peedom’s filming takes place during the worst accident in the mountain’s history. On April 18, 2014, a massive block of ice fell onto an already treacherous part of the climbers’ route, killing sixteen Sherpas. This took place a year after tensions between entitled European climbers and Sherpas hit a boiling point, resulting in physical violence that became international news. As Sherpas, climbing tour heads, and anxious foreign climbers react to the tragedy, Peedom captures a fascinating, multilayered story as it unfolds. Sherpas, despite economically depending on the foreign mountain-climbing industry, begin to organize, calling first for a cancellation of the climbing season out of respect for their fallen brothers, and then draft a list of demands for better compensation and conditions, tired of assuming most of the risk in this dangerous endeavor but little of the reward. Recognizing the economic impact of a cancelled season, the foreign-owned climbing tour companies scramble to work out a solution, but largely come off poorly in the end, as do some of the climbers.
what (not) to doc 