A documentary about the K2 mountain tragedy that claimed the lives of 11 climbers, including Limerickman Ger McDonnell in August 2008, has won a major award at the prestigious Sundance International Film Festival.
The Summit won the Editing Award in the World Cinema Documentary category for its editor Ben Stark at a ceremony in Park City, Utah earlier this morning. It missed out on main award, the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, to A River Changes Course by director Kalyanee Mam.
“This is a great honour for Ben and I would like to thank the jury and the organisers of the Sundance Film Festival for this accolade,” said producer and director Nick Ryan of Image Now Films following the presentation of the award.
The Summit, which details the deadliest day in modern mountain climbing history, will be screened at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival at The Savoy Cinema on February 24.
“I would like to thank everyone who helped bring this truly amazing story to the screen ,” said executive producer Darrell Kavanagh of Image Now Films. “At the heart of this film is a human tragedy and I would particularly like to pay tribute to Ger McDonnell and the other climbers who lost their lives on K2.”
The Summit includes previously unseen footage of the climb and interviews with Sherpa Pemba Gyalje, who was awarded the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for his heroic deeds on K2; Norit team leader Wilco van Rooijen, who survived three days in the death zone; and Marco Confortola, the last man to speak to Ger McDonnell.
24 climbers from several international expeditions set off from High Camp on K2, the last stop before the summit of the most dangerous mountain on earth, but within 48 hours, 11 had died or had vanished, making it the worst K2 climbing disaster in history.
Distribution rights to The Summit were purchased last week by Sundance Selects, a new theatrical and video-on-demand film label that provides a national platform in the US for independent films and documentaries. Sundance Selects, a subsidiary of IFC which is owned by American media giant AMC, will be available in approximately 40 million homes throughout the US.
AMC is the studio behind the hit TV show, The Walking Dead, which is shown on RTE 2 in Ireland and IFC previously produced Touching The Void, the 2003 documentary also about mountain climbing.
The Summit was produced by Image Now Films and Pat Falvey Productions, in association with Passion Pictures, Diamond Docs and Fantastic Films and was funded by the Irish Film Board, RTE, BAI and BBC.
Above: Limerickman Ger McDonnell who lost his life on K2 in August 2008.
