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The Last First: Winter K2

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United States/United Kingdom202698 minEnglish, Sherpa, Urdu, Icelandic
Last First: Winter K2

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.

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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.

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.

PremieresAll FeaturesBiographyAction/AdventureNonfictionAudio DescriptionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionU.S. Only- less

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Amir Bar-Lev

  • Producers

    John Battsek

    Sean Richard

    Sarah Thomson

    Howard T. Owens

    Ben Silverman

  • Editor

    Joe Carey

  • Cinematographer

    Will Pugh

  • Executive Producers

    James Packer

    Taylor Levin

    Kerstin Emhoff

    Amir Bar-Lev

    Ali Brown

    Will Kane

  • Co-Producer

    Olive Faure

  • Composer

    Tom Hodge

  • Line Producer

    Lottie Allan

  • Company

    Ventureland

  • Contact

    John Battsek

    j.battsek@venture.land

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Amir Bar-Lev

    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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