We’re proud to announce that Meru, a feature-length documentary codirected by Jimmy Chin, won the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival last month. Jimmy is also one of the subjects of the film, which he directed with his filmmaker wife, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.
The movie follows Jimmy and fellow professional climbers Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk as they “battle their complicated pasts, inner demons, and nature’s harshest elements in an attempt to confront the Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru, the most technically complicated and dangerous peak in the Himalayas, one that has never been scaled to completion.”
“Shot with dazzling beauty in death-defying conditions by Chin and Ozturk, this immersive chronicle of friendship and an obsessive relationship with a mountain explores the mysterious magnetism of the ultimate challenge—where physical and spiritual realms converge,” notes Sundance.org.
Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan included Meru in his “25 Films of Note” from the festival, and New York magazine named it one of the fest’s “18 Best Films.”
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“I’ve spent much of my life in the mountains as both a climber and as a professional photographer,” says Jimmy. “I always wanted to make a film that gave an audience the visceral experience of going on a difficult alpine big wall climb. I hoped to give people a glimpse of the stakes, the risks and sacrifices involved.
“But I also wanted to show that following your passions is not always a beautiful thing,” he continues. “It can be fraught with internal conflict, doubt and intractable compromise. I often ask myself: Where do you draw the line between following your heart and your responsibility to others?”
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Elizabeth and Jimmy accepting the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival, as seen at The Hollywood Reporter’s website.
These concerns were also very much on codirector Chai’s mind. “In these kinds of stories, people often get caught up in the accomplishment, but there’s another side, of course,” she says. “Being married to Jimmy, I’m especially interested in what the female characters in the story—the ones back home, often wringing their hands—had to say. How did they tolerate the risks these climbers, their closest family members, take as part of their professional careers? What drove their lives, and what kept them steady? Despite the fact that this film reaches an apex of 21,000 feet, I felt Meru had to also remain firmly on the ground.”
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Conrad Anker looking out at the portaledge at 20,000 feet. Photo by Jimmy Chin. Caption courtesy merufilm.com.
Conrad Anker rappelling from the summit of Meru after 11 days of climbing. Photo by Jimmy Chin. Caption courtesy merufilm.com.
Renan Ozturk checking out the stars above basecamp the night before the approach to the base of the route. Photo by Jimmy Chin. Caption courtesy merufilm.com.
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Watch the Meru trailer here. See more at the film’s official website, merufilm.com. Learn about the making of the film in an interview with Vasarhelyi here. And view selected press below.
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“E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin Team for Big Wall Climbing Documentary Meru“
“Sundance Women Directors: Meet Chai Vasarhelyi, Meru“
“Conquering Meru, the ‘Anti-Everest’: Jimmy Chin’s documentary on scaling the Shark’s Fin may be the best climbing movie of the year—only it’s not really about the climb”
“Cheating death and finding love while making the documentary Meru“
“Meru,” Jimmy Chin’s electrifying documentary film, wins the audience award at Sundance
From left: Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, and Conrad Anker rejoice after 12 days on the route. Photo © Jimmy Chin. Caption courtesy merufilm.com.
.
We’re proud to announce that Meru, a feature-length documentary codirected by Jimmy Chin, won the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival last month. Jimmy is also one of the subjects of the film, which he directed with his filmmaker wife, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.
The movie follows Jimmy and fellow professional climbers Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk as they “battle their complicated pasts, inner demons, and nature’s harshest elements in an attempt to confront the Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru, the most technically complicated and dangerous peak in the Himalayas, one that has never been scaled to completion.”
“Shot with dazzling beauty in death-defying conditions by Chin and Ozturk, this immersive chronicle of friendship and an obsessive relationship with a mountain explores the mysterious magnetism of the ultimate challenge—where physical and spiritual realms converge,” notes Sundance.org.
Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan included Meru in his “25 Films of Note” from the festival, and New York magazine named it one of the fest’s “18 Best Films.”
.
.
“I’ve spent much of my life in the mountains as both a climber and as a professional photographer,” says Jimmy. “I always wanted to make a film that gave an audience the visceral experience of going on a difficult alpine big wall climb. I hoped to give people a glimpse of the stakes, the risks and sacrifices involved.
“But I also wanted to show that following your passions is not always a beautiful thing,” he continues. “It can be fraught with internal conflict, doubt and intractable compromise. I often ask myself: Where do you draw the line between following your heart and your responsibility to others?”
.
Elizabeth and Jimmy accepting the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival, as seen at The Hollywood Reporter’s website.
These concerns were also very much on codirector Chai’s mind. “In these kinds of stories, people often get caught up in the accomplishment, but there’s another side, of course,” she says. “Being married to Jimmy, I’m especially interested in what the female characters in the story—the ones back home, often wringing their hands—had to say. How did they tolerate the risks these climbers, their closest family members, take as part of their professional careers? What drove their lives, and what kept them steady? Despite the fact that this film reaches an apex of 21,000 feet, I felt Meru had to also remain firmly on the ground.”
.
Conrad Anker looking out at the portaledge at 20,000 feet. Photo by Jimmy Chin. Caption courtesy merufilm.com.
Conrad Anker rappelling from the summit of Meru after 11 days of climbing. Photo by Jimmy Chin. Caption courtesy merufilm.com.
Renan Ozturk checking out the stars above basecamp the night before the approach to the base of the route. Photo by Jimmy Chin. Caption courtesy merufilm.com.
.
Watch the Meru trailer here. See more at the film’s official website, merufilm.com. Learn about the making of the film in an interview with Vasarhelyi here. And view selected press below.
.
“E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin Team for Big Wall Climbing Documentary Meru“
“Sundance Women Directors: Meet Chai Vasarhelyi, Meru“
“Climbing Film Meru Wins Audience Choice at Sundance,”
“Conquering Meru, the ‘Anti-Everest’: Jimmy Chin’s documentary on scaling the Shark’s Fin may be the best climbing movie of the year—only it’s not really about the climb”
“Cheating death and finding love while making the documentary Meru“
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