Canada , United States, 51 min
Director: Drew Smith, Ben Knight
NATIONAL PREMIERE
A season of climbing in Alaska, Wyoming, and Nepal, with Michael Gardner and his long-term partner and friend, Sam Hennessey. As reluctant filmmakers, they question what it all means and unabashedly keep the cameras rolling. In turn, we get a glimpse into their singular, bold, endearing, and mullet-denying approach to life. After Gardner’s death in 2024, while attempting Jannu East with Sam, his friends set out to finish the film as he had originally intended. “It’s not going to be a climbing film,” Michael had insisted. Maybe it’s a rom com?
Spain, 50 min
Director: Marc Toralles, Bru Busom, Rubén Sannmartín
EUSKADI PREMIERE
No fixed ropes. No outside support. No easy way back. This documentary chronicles Marc Toralles, Bru Busom, and Rubén Sanmartín’s groundbreaking first complete traverse of Yerupajá, the iconic giant of Peru’s Huayhuash Range. Opening a new 3,000-metre route on its vast east face, they carried out one of the most remarkable achievements in modern alpinism, a feat that would earn them the coveted Piolet d'Or.