| Sherpa | |
|---|---|
 Australian release poster | |
| Directed by | Jennifer Peedom |
| Written by | Jennifer Peedom |
| Produced by | John Smithson, Bridget Ikin |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Countries | Australia, Nepal |
| Languages | English Nepali Sherpa |
Sherpa is a 2015 documentary film by Australian filmmaker Jennifer Peedom. It was filmed during the 2014 Mount Everest ice avalanche.
Sherpa focuses on Phurba Tashi, a Sherpa who has made 21 Mount Everest ascents and leads the team for New Zealander Russell Brice's expedition company, Himex. Tashi's wife and family in Khumjung do not want him to keep risking his life climbing just for the money. The film explores some of the Sherpa culture and their spiritual relationship with the mountain, as well as the heavy work and risks Sherpas take in making multiple ascents to take equipment and supplies up the mountain and make the climb possible for foreign climbers.
After the ice avalanche kills 16 Sherpas, the focus shifts to the differing perspectives and understandings of the various groups in the following days. The Sherpas stage a protest meeting and most do not want to climb - some out of respect for the dead and others in order to push for better working conditions. Brice believes a small group of Sherpas have threatened to harm any Sherpas who do continue and for this reason decides to cancel his expedition, although Tashi notes that he is unaware of any such threats. The 2014 climbing season is cancelled and the closing titles note that Tashi honoured his family's wishes and retired. It also notes that the 2015 season was cancelled due to avalanches in the wake of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.
The film contains archival footage of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary and includes interviews with Norgay's children. [2]
Peedom intended to make a film about the 2014 Everest climbing season told from the Sherpas' point of view. The idea came about in response to violent confrontations between Sherpas and Europeans during the 2013 climbing season. [3] The filmmakers were on location when an ice avalanche occurred on Everest's Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas. [4] [5] This sparked a confrontation between the Sherpas, foreign expedition leaders and the Nepalese government regarding wages and conditions and resulted in a significant increase in compensation paid to victims' families. [6] [7]
The film was produced by Bridget Ikin and John Smithson and financed by Screen Australia and a small number of private investors, along with presales from Universal Films and Footprint Films. [8]
The film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015. [3] It was released in the US in fall 2015, [9] and was released in Australian theatres on 31 March 2016. [10]
Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 97% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 34 reviews with an average score of 7.7/10. [11] Patrick Peters of Empire magazine wrote: "...this is a spectacular, intimate and politically provocative exposé of the dangers, racial tensions and harsh economic realities on the world's highest mountain." [12] Geoffrey MacNab of The Independent wrote: "No one here emerges in an especially positive light. There is bad faith on all sides but, amid all the bickering about money and safety, Peedom always also pays attention to the courage and selflessness of her subjects." [2]
| Year | Group/Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | AACTA Awards (5th) | Best Feature Length Documentary | Bridget Ikin and John Smithson | Nominated | [13] |
| Best Cinematography in a Documentary | Renan Ozturk, Hugh Miller and Ken Sauls | Nominated | [13] | ||
| Best Editing in a Documentary | Christian Gazal | Nominated | [13] | ||
| Best Original Music Score in a Documentary | Antony Partos | Won | [13] | ||
| Australian Film Critics Association | Best Documentary Film (Local or International) | Sherpa | Won | [14] | |
| BFI London Film Festival (59th) | Grierson Award for Best Documentary | Jennifer Peedom | Won | [15] | |
| 2016 | British Academy Film Awards (69th) | Best Documentary | Bridget Ikin, Jennifer Peedom and John Smithson | Nominated | [16] |
| APRA Music Awards | Best Soundtrack Album | Antony Partos | Won | [17] |
Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft) was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.
The Sherpa are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, Tingri County in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Himalayas. The term sherpa or sherwa derives from the Sherpa language words ཤར shar ("east") and པ pa ("people"), which refer to their geographical origin of eastern Tibet.
Tenzing Norgay, born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which he accomplished with Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953. Time named Norgay one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
Jamling Tenzing Norgay is an Indian-Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer.
Everest is a 70mm American documentary film, from MacGillivray Freeman Films, about the struggles involved in climbing Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak on Earth, located in the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet. It was released to IMAX theaters in March 1998 and became the highest-grossing film made in the IMAX format.
Apa, nicknamed "Super Sherpa", is a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer who, until 2017, jointly with Phurba Tashi held the record for reaching the summit of Mount Everest more times than any other person. As part of The Eco Everest Expedition 2011, Apa made his 21st Mount Everest summit in May 2011 then retired after a promise to his wife to stop climbing after 21 ascents. He first summited Everest in 1990 and his last time to the summit was in 2011.
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,849 metres (29,031.7 ft) above sea level. It is situated in the Himalayan range of Solukhumbu district, Nepal.
David Sharp was an English mountaineer who died near the summit of Mount Everest. His death caused controversy and debate because he was passed by a number of other climbers heading to and returning from the summit as he was dying, although a number of others tried to help him.
Tashi Wangchuk Tenzing is a Sherpa mountaineer. His maternal grandfather, Tenzing Norgay, made the first ascent of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953.
Russell Reginald Brice is a New Zealander mountaineer. He was the owner/manager of Himex, a climbing expedition company. He has summited Cho Oyu seven times, Himal Chuli and Mount Everest twice, as well as Manaslu in October 2010, which was his 14th summit of an 8000 m peak.
Lopsang Tshering Bhutia was a Nepali Indian Sherpa mountaineer who died on Mount Everest and the nephew of Tenzing Norgay. His death made international headlines because he died on the 40th anniversary expedition of his uncle's summiting. His uncle, Tenzing Norgay, had died at home of natural causes in 1986 at the age of 72. Tenzing Norgay was the first person to summit Mount Everest in 1953 along with Sir Edmund Hillary.
Phurba Tashi Sherpa Mendewa is a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer known for his numerous ascents of major Himalayan peaks. These include twenty-one ascents of Mount Everest, five on Cho Oyu, two on Manaslu, and one each on Shishapangma and Lhotse.
The 1953 British Mount Everest expedition was the ninth mountaineering expedition to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and the first confirmed to have succeeded when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit on 29 May 1953. Led by Colonel John Hunt, it was organised and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee. News of the expedition's success reached London in time to be released on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, on 2 June that year.
On 18 April 2014, seracs on the western spur of Mount Everest failed, resulting in an ice avalanche that killed sixteen climbing Sherpas in the Khumbu Icefall. This was the same icefall where the 1970 Mount Everest disaster had taken place. Thirteen bodies were recovered within two days, while the remaining three were never recovered due to the great danger of performing such an expedition. Many Sherpas were angered by what they saw as the Nepalese government's meager offer of compensation to victims' families, and threatened a protest or strike. On 22 April, the Sherpas announced they would not work on Everest for the remainder of 2014 as a mark of respect for the victims.
Jennifer Peedom is a BAFTA-nominated Australian director.
Kami Rita is a Nepali Sherpa guide who, since May 2018, has held the record for most ascents to the summit of Mount Everest. Most recently, he scaled the mountain for a 26th time on 7 May 2022, breaking his own record set on 7 May 2021. His father was among the first professional Sherpa guides after Everest was opened to foreign mountaineers in 1950. His brother Lakpa Rita, also a guide, scaled Everest 17 times.
The first attempts to summit Mount Everest by Indians were in 1960. The first Indians to reach the summit were a group led by Captain M.S. Kohli in 1965. 422 Indians made a total of 465 attempts between 1965 and 2018. These include 43 repeat attempts by 29 summiteers. There have been 81 attempts by 74 women and 7 repeat attempts by 4 female summiteers from India. Kasturi Savekar from Kolhapur, India climbed Mount Everest on 14 May 2022.