“The Epic of Everest”
May 17, 2015 § Leave a comment
The “7th Explorers Club Film Festival,” held at their New York City Headquarters, opened with a newly restored documentary by Captain John Noel from 1924. Produced by the British Film Institute (BFI), “The Epic of Everest” documents the official record of English mountaineers, George Herbert Leigh Mallory (June 18, 1886-June 9, 1924), and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine’s (April 8, 1902-June 8, 1924), 1924 British Mount Everest Expedition, which was the third British attempt to reach the peak of the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest (29,029 feet/8,848 meters). Make note, that George Mallory had taken part in all three of the expeditions, 1921, 1922 and, of course, the one which lead to his demise, 1924. Although officially a non-climber, Director, Captain John Noel, ascended all the way to the North Col at 7000m, and filmed their activity higher up the mountain with long range cinematography, a powerful telescopic camera and time lapse shots, from Camp 3.
Each frame lasts approximately 11 seconds, so the viewer really has time to focus on Everest’s magnitude from different angles, the temples steeped into its hillsides, the scenery, the explorers, their light clothing, army styled tents, lack of oxygen tanks, cartographers, shepherds, local women churning butter, unique headresses, instruments, native dances, yaks, and donkeys.
Nepal sits where the Indo-Australian plate is pushing itself beneath the Eurasian plate. Located in the Himalayan mountains on the border between Nepal and Tibet, 700 to 1,000 or more people were on Mount Everest during the April 25, 2015, 7.8 earthquake which triggered several large avalanches. Tibetan natives call Mount Everest, Chomolungma, meaning “Goddess Mother of Mountain,” and it goes to show that even with all of our modern luxuries, Northface gear, GPS, and oxygen, we still can not fool Mother Nature.
> 8,000 deaths, 17,000 injured, historic sites ruined, > 5,000 schools damaged, 1,000 schools which collapsed, monsoon season looming, the lack of running water, cholera outbreaks inevitable, clean sanitation, water purification kits, tents and tarps are needed. Here are a list of places to donate if interested:
The closing night of the “Explorers Club Film Festival,” May 16, 2015, ended with a screening of George Butler and Caroline Alexander’s documentary, “Tiger Tiger,” about the threatened kingdom of the Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sundarbans at the southernmost edge of the Bengal Delta. The film will be out on IMAX in a few weeks for all to see.
Article by Sharon Abella
http://1worldcinema.com
One World Cinema
One World Cinema 