Jennifer Peedom’s Everest drama “Tenzing,” starring Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe, will open the 22nd Zurich Film Festival on Sept. 24.
Hiddleston, Dafoe and Peedom will be on the green carpet in Zurich for the European premiere of the Apple Original Films production, which follows the first ascent of Mount Everest.
Zurich Film Festival CEO Christian Jungen said, “This year’s Zurich Film Festival motto is ‘dream big.’ Our breathtaking opening film ‘Tenzing’ fits perfectly, because it shows how you can grow beyond yourself when you have a big dream.”
He added, “The film offers powerful emotion and mountain scenery of sublime beauty. But it also carries an important message for our time: The first ascent of Mount Everest only succeeded because the climbers respected the local Sherpa people and the laws of nature.”
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Peedom said, “At its heart, ‘Tenzing’ is about a man who dared to imagine a life beyond the limits the world had placed on him, and the courage, sacrifice and belief it took to reach the highest point on earth. The spirit of ‘dream big’ feels incredibly fitting.”
Based on a true story, “Tenzing” tells the story of Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok), a gifted mountaineer from the Himalayas who, together with New Zealand alpinist Edmund Hillary (Hiddleston), became the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 8,849 metres above sea level, in 1953.
Encouraged by his wife Dawa (Thinley Lhamo), Tenzing finds an ally in expedition secretary Jill Henderson (Caitríona Balfe). Together, they convince Colonel John Hunt (Dafoe) that Tenzing should not merely serve the British expedition team but belong to it as a full-fledged member. While Western climbers regard Everest as a peak to be conquered, Tenzing reveres the mountain that they call Chomolungma, as a sacred mother goddess. What follows is an ascent shaped as much by tensions of origin, class and conflicting ambitions as by the dangers of the mountain itself.
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