“Free Solo” directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin return with their most personal film to date.
In “Everest: The Other Side” — screening in Venice and Toronto — they follow ski mountaineers Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson as they attempt to do something that has never been done before: ski down the North Face of Mount Everest.
But tragedy strikes when Nelson is killed on skiing in Nepal.
“All our films are personal, but this one especially. Jim and Hilaree were our dear friends. Seeing what happened to that family was very, very difficult,” Vasarhelyi tells Variety.
“That’s the blessing and the curse of nonfiction. It started as a beautiful love story about someone who found a way to live with profound loss — not forgetting it, but moving through it. No one could have anticipated what happened.”
When a friend entrusts you with telling their story, you want to get it right, stresses Chin.
“Alex Honnold [from ”Free Solo“] was a very close friend as well. I’ve known Hilaree for over 20 years, and we’ve been on many expeditions together. That’s how you really get to know people. She was an extraordinary human being, and so is Jim,” he says.
“They fell in love on the mountain, and they had that shared passion. That’s really meaningful. It creates another layer of understanding of your partner, especially during these challenging, high stakes moments. You can’t hide anything.”
However, some people will never understand Morrison and Nelson’s drive, finding it easier to judge their choices.
“After focusing on men in ‘Free Solo’ and ‘Meru,’ I was curious about what that experience was like for women,” says Vasarhelyi.
That led to Annette Bening and Jodie Foster starrer “Nyad,” about a marathon swimmer who set out to swim from Cuba to Florida, and “Love + War” about photojournalist Lynsey Addario.
“Everyone always asks women: ‘How can you go to work and leave your kids at home?’ No one will ever ask a man that. I wanted to address the complexity of loving what you do and also being committed to your family.”
She always admired Nelson.
“She was very candid about the paradoxes of being so ambitious while being aware of the certain futility of it all. After all, it’s ‘just a mountain’ — you’re not saving the world. She was very committed to her responsibilities as a parent. In many ways, that’s why I was interested in making this film,” says Vasarhelyi.
Chin is a professional mountaineer as well — but not Vasarhelyi.
“You couldn’t pay me to do what they do. No amount of money would compel me to climb the North Face of Everest. But I really believe it’s a way of life. It’s something they have to do,” she says.
“Hilaree says it too: ‘I love my children every day like it’s my last.’ I don’t think anyone ever thinks something terrible is going to happen. But she also cannot let go.”
Chin agrees: “People forget that you don’t get to choose your calling. Your calling finds you. I feel like you really need to know the culture and the values of each of these pursuits.”
“Everest” is produced by Little Monster Films and National Geographic Documentary Films, and distributed by the Walt Disney Company in the U.S. To do justice to what Morrison and Nelson witnessed, the filmmakers joined forces with Imax.
“‘Free Solo’ was first conceived as an Imax film, but it was not feasible with the size of the cameras at the time. Then, they brought the film out after it was released in theaters, and people who saw ‘Free Solo’ in Imax still talk about it,” recalls Vasarhelyi.
“What’s really special about ‘Everest’ is that you’ve never seen this place on Earth like this before. I’ll never go there, but now I’m able to see it through their eyes. Imax brings this visceral experience to a whole new level. It’s a communal experience.”
Chin adds: “I think about this film in two ways. There’s an intimate and emotional journey, but we’re also talking about the Himalayas. Jim and Hilaree were at the top of high-altitude ski mountaineering. One reason we love going to those places is because of how they make you feel.”
It’s a full-circle moment for Chin, who was mentored by David Breashears, the mountaineer behind 1998 film “Everest,” which became the highest-grossing film made in the Imax format at the time.
“I climbed Everest with him. But now, people are going to see Everest in a way they’ve never seen it before. And that’s why they should see it in Imax,” China says.
For a film full of uncomprehensible loss, they want viewers to find hope in it.
“How can someone withstand so much grief? I don’t know. But when I look at Jim, I find hope,” says Vasarhelyi, with Chin adding: “That’s what the film is about. It’s a choice to move forward despite loss and the grief. You can let it take you down or you can choose to live.”
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