"K2. TOUCHING THE SKY" AWARDED AT BANFF
The BANFF Mountain Film and Book Festival ended. The Best Feature-Length Mountain Film Award went to Eliza Kubarska for her documentary film "K2. Touching the Sky."
Over 350 films from 43 countries were submitted to this year's edition of the festival. The selected productions were presented to the viewers in Canada during the nine days of the festival, and after the end of the event, they will go on a tour including 40 countries. The films also competed in the competition, in which "K2. Touching the Sky" was chosen the Best Feature-Length Mountain Film.
In the justification of the jury's decision we can read that the film leads the viewer by a provocative, but honest path to the uncomfortable road, on which there appear questions about the price of the mountain ambition and love, and finally, about the price of balancing on the border of life and death. The jury emphasises that everyone that was at least once lured by the beauty and danger of the mountains will understand this film. It is also a message to the people who lost someone whom they loved, an attempt to answer the questions to which there is no answer.
"K2. Touching the Sky": The children of acclaimed alpinists - who died on K2, in Karakorum Mountains - undertake an expedition to answer universal question: what is the price of passion. In the summer of 1986, several dozen alpinists from all over the world met to climb K2, second highest mountain on the planet. Very soon the season transforms into a series of tragic events called “black summer”, leaving 13 climbers dead.
Almost 30 years later, Eliza Kubarska, the director of the film, together with an international group of grown-up children of acclaimed climbers, sets out on an expedition to reach K2 base camp, symbolic burial place for those who lost their lives on the mountain. Hania Piotrowska, Łukasz Wolf, Lindsey and Chris Tullis will challenge themselves to face the past and to understand the force that once seduced their parents and eventually killed them. On the other hand, Eliza, being a woman and an experienced alpinist, asks herself questions: Is my passion worth the risk? Should I have a child?
The film is an emotional journey set against breathtaking vistas of Karakorum Mountains. It is a multilayered psychological portrait of people who are coping to understand the choices of their parents or their own passion. The documentary features intimate archival footage from the 80's.