‘Everest’ makes
By Tim Ryan
HIFF list
Star-Bulletin
Two climbers, faces exhausted behind oxygen masks, take the last few steps along an icy ridge leading to the summit of Mount Everest.
Behind them the earth falls away in all directions. Below are the tops of clouds and lesser Himalayan giants all the way to the horizon. This is the top of the world.
The acclaimed IMAX movie "Everest" comes to the Hawaii International Film Festival tomorrow night for one sold-out show at the Hawaii IMAX Theater in Waikiki.
"Everest" has set box-office records throughout the United States. It's the top-grossing IMAX film of all time with $58 million in revenues from just 62 screens.
IMAX films are shown only in specially built theaters on giant three-story-high screens. The format gives the audience a sense of the scale of Everest.
The IMAX crew was filming on the mountain in May 1996, when a deadly storm killed eight climbers, a tragedy written about in Jon Krakauer's best-selling "Into Thin Air." The IMAX climbers and film crew helped rescue the survivors; the disaster is a key part of the 44-minute film.
The film is narrated by actor Liam Neeson; the script was co-written by Tim Cahill. Much of the music is by George Harrison.
"Everest" stars Jamling Tenzing Norgay, whose father, renowned Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, made the first ascent of Everest in 1953 with Sir Edmund Hillary. Jamling is the 10th member of his clan to stand atop Everest.
The other summit climbers are Ed Viesturs, and 26-year-old Araceli Segarra, a Spanish woman. A fourth summit aspirant, Sumiyo Tsuzuki of Japan, turned back after she cracked a rib during an altitude-induced coughing fit.
The IMAX camera presented major challenges. A standard IMAX camera weighs 80 pounds, but this specially modified camera weighed just 35 pounds but could withstand the mountain's extreme temperatures. One 500-foot roll of film weighs 5 pounds and lasts just 90 seconds.
Hiff presents
What: Hawaii International Film Festivals presents "Everest"
