'Tenzing,' with Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe, to Open Zurich Film Festival
An Everest drama backed by Apple Original Films will open the 22nd Zurich Film Festival on 24 September, with stars Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe walking the green carpet alongside director Jennifer Peedom for the European premiere, according to Variety.
The film, titled Tenzing, tells the story of the first ascent of Mount Everest — 8,849 metres above sea level — and centres on Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the Himalayan mountaineer who, alongside New Zealand alpinist Edmund Hillary, became the first person to summit the mountain in 1953. Genden Phuntsok plays Tenzing Norgay; Hiddleston plays Hillary. Dafoe plays Colonel John Hunt, who leads the British expedition and insists that Tenzing be treated as a full team member rather than merely a support climber. The cast also includes Thinley Lhamo as Tenzing's wife Dawa and Caitriona Balfe as expedition secretary Jill Henderson (Variety).
For Peedom, the material is close to home. She has spent more than two decades working in the Himalayas and on Everest, and her directing credits span the feature documentaries Solo, Sherpa, Mountain, River and Deeper. Her documentary Sherpa, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, won the Grierson Award for best documentary at the BFI London Film Festival and earned a BAFTA nomination in the same category (Variety).
Apple made a worldwide deal for the project with Hiddleston and Dafoe attached in May 2024, as first reported by Deadline (Deadline). Tenzing will also screen at the 51st annual Toronto International Film Festival, according to a post on Apple TV's official Facebook page (Apple TV on Facebook). The film reaches cinemas on 9 October 2026 and begins streaming on Apple TV+ on 7 October 16 (Apple) — a release pattern that places its festival premiere roughly two weeks ahead of its theatrical bow.
Zurich Film Festival CEO Christian Jungen said this year's festival motto is "dream big," a fitting tagline for a film about climbing the world's tallest mountain. The 22nd edition runs 24 September through 4 October 2026. The full programme lands on 9 September, and ticket pre-sale opens on 14 September (Zurich Film Festival). For context, the 2025 edition — an anniversary year that ran 3–13 October and welcomed Richard Gere as a star guest — set the bar the new edition will open against (Zurich Film Festival).
What makes the Zurich booking stand out is the match between filmmaker and subject. Peedom's career has been built on the Himalayas, and Tenzing is her first narrative feature drawing directly on that terrain — bringing a documentarian's authority to a dramatised account of one of mountaineering's defining moments.
