Everest documentary follows the climb after an avalanche death

A new documentary, Everest: The Other Side, includes footage of mountaineer Hilaree Nelson dying in an avalanche during her ascent of Mount Everest. The film is playing in select theatres, and The Hollywood Reporter reported on the film this week.

The film is directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. The pair made Free Solo, Meru and Nyad, all documentaries about extreme physical feats.

Before the pandemic, the filmmakers set out to make a different film. It was to follow Jim Morrison and Nelson as they climbed the north face of Everest, the side of the mountain reached from Tibet, and then skied down it.

That plan changed. The film captures Nelson's death in the avalanche. After that, it follows Morrison as he carries on alone to fulfil Nelson's dream of the climb. Chin joins the expedition.

Vasarhelyi told The Hollywood Reporter that it was hard to move from the story they had planned to a more personal and difficult one. She also said that including the avalanche footage was a painful choice. In her view, though, viewers needed to see it to understand the loss.

Vasarhelyi spoke about the film in a live question-and-answer session after a screening at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, in Georgia, where the film was shown.

For anyone deciding whether to see it, the film is in cinemas in selected locations. Its subject is a climb that became a memorial.