Directing
On the south face of Annapurna, at 7,400 metres, Iñaki Ochoa de Olza is dying. His rope companion sounds the alarm. And, from the other side of the world, the biggest rescue attempt in the history of the Himalayas gets underway. For four days a dozen men including some of the best mountaineers in the world, from ten countries, set out to try to rescue their stricken comrade. Even beyond his peaks Iñaki is an exceptional man. As exceptional as the rescue attempt itself and the men who risked their lives to save him. Exceptional because their one driving rule is to live. To live in the only way possible: with pure intensity and honesty.
This 2008 documentary traces the journey of mountaineer Iñaki Ochoa de Olza Seguin. Rather than recounting his death, the film focuses on his life, drawing on a wide range of archival materials: recordings of lectures made by his father, photos sent by friends, period footage, and 8mm home movies. Iñaki’s voice—culled from these materials—challenges our complacency and speaks of his connection to Navarre, his family, and the mountains. Through this relationship with the mountains, the film explores joy, pain, the contrast between a life lived intensely and a conventional, comfortable existence, as well as happiness and death. This tribute film premiered at the Baluarte Auditorium in Pamplona in 2008, during the ceremony awarding medals for sporting merit to Iñaki himself and to everyone who had taken part in his rescue.
