Double bill, buy a ticket for Mountain and stay for River! *Same night only

This meditative film, narrated by Willem Dafoe, explores humanity’s fascination with conquering peaks while urging us to have more respect for these wild places. The 2003 book Mountains of the Mind forms the backbone of this new documentary from director Jennifer Peedom. Peedom chooses to remain at altitude, contemplating the majesty of the titular landform and examining humanity’s relationship with it. While its visual elements are regularly – sometimes literally – breathtaking, Mountain is also a nuanced meditation. A wide variety of adrenaline-charged footage is supplemented by a skilfully assembled archival section on mountaineering history and cuts from existing mountain films. Excerpts show us American uber-climber Alex Honnold (Free Solo) achieving a state of grace while free-soloing the sheer rock face of El Sendero Luminoso in Mexico. While the film takes an unequivocally romantic approach to mountains, it doesn’t shy away from casting a critical eye on the colonial thinking that underpinned early mountaineering exploits and that continues in a different form today.