00:00:13.041 --> 00:00:17.916
[Bells clanking]

00:00:28.375 --> 00:00:33.250
[distant wailing]

00:00:42.958 --> 00:00:47.458
[distant chanting]

00:00:47.458 --> 00:00:52.333
[Bell rings]

00:00:56.375 --> 00:00:58.166
[Bell rings]

00:00:58.166 --> 00:01:00.750
[sounds fade away]

00:01:00.750 --> 00:01:04.791
[River flowing]

00:01:10.708 --> 00:01:15.583
Kathmandu, September 2019

00:01:31.708 --> 00:01:36.583
[muffled voices]

00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:53.958
[Cornet blaring in background]

00:02:03.333 --> 00:02:06.375
[muffled voices]

00:02:06.375 --> 00:02:09.333
[blaring stops]

00:02:12.416 --> 00:02:16.500
[Pages turning]

00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:19.541
[soft bell chimes]

00:02:24.458 --> 00:02:27.500
[Wind blowing]

00:02:27.500 --> 00:02:30.208
[heavy breathing]

00:02:30.208 --> 00:02:33.875
[Bell rings]

00:02:35.250 --> 00:02:40.250
Seventh highest mountain in the world

00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:42.333
[footsteps crunching in the snow]

00:02:45.583 --> 00:02:47.750
[Wind whooshing]

00:02:47.750 --> 00:02:49.708
[Ice axe hitting rocks]

00:03:06.708 --> 00:03:08.583
[gusts of wind]

00:03:08.583 --> 00:03:10.541
[Metal clanking]

00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.583
[breathless scream of joy]

00:03:30.041 --> 00:03:31.708
[sound stops]

00:03:31.708 --> 00:03:34.291
[panting]

00:03:37.791 --> 00:03:38.458
[Wind whooshing]

00:03:38.458 --> 00:03:42.541
Today May 1st at 12:15

00:03:42.541 --> 00:03:43.166
[gasps for air]

00:03:43.166 --> 00:03:43.625
[chuckles]

00:03:43.625 --> 00:03:49.541
I am at the summit of Dhaula at 8,167 meters.

00:03:49.541 --> 00:03:54.458
I finish... my fourteenth.

00:03:54.791 --> 00:03:56.791
I am very happy

00:03:56.791 --> 00:04:01.041
with my friends Ferrán, Fercho, Gerlinde, Radeck

00:04:01.291 --> 00:04:02.208
[Voice breaking]

00:04:02.208 --> 00:04:03.958
I am very happy

00:04:03.958 --> 00:04:07.791
once again grateful to God and to life

00:04:07.791 --> 00:04:10.708
for this beautiful moment.

00:04:10.708 --> 00:04:14.541
A huge hug for my two children

00:04:14.541 --> 00:04:16.458
for Katita

00:04:16.791 --> 00:04:19.791
and my gratitude with life

00:04:19.791 --> 00:04:21.541
for having finished this

00:04:21.541 --> 00:04:24.208
and being here with my friends

00:04:24.208 --> 00:04:27.041
at 8,167 in the Dhaula

00:04:27.458 --> 00:04:28.541
at the third try.

00:04:29.291 --> 00:04:31.541
A huge hug for everyone...

00:04:32.208 --> 00:04:34.541
I have no more room for happiness.

00:04:42.041 --> 00:04:42.791
[Woman #1 speaking English]
Iván

00:04:44.291 --> 00:04:48.208
Iván I am so happy that I can share
this moment with you.

00:04:48.458 --> 00:04:49.791
I am so happy.

00:04:49.791 --> 00:04:51.333
[Iván speaking English]
Thank you so much.

00:04:51.583 --> 00:04:54.041
It is the biggest moment really.

00:04:54.708 --> 00:04:55.833
[Iván speaking English]
Thank you Gerlinde

00:04:55.958 --> 00:04:57.458
I am very lucky.

00:04:57.458 --> 00:04:59.208
Very very lucky.

00:04:59.208 --> 00:05:00.625
[Bell rings]

00:05:02.291 --> 00:05:04.041
[silence]

00:05:04.041 --> 00:05:06.291
[Sebastián]
I have known Iván Vallejo for over 20 years.

00:05:06.291 --> 00:05:07.791
[Door opens]

00:05:07.791 --> 00:05:09.291
In May 1999

00:05:09.291 --> 00:05:12.041
he crowned Everest without supplemental oxygen:

00:05:12.041 --> 00:05:13.958
he was the first Ecuadorian to do so

00:05:13.958 --> 00:05:15.458
and this feat was historic.

00:05:15.916 --> 00:05:18.208
[Iván]
I snatched this little book from the library

00:05:18.208 --> 00:05:19.458
That's the beauty:

00:05:19.458 --> 00:05:21.041
I was inspired by this drawing

00:05:21.041 --> 00:05:22.791
this image, this story.

00:05:22.791 --> 00:05:23.791
This is here.

00:05:24.541 --> 00:05:26.208
[Sebastián]
Man reached the moon before

00:05:26.208 --> 00:05:28.500
reaching the top of Everest without oxygen.

00:05:29.708 --> 00:05:34.458
That same year, in September 1999,
I premiered my film “Ratas, Ratones, Rateros”

00:05:34.458 --> 00:05:36.208
at the Venice Film Festival.

00:05:36.208 --> 00:05:37.458
[Presenter]
"Ratas, ratones, rateros"

00:05:37.458 --> 00:05:38.791
Sebastián Cordero

00:05:38.791 --> 00:05:40.708
[Sebastián]
I was 27 years old

00:05:40.708 --> 00:05:42.291
and it was an amazing moment.

00:05:42.291 --> 00:05:42.708
[Crowd applauding]

00:05:42.708 --> 00:05:45.458
We were invited to many events together, with Iván.

00:05:46.125 --> 00:05:48.708
The mountain exerted on him a kind of fascination.

00:05:48.708 --> 00:05:49.583
[Whoosh]

00:05:49.583 --> 00:05:52.250
None of us were satisfied with what we had achieved.

00:05:52.250 --> 00:05:52.958
[Camera flashes]

00:05:52.958 --> 00:05:55.208
And while I was making movies

00:05:55.208 --> 00:05:57.041
he continued climbing mountains.

00:06:04.041 --> 00:06:06.083
A year ago, I received a call from Iván

00:06:06.958 --> 00:06:09.041
He wanted to ask me to make a film

00:06:09.041 --> 00:06:10.041
about his career.

00:06:11.041 --> 00:06:13.291
The idea would be to go to Nepal together

00:06:13.291 --> 00:06:15.708
so that he could show me his vision of the world

00:06:15.708 --> 00:06:16.458
of the mountain

00:06:16.458 --> 00:06:17.958
so that he could tell me his story.

00:06:20.041 --> 00:06:21.708
- [Iván] So, I start with this one, right?
- [Sebastián] m-hm

00:06:22.333 --> 00:06:23.083
[Voices echoing]

00:06:23.083 --> 00:06:23.833
[soft bells chiming]

00:06:23.833 --> 00:06:26.083
[Woman #2]
A representation of the universe.

00:06:26.125 --> 00:06:26.916
[Sebastián]
Ok.

00:06:26.916 --> 00:06:28.333
[Woman #2]
In the center is Nirvana

00:06:28.375 --> 00:06:30.208
this is the universe of the Buddha

00:06:30.208 --> 00:06:31.041
in Bodhisatva

00:06:31.041 --> 00:06:33.291
where they are having the ultimate happiness.

00:06:33.291 --> 00:06:33.708
[Sebastián]
Ok.

00:06:33.708 --> 00:06:34.708
[Woman #2]
After you reach here

00:06:34.708 --> 00:06:36.583
you don't need to come back to be reborn

00:06:36.583 --> 00:06:37.958
into suffering beings

00:06:37.958 --> 00:06:38.708
in Samsara.

00:06:38.708 --> 00:06:41.125
And then there are the different activities

00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:42.083
of the Buddha's life

00:06:42.083 --> 00:06:43.708
that was actually developed by

00:06:43.708 --> 00:06:44.958
Buddha himself

00:06:44.958 --> 00:06:46.791
2500 years ago.

00:06:46.791 --> 00:06:48.791
[Sebastián]
Is it like a biography of the Buddha?

00:06:48.791 --> 00:06:49.041
[Woman #2]
Yes.

00:06:49.583 --> 00:06:51.375
[distant cornets blaring]

00:06:53.583 --> 00:06:55.375
[indistinct chatter]

00:06:56.291 --> 00:07:00.208
[Sebastián] During this trip there will be time to talk and make decisions

00:07:00.208 --> 00:07:02.291
about the film we want to make.

00:07:03.291 --> 00:07:05.291
From the beginning I have my doubts

00:07:05.541 --> 00:07:08.291
since I have no idea what that movie will be

00:07:08.541 --> 00:07:10.791
and I would like to be transparent with Iván.

00:07:10.791 --> 00:07:13.041
[Singing-bowl gong]

00:07:13.625 --> 00:07:17.708
[Buddhist chant echoes in background]

00:07:19.083 --> 00:07:20.208
One thing is clear for me

00:07:21.041 --> 00:07:23.958
I would walk for 9 days to the Everest Base Camp

00:07:24.958 --> 00:07:27.958
I would see the highest mountain in the world for the first time

00:07:28.708 --> 00:07:31.958
and I would talk to Iván about a still imaginary movie.

00:07:32.291 --> 00:07:35.833
[dramatic music playing]

00:07:36.791 --> 00:07:41.208
"Behind the Mist"

00:07:41.208 --> 00:07:43.166
[Buddhist chant echoing]

00:07:43.166 --> 00:07:45.666
[Music stops]

00:07:45.666 --> 00:07:47.791
[Bell rings]

00:07:47.791 --> 00:07:50.500
[Prayer wheel turning]

00:07:55.208 --> 00:07:57.208
[Sebastián]
September 11, 2019

00:07:57.208 --> 00:07:58.000
[Bell rings]

00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.708
Right now, I'm exploring less controlled formats.

00:08:02.083 --> 00:08:04.833
Not knowing the outcome of this documentary

00:08:04.833 --> 00:08:06.708
allows me to capture something

00:08:06.708 --> 00:08:08.708
that has a lot to do with me too.

00:08:10.083 --> 00:08:12.083
[Clanking continues]

00:08:12.083 --> 00:08:15.458
- [Sebastián] Good luck making this movie.
- [Iván] Exactly.

00:08:15.458 --> 00:08:17.083
That's what I'm doing right here.

00:08:17.458 --> 00:08:19.208
I am making a prayer

00:08:20.083 --> 00:08:22.708
praying about the intention of this movie.

00:08:24.833 --> 00:08:26.708
[Sebastián]
I don't really know much about Iván

00:08:27.333 --> 00:08:31.583
but I know he's a human being who has done something
very few people have done.

00:08:31.833 --> 00:08:33.833
He has extraordinary strength

00:08:33.958 --> 00:08:37.208
and nothing stands between him, the mountain and its light.

00:08:38.708 --> 00:08:40.708
He was the seventh person in history

00:08:40.708 --> 00:08:42.833
who completed the 14 eight-thousanders

00:08:42.833 --> 00:08:44.375
without supplemental oxygen.

00:08:44.375 --> 00:08:44.708
[Brush stroking]

00:08:44.708 --> 00:08:46.083
This feat has been achieved

00:08:46.083 --> 00:08:48.208
just by over a dozen climbers in the world

00:08:48.208 --> 00:08:50.208
while others have lost their lives trying.

00:08:51.583 --> 00:08:53.083
What makes them take this risk?

00:08:53.083 --> 00:08:53.958
[soft bell chimes]

00:08:53.958 --> 00:08:55.583
To go against their own bodies

00:08:55.708 --> 00:08:56.708
exhaustion

00:08:56.708 --> 00:08:59.208
and absolute solitude?

00:09:01.458 --> 00:09:04.000
[Man chanting]

00:09:11.958 --> 00:09:13.708
[Traffic noises]

00:09:13.708 --> 00:09:15.458
[Iván]
You saw that everyone here

00:09:15.458 --> 00:09:17.958
greets you with reverence and respect

00:09:17.958 --> 00:09:19.208
they say “namaste”.

00:09:19.208 --> 00:09:20.708
[Sebastián]
What does "namaste" mean?

00:09:22.208 --> 00:09:26.458
[Iván]
"The divinity in me honors the divinity in you."

00:09:40.083 --> 00:09:41.958
[distant chanting]

00:09:41.958 --> 00:09:44.250
[distant city sounds]

00:09:44.250 --> 00:09:46.625
Swayambhunath
Temple of Monkeys

00:09:50.041 --> 00:09:52.708
[Prayer wheel bell chimes]

00:10:08.458 --> 00:10:11.125
[Prayer wheel bell chimes]

00:10:16.541 --> 00:10:19.208
[chiming continues]

00:10:25.833 --> 00:10:28.500
[sounds fade away]

00:10:28.500 --> 00:10:30.250
[Sebastián]
I am not an adventure

00:10:30.250 --> 00:10:32.166
or mountain documentary filmmaker

00:10:32.166 --> 00:10:34.250
my strength should be different.

00:10:34.250 --> 00:10:37.000
And maybe this has to do with something more personal.

00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:39.041
[Prayer wheel bell chimes]

00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:44.791
[Clanking of prayer wheels turning]

00:10:44.791 --> 00:10:46.958
[Iván]
The movement of the prayer wheel

00:10:46.958 --> 00:10:48.833
takes the prayer towards the abode

00:10:48.833 --> 00:10:50.583
of the gods who are in the mountains.

00:10:50.708 --> 00:10:52.958
I thought the concept was beautiful, right?

00:10:52.958 --> 00:10:54.333
It's about energy.

00:10:54.333 --> 00:10:57.041
The pinwheel turns and carries the prayer.

00:10:57.041 --> 00:11:00.583
So, from the first time I came in 1995

00:11:00.583 --> 00:11:03.333
and every time I've come until today

00:11:03.958 --> 00:11:06.958
especially when I'm starting an expedition,

00:11:06.958 --> 00:11:07.833
I always come here

00:11:07.833 --> 00:11:08.291
[Drums striking]

00:11:08.291 --> 00:11:10.708
and through the turning of these praying wheels

00:11:10.708 --> 00:11:12.708
while making my own prayer

00:11:13.041 --> 00:11:15.541
I ask God to accompany me on the expedition.

00:11:15.541 --> 00:11:16.541
[Drum striking stops]

00:11:17.916 --> 00:11:19.458
[Monkey screeching]

00:11:20.666 --> 00:11:21.791
[Water spilling]

00:11:23.333 --> 00:11:24.458
[Mosquito buzzing]

00:11:30.458 --> 00:11:33.458
[Iván]
Modestly, I do think I've been very fortunate

00:11:33.708 --> 00:11:34.958
because I've been lucky

00:11:34.958 --> 00:11:36.958
enough to live these two extremes, right?

00:11:37.208 --> 00:11:38.833
Once I was buried for four hours

00:11:38.833 --> 00:11:41.458
in a crevasse in Chimborazo

00:11:41.958 --> 00:11:44.083
where I thought I was going to die.

00:11:44.083 --> 00:11:44.833
[indistinct chatter]

00:11:44.833 --> 00:11:48.208
Another time I came down from summiting K2

00:11:48.208 --> 00:11:52.583
and was in a fierce storm that lasted two days

00:11:52.583 --> 00:11:54.083
and I thought I was going to die.

00:11:54.083 --> 00:11:54.833
[Monkey gibbering]

00:11:55.458 --> 00:11:57.833
Those are moments in which you know

00:11:57.833 --> 00:11:59.208
how insignificant you are.

00:11:59.333 --> 00:12:01.833
And then there are glorious moments like…

00:12:02.583 --> 00:12:04.208
the birth of my two children

00:12:04.208 --> 00:12:05.958
because I was there during labor

00:12:06.208 --> 00:12:08.833
accompanying Lorena, may she rest in peace.

00:12:08.833 --> 00:12:11.333
It is a glorious moment to see life there

00:12:11.333 --> 00:12:13.833
and to understand the wonder of love!

00:12:13.958 --> 00:12:16.333
And then when I finished the 14 eight-thousanders

00:12:16.333 --> 00:12:18.083
on May 1st, 2008

00:12:18.208 --> 00:12:20.708
a quarter past twelve, or 12:20…

00:12:20.708 --> 00:12:21.583
[Drums striking]

00:12:21.583 --> 00:12:23.083
to weep

00:12:23.208 --> 00:12:24.708
to stand up and

00:12:24.833 --> 00:12:27.208
to turn 360 degrees

00:12:27.208 --> 00:12:30.458
crying with arms raised in gratitude.

00:12:30.583 --> 00:12:35.583
And again, not being able to articulate a single word

00:12:35.583 --> 00:12:38.333
but simply saying: "God, I thank you".

00:12:38.333 --> 00:12:41.458
So those bright moments

00:12:41.458 --> 00:12:42.708
[Birds chirping]

00:12:42.708 --> 00:12:45.583
are also directly related to gratitude.

00:12:45.791 --> 00:12:46.791
[chirping continues]

00:12:46.791 --> 00:12:48.291
[striking stops]

00:12:52.625 --> 00:12:53.583
[Monkey gibbering]

00:12:53.583 --> 00:12:55.083
[Sebastián]
How amazing right?

00:12:58.208 --> 00:12:59.958
[Iván]
The whole family is there.

00:13:02.458 --> 00:13:05.083
[Sebastián]
And she is so much at peace…

00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:27.500
[Monkey yawning]

00:13:30.875 --> 00:13:33.708
[Monks chanting]

00:13:33.708 --> 00:13:36.708
[Sebastián]
I can't help but think that therein lies true happiness.

00:13:38.541 --> 00:13:39.958
We, on the other hand

00:13:39.958 --> 00:13:42.208
do not stop setting goals for ourselves

00:13:42.291 --> 00:13:43.708
and when we reach them

00:13:43.708 --> 00:13:45.708
the satisfaction is only momentary

00:13:47.916 --> 00:13:50.666
Deep down we just want to continue.

00:13:59.916 --> 00:14:02.750
[chanting intensifies]

00:14:02.750 --> 00:14:05.375
[indistinct chatter]

00:14:08.791 --> 00:14:11.416
[Chanting fades away]

00:14:11.416 --> 00:14:14.041
[Upbeat music playing]

00:14:27.041 --> 00:14:28.708
[Sebastián]
September 12

00:14:28.708 --> 00:14:29.833
[Music intensifies]

00:14:29.833 --> 00:14:32.208
Together with our Nepalese guide Bakhta

00:14:32.208 --> 00:14:34.333
we take a plane to Lukla.

00:14:40.541 --> 00:14:43.166
[frantic drums playing]

00:14:50.708 --> 00:14:52.833
In this place there are no roads anymore.

00:14:52.833 --> 00:14:56.333
From now on, we will continue our journey on foot.

00:15:05.125 --> 00:15:06.291
[Music stops]

00:15:06.291 --> 00:15:07.333
Do you want a fried egg?

00:15:07.333 --> 00:15:09.708
[Sebastián]
Ah, well, yes, yes, it would be nice.

00:15:11.083 --> 00:15:12.083
One or two?

00:15:12.708 --> 00:15:13.708
[Sebastián]
One would be fine.

00:15:14.750 --> 00:15:15.750
[Sebastián speaking English]
uhh...fried eggs?

00:15:15.750 --> 00:15:16.541
[Iván speaking English]
Fried eggs

00:15:16.541 --> 00:15:18.791
- [Iván speaking English] Yes, two.
- [Sebastián speaking English] One each.

00:15:21.291 --> 00:15:22.083
[indistinct chatter]

00:15:22.083 --> 00:15:24.500
[Iván speaking English]
But...not too much fried.

00:15:24.500 --> 00:15:27.333
- [Waiter speaking English] Just half, one side each?
- [Iván speaking English] Just one side, yes.

00:15:27.333 --> 00:15:28.875
[Sebastián agreeing]
m-hm

00:15:29.208 --> 00:15:32.708
So look, that's why the book is called "Return to Love".

00:15:33.083 --> 00:15:33.583
[Sebastián]
Ok.

00:15:33.583 --> 00:15:35.083
It's not called "Return to God"

00:15:35.083 --> 00:15:37.208
because then you reject the book.

00:15:37.458 --> 00:15:39.583
[Sebastián]
But then, are you religious?

00:15:39.583 --> 00:15:41.208
[Iván]
Yes, yes, I believe in God.

00:15:41.208 --> 00:15:42.458
[Sebastián]
I don't believe in God

00:15:42.458 --> 00:15:43.583
I stopped believing

00:15:43.583 --> 00:15:44.958
when I was 14 years old

00:15:44.958 --> 00:15:46.958
I thought this makes no sense to me…

00:15:47.083 --> 00:15:50.208
I think that no matter how much Cartesian

00:15:50.208 --> 00:15:51.833
thinking you may have

00:15:51.833 --> 00:15:54.583
there are things that go beyond it

00:15:54.583 --> 00:15:56.208
and it is very nice for me...

00:15:56.208 --> 00:15:59.833
[Sebastián]
Yeah, it's just that I constantly

00:15:59.833 --> 00:16:00.833
have that dilemma

00:16:00.833 --> 00:16:02.833
because I have my Cartesian side and

00:16:02.833 --> 00:16:04.333
my logical side and everything

00:16:04.333 --> 00:16:07.708
and I kind of look for an explanation for everything.

00:16:07.708 --> 00:16:09.125
[Pan sizzles]

00:16:09.125 --> 00:16:10.625
- [Iván speaking English] Nice, thank you very much.
- [Waitress speaking English] You’re welcome.

00:16:12.458 --> 00:16:18.833
So, I come back from the expeditions, and

00:16:18.833 --> 00:16:21.083
I have a lot of money to pay.

00:16:22.208 --> 00:16:26.708
Of course, the issue is, where do I get more money?

00:16:26.708 --> 00:16:28.958
Because I already work at the university

00:16:28.958 --> 00:16:30.333
I already teach photography

00:16:30.333 --> 00:16:32.333
at the Metropolitan Institute of Design

00:16:32.333 --> 00:16:34.583
I'm already a mountain guide, what else do I do?

00:16:36.083 --> 00:16:37.541
[Waitress speaking Nepali]
Have some tea

00:16:37.833 --> 00:16:39.500
[Iván speaking English]
No, it’s ok. I have to finish this, it’s very good.

00:16:41.416 --> 00:16:42.708
[Sebastián chuckles]

00:16:42.708 --> 00:16:50.083
Then he tells me, "Engineer, I want to thank you..."

00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:51.166
[Iván speaking Nepali]
Sister

00:16:51.166 --> 00:16:51.875
[Waitress speaking Nepali]
Tell me.

00:16:51.875 --> 00:16:52.916
[Iván speaking Nepali]
Do you have chili sauce?

00:16:52.916 --> 00:16:53.625
- [Waitress speaking English] Chili sauce? Yes
- [Iván] Yes

00:16:55.583 --> 00:16:59.083
"Engineer, I come to thank you because you know

00:16:59.083 --> 00:17:01.083
“that I was about to resign from school…

00:17:01.083 --> 00:17:01.833
[Sebastián]
oh no

00:17:01.833 --> 00:17:04.833
[Iván]
“And thanks to that story you told us about the mountain

00:17:04.833 --> 00:17:06.541
“I stayed, and I want to thank you

00:17:06.541 --> 00:17:08.333
because I am now entering college."

00:17:08.833 --> 00:17:10.958
So, since this was kind of repetitive, I said

00:17:10.958 --> 00:17:14.833
"Hey, cool, I'm doing well with the kids in

00:17:14.833 --> 00:17:17.708
terms of encouraging them, motivating them"...

00:17:17.708 --> 00:17:18.958
[indistinct chatter]

00:17:19.875 --> 00:17:22.791
I gave my first group of lectures.

00:17:23.958 --> 00:17:24.541
And of course

00:17:24.541 --> 00:17:26.041
it was gratifying

00:17:26.041 --> 00:17:31.291
that at the end of the conference they told me that

00:17:31.958 --> 00:17:33.958
far beyond my story

00:17:34.458 --> 00:17:39.041
it was super important for them in terms of motivation and leadership.

00:17:39.041 --> 00:17:39.541
[Sebastián]
Of course

00:17:39.541 --> 00:17:44.208
So, for me it was very important because it was one thing with the students

00:17:44.208 --> 00:17:47.041
but another thing was to take it to a business level.

00:17:47.041 --> 00:17:47.625
[Sebastián agreeing]
m-hm

00:17:48.708 --> 00:17:50.041
So that's where I started.

00:17:51.791 --> 00:17:54.791
It always moved me, I say

00:17:54.791 --> 00:17:59.291
- [Iván] "Oh, that's great, that I have this talent to do this...
- [Sebastián agreeing] m-hm

00:17:59.291 --> 00:18:01.041
to be able to help in this way."

00:18:01.458 --> 00:18:02.791
And when I was training...
[running noises] pa-pa, pa-pa, pa

00:18:02.791 --> 00:18:04.458
I say: "How beautiful

00:18:04.458 --> 00:18:06.541
it'll soon be twenty years since Everest..."

00:18:06.541 --> 00:18:07.791
And it dawns on me, right?...

00:18:07.791 --> 00:18:09.458
I think, in these 20 years

00:18:09.458 --> 00:18:11.541
thanks to the excuse of the mountain

00:18:12.208 --> 00:18:16.458
how nice, how many people have I been able to help...

00:18:16.458 --> 00:18:17.458
[Sebastián agreeing]
m-hm

00:18:17.458 --> 00:18:18.708
And I think...

00:18:19.208 --> 00:18:21.958
How can I continue to help?

00:18:21.958 --> 00:18:22.625
[Fist hitting hand]

00:18:23.291 --> 00:18:26.208
A documentary, a movie, whatever… do you understand me?

00:18:26.208 --> 00:18:28.208
[Sebastián]
Of course

00:18:28.208 --> 00:18:31.958
These are beautiful elements that are aligning

00:18:32.041 --> 00:18:34.791
and then the next step was without hesitation...

00:18:34.791 --> 00:18:36.333
[whispering]
I have to call Sebas!

00:18:36.541 --> 00:18:38.541
[Sebastián]
I don't know, well, I still have my side…

00:18:38.541 --> 00:18:40.041
I mean, I instead, I mean

00:18:40.041 --> 00:18:41.958
unlike you and I'll tell you as it is, right?

00:18:41.958 --> 00:18:44.791
[encouraged]
Now that we know each other and everything...

00:18:44.791 --> 00:18:47.541
I don't, for example, self-help books…

00:18:47.541 --> 00:18:50.291
or the topic of self-improvement and all that

00:18:50.291 --> 00:18:52.541
[chuckling]
I run away from that...

00:18:52.541 --> 00:18:55.458
I have my mixed feelings there.

00:18:55.458 --> 00:18:59.041
So, I was a little bit cynical

00:18:59.041 --> 00:19:01.583
about the idea of making a film that helps people

00:19:01.583 --> 00:19:03.250
that is, because I feel the film

00:19:03.250 --> 00:19:04.666
should have other intentions...

00:19:04.666 --> 00:19:07.541
[Iván]
If self-help books aren't your thing, a movie's worse...

00:19:07.541 --> 00:19:09.791
[Sebastián]
That said, one of my great influences

00:19:09.791 --> 00:19:11.041
as a teenager in cinema

00:19:11.208 --> 00:19:12.958
was Frank Capra… He's the one who made…

00:19:12.958 --> 00:19:14.208
[Iván]
Frank Capra?

00:19:14.208 --> 00:19:15.375
[Sebastián]
He is from the one who made

00:19:15.375 --> 00:19:16.291
"It's a Wonderful Life"

00:19:16.291 --> 00:19:18.208
the Christmas film, in black and white

00:19:18.208 --> 00:19:19.583
about… with James Stewart

00:19:19.583 --> 00:19:22.250
which is precisely about miracles and those things…

00:19:22.291 --> 00:19:24.208
Everest Base Camp Trail

00:19:24.208 --> 00:19:27.708
So, he was successful very early in his life

00:19:27.708 --> 00:19:29.708
and suddenly he was lost in his success

00:19:30.666 --> 00:19:33.166
and he tells this anecdote that

00:19:34.416 --> 00:19:37.166
during a period, after making other films

00:19:37.166 --> 00:19:38.708
after a moment of feeling down

00:19:39.291 --> 00:19:40.958
he meets a guy who

00:19:40.958 --> 00:19:44.041
I don't even remember who that guy was anymore

00:19:44.041 --> 00:19:46.791
because he's one of those people who comes into his life

00:19:47.291 --> 00:19:48.958
for a strange reason

00:19:48.958 --> 00:19:50.291
and that guy tells him...

00:19:50.416 --> 00:19:52.791
Basically he teaches him a life lesson and tells him

00:19:52.791 --> 00:19:56.208
“Hey, you have a very strong power

00:19:56.791 --> 00:19:58.041
people go to the movies

00:19:58.041 --> 00:20:01.458
and you have their attention at a 100%

00:20:01.458 --> 00:20:02.958
visually, with sound

00:20:02.958 --> 00:20:04.958
you are telling them a story.

00:20:05.125 --> 00:20:07.041
It is something that few people can do

00:20:07.041 --> 00:20:10.791
and you are wasting it right now with commercial movies

00:20:10.791 --> 00:20:11.958
with silly movies

00:20:11.958 --> 00:20:15.791
and you could be giving very important

00:20:15.791 --> 00:20:17.041
messages with each movie".

00:20:17.041 --> 00:20:19.291
And this was at a moment of a mega crisis for him

00:20:19.291 --> 00:20:20.291
and he begins again...

00:20:20.291 --> 00:20:23.041
And the movies he makes in the second part

00:20:23.041 --> 00:20:24.541
in the second part of his life

00:20:24.541 --> 00:20:28.208
are the movies that I admire from him, the ones that I…

00:20:28.208 --> 00:20:30.791
And it is… and then I remember

00:20:30.791 --> 00:20:31.708
that my brother

00:20:31.708 --> 00:20:34.541
he was very, very spiritual

00:20:34.541 --> 00:20:35.583
and always searching.

00:20:35.583 --> 00:20:37.041
He was interested in Buddhism

00:20:37.041 --> 00:20:39.041
in Taoism, so he was always

00:20:39.041 --> 00:20:41.041
I remember we talked a lot about this

00:20:41.041 --> 00:20:43.041
about the importance precisely that

00:20:43.041 --> 00:20:45.958
that the cinema we make must have a purpose.

00:20:45.958 --> 00:20:46.708
[Iván]
Nice.

00:20:46.708 --> 00:20:50.791
[Sebastián]
And, and it was, and it was something that left a deep mark on me

00:20:53.083 --> 00:20:54.958
but then with the passing of time...

00:20:56.458 --> 00:20:58.291
Now, for example, in no interview

00:20:58.291 --> 00:21:01.708
have I ever mentioned Frank Capra.

00:21:01.708 --> 00:21:04.541
I mean, never, never, I mean, he's been there...

00:21:04.541 --> 00:21:07.208
[Iván]
I get it, I get it, he's been backstage.

00:21:07.208 --> 00:21:08.041
[Sebastián chuckling]
Eh... yes

00:21:08.041 --> 00:21:09.958
[Iván]
It's just that with your style, it didn't fit

00:21:09.958 --> 00:21:12.041
[chuckling]
to say it's “inspirational”...

00:21:12.541 --> 00:21:14.708
[Sebastián]
What am I going to say if I'm doing an interview on

00:21:14.708 --> 00:21:15.958
“Ratas, Ratones, Rateros”

00:21:15.958 --> 00:21:19.708
a movie that also has a side that's more, more cynical

00:21:19.708 --> 00:21:23.458
I mean, it still has a side that's obviously very…

00:21:23.458 --> 00:21:24.541
also very humanistic

00:21:24.541 --> 00:21:26.541
I mean, because it's there

00:21:27.041 --> 00:21:30.458
but it's not a movie that I show to someone saying this is going

00:21:30.458 --> 00:21:31.458
to change your life

00:21:31.458 --> 00:21:33.625
and it's going to make your intentions better

00:21:33.625 --> 00:21:35.041
and explain why you do things.

00:21:35.041 --> 00:21:38.291
[Iván]
But there is the other thing I was telling you yesterday…

00:21:39.458 --> 00:21:42.541
What did you generate in Ecuadorian cinema?

00:21:43.833 --> 00:21:47.208
You break into the new Ecuadorian cinema.

00:21:47.208 --> 00:21:47.875
[Sebastián agreeing]
m-hm

00:21:47.875 --> 00:21:50.458
The excuse is a movie

00:21:50.458 --> 00:21:53.708
if you want to use your adjective, a cynical movie.

00:21:53.708 --> 00:21:54.458
[Sebastián agreeing]
ah-ha

00:21:54.458 --> 00:21:59.791
But you break the iceberg and open a path for the rest...

00:21:59.791 --> 00:22:01.041
that's the point.

00:22:01.041 --> 00:22:02.291
[Sebastián agreeing]
m-hm

00:22:02.291 --> 00:22:03.958
[Sebastián]
Maybe it has to do with the fact

00:22:03.958 --> 00:22:05.791
that when I feel an obvious intention

00:22:05.791 --> 00:22:10.458
to do something to reach people

00:22:10.458 --> 00:22:12.458
I feel the intention is already corrupted

00:22:12.458 --> 00:22:13.958
- [Sebastián] Because…
- [Iván] Exactly.

00:22:13.958 --> 00:22:16.208
[Sebastián]
You should reach people as a consequence

00:22:16.208 --> 00:22:17.458
and not intentionally.

00:22:17.458 --> 00:22:17.958
[Iván]
Perfect.

00:22:22.041 --> 00:22:23.500
[Wind whooshing]

00:22:23.500 --> 00:22:26.125
[distant thunder]

00:22:31.125 --> 00:22:34.458
[ominous blaring]

00:22:40.375 --> 00:22:41.833
[Wind blowing softly]

00:22:49.125 --> 00:22:51.375
[Footsteps approaching]

00:22:54.791 --> 00:22:56.208
[Sebastián]
In my films

00:22:56.208 --> 00:22:58.458
when I work with stories and characters

00:22:58.458 --> 00:23:01.041
what seduces me the most is their dark side

00:23:02.458 --> 00:23:03.291
their shadow

00:23:06.291 --> 00:23:08.708
I would like to find Iván's shadow

00:23:09.083 --> 00:23:11.208
And I don't know if Iván wants the same.

00:23:19.208 --> 00:23:20.708
I warned Iván that maybe

00:23:20.708 --> 00:23:23.250
I'm not the right person to make the film he expects

00:23:23.250 --> 00:23:23.916
[Rooster crowing]

00:23:23.916 --> 00:23:26.208
but he has a very clear view on the matter

00:23:26.208 --> 00:23:28.208
and he doesn't care about my doubts.

00:23:28.208 --> 00:23:30.958
[Iván questioning]
Those boys are without a goalie.

00:23:32.750 --> 00:23:35.500
[Kids playing in the background]

00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:38.250
[distant dogs barking]

00:23:42.041 --> 00:23:44.791
[Sebastián]
After growing up in a Catholic family

00:23:44.791 --> 00:23:47.041
in my teens I stopped believing in God.

00:23:49.041 --> 00:23:50.458
I felt a great void.

00:23:50.458 --> 00:23:52.208
[suspenseful music playing]

00:23:52.208 --> 00:23:55.041
Years later, when reading Albert Camus

00:23:55.041 --> 00:23:57.291
I discovered what he calls the absurd

00:23:57.708 --> 00:24:00.541
perfectly illustrated in his book "The Myth of Sisyphus"

00:24:02.833 --> 00:24:04.958
and I connected with his way of seeing things.

00:24:06.083 --> 00:24:08.333
Condemned to endlessly climb a rock

00:24:08.333 --> 00:24:09.958
to the top of a mountain

00:24:10.333 --> 00:24:12.958
from where the stone falls back under its own weight

00:24:13.833 --> 00:24:16.208
Sisyphus realizes his miserable condition.

00:24:17.208 --> 00:24:18.958
And it is from this darkness

00:24:18.958 --> 00:24:21.708
where crushing truths seem to be recognized

00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:24.875
that Sisyphus becomes stronger than his rock.

00:24:26.041 --> 00:24:27.416
[Rooster crowing]

00:24:31.250 --> 00:24:33.000
[snap of a photo]

00:24:33.541 --> 00:24:35.291
[heavy breathing]

00:24:42.833 --> 00:24:44.083
[Iván]
Potato harvest.

00:24:44.291 --> 00:24:45.041
[Sebastián]
Yes.

00:24:46.750 --> 00:24:49.250
Namaste, hello.

00:24:49.250 --> 00:24:50.000
[Sebastián chuckles softly]

00:24:54.125 --> 00:24:54.875
[Cow mooing]

00:25:00.541 --> 00:25:01.291
[Cow mooing]

00:25:05.833 --> 00:25:07.083
[footsteps]

00:25:07.083 --> 00:25:08.708
[foreboding music playing]

00:25:14.916 --> 00:25:16.166
[distant bells chiming]

00:25:26.541 --> 00:25:27.791
[Crowd Roaring]

00:25:30.166 --> 00:25:32.625
[Sebastián]
I find myself at a moment of great frustration

00:25:32.625 --> 00:25:35.291
I find myself at a moment where I question myself

00:25:35.291 --> 00:25:37.291
about what I am doing in my career.

00:25:38.291 --> 00:25:40.041
I just made a big movie

00:25:40.208 --> 00:25:43.208
but it's not getting the recognition I'd hoped it would get.

00:25:43.208 --> 00:25:45.958
and it doesn't have strong international distribution.

00:25:46.500 --> 00:25:48.250
Few people see it in Ecuador.

00:25:49.333 --> 00:25:51.750
And I wonder about the origin of that project.

00:25:53.083 --> 00:25:56.083
Our craft is filled of a mix of pure and noble intentions

00:25:56.250 --> 00:25:58.333
as well as intentions of ambition and ego

00:25:59.750 --> 00:26:01.833
and it's hard to balance these two.

00:26:03.541 --> 00:26:03.833
[Man hitting metal fence]

00:26:03.833 --> 00:26:05.833
[Man #1]
Everybody in this room

00:26:05.833 --> 00:26:08.291
knows that in soccer like in everything else...

00:26:08.291 --> 00:26:11.541
things happen when one wants them to happen!

00:26:12.708 --> 00:26:17.458
The winner is the one who wants to win more!

00:26:17.458 --> 00:26:19.208
[ominous blare]

00:26:19.208 --> 00:26:21.458
[flapping of prayer flags in the wind]

00:26:33.458 --> 00:26:35.208
[Clanking of prayer wheels turning]

00:26:35.208 --> 00:26:36.958
[Sebastián] I remember a quote by Kurosawa

00:26:36.958 --> 00:26:39.708
which says that if you are going to climb a mountain

00:26:40.208 --> 00:26:41.958
you should not look at the summit

00:26:42.208 --> 00:26:44.708
but keep your eyes fixed on the ground

00:26:44.708 --> 00:26:46.375
step by step as you climb.

00:26:48.250 --> 00:26:49.250
But I see Iván

00:26:49.250 --> 00:26:51.875
and I think he never stops thinking about the summit.

00:26:51.875 --> 00:26:55.375
He needs that goal to push forward.

00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:15.458
[flapping continues]

00:27:15.458 --> 00:27:17.208
[Metal clanking]

00:27:17.208 --> 00:27:18.958
[Wind howling]

00:27:18.958 --> 00:27:20.583
[sounds stop]

00:27:20.583 --> 00:27:22.208
[Birds chirping]

00:27:22.583 --> 00:27:24.666
[Iván]
Is this onion?

00:27:25.125 --> 00:27:25.958
[Man #2]
Yes onion.

00:27:25.958 --> 00:27:27.208
[Iván]
Yes this is onion.

00:27:34.666 --> 00:27:36.541
[Prayer wheel turning]

00:27:44.583 --> 00:27:46.041
[Iván]
Hillary passed through here

00:27:46.041 --> 00:27:47.541
John Hunt passed through here

00:27:47.541 --> 00:27:49.291
Tenzing Norgay passed through here.

00:27:51.333 --> 00:27:53.958
I always respect and greatly admire

00:27:53.958 --> 00:27:55.958
the achievements of the pioneers.

00:28:06.583 --> 00:28:08.041
[Pages turning]

00:28:08.041 --> 00:28:08.958
[slow dramatic music begins]

00:28:09.041 --> 00:28:12.291
All the ascents to the great mountains of the Himalayas

00:28:12.291 --> 00:28:14.041
were done with an oxygen tank.

00:28:14.041 --> 00:28:14.625
[indistinct chatter]

00:28:14.625 --> 00:28:16.458
But someone always appears in history

00:28:16.708 --> 00:28:17.958
who is going to change it

00:28:17.958 --> 00:28:19.541
and who is going to be disruptive

00:28:19.541 --> 00:28:21.208
in the path of history.

00:28:21.208 --> 00:28:22.458
And Reinhold Messner

00:28:22.458 --> 00:28:26.708
conceives the possibility of trying to do it

00:28:26.708 --> 00:28:27.708
without oxygen.

00:28:28.458 --> 00:28:30.791
If I wear an oxygen mask

00:28:30.958 --> 00:28:32.541
I'm building

00:28:32.708 --> 00:28:33.958
a wall

00:28:34.208 --> 00:28:35.958
between my spirit

00:28:35.958 --> 00:28:37.958
and the spirit of the mountain.

00:28:37.958 --> 00:28:39.375
[Wind howling]

00:28:39.375 --> 00:28:40.791
[Metal clanking]

00:28:43.833 --> 00:28:45.333
[soft chants echoing in background]

00:28:46.375 --> 00:28:47.875
[Sebastián] Sir George Everest

00:28:47.875 --> 00:28:48.875
was the first man

00:28:48.875 --> 00:28:51.458
to measure the mountain that now bears his name.

00:28:54.208 --> 00:28:55.458
It was previously known as

00:28:55.458 --> 00:28:56.333
Chomolungma

00:28:56.333 --> 00:28:57.708
which in Tibetan means

00:28:57.708 --> 00:28:59.333
the "Mother Goddess of the World".

00:29:03.208 --> 00:29:05.333
Why do we need ambition and ego?

00:29:05.791 --> 00:29:07.833
What function do they serve?

00:29:08.333 --> 00:29:10.458
Are they a fuel to continue climbing...

00:29:10.541 --> 00:29:12.458
or an obstacle that prevents

00:29:12.458 --> 00:29:14.458
connecting with the original reason?

00:29:14.458 --> 00:29:15.666
[small airplane passing by]

00:29:15.666 --> 00:29:17.541
Why do I make every movie?

00:29:18.291 --> 00:29:21.041
Is there something internal, something real...

00:29:21.375 --> 00:29:23.291
or am I just looking for a result?

00:29:23.291 --> 00:29:24.666
[chanting stops]

00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:28.000
The same must happen to Iván with the mountain.

00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:29.500
[footsteps]

00:29:29.500 --> 00:29:31.875
After all the achievements he has achieved

00:29:32.041 --> 00:29:33.666
why keep climbing?

00:29:34.291 --> 00:29:37.041
What reward does he find in climbing this mountain

00:29:37.041 --> 00:29:40.291
that makes him risk his life every time to get it?

00:29:43.708 --> 00:29:47.166
Iván tells me that on another trip he wants to summit Everest again

00:29:47.166 --> 00:29:49.375
which seems crazy to me.

00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:56.500
[Iván]
It is an entire environment, an entire universe

00:29:56.500 --> 00:29:58.666
that revolves around these mountains.

00:29:59.458 --> 00:30:01.791
I think the main component is that

00:30:01.791 --> 00:30:03.958
they are the highest in the world

00:30:03.958 --> 00:30:05.958
and everything that means

00:30:05.958 --> 00:30:08.041
and the impact that makes on you.

00:30:08.541 --> 00:30:10.375
And, implicitly

00:30:10.375 --> 00:30:12.791
there is the challenge for the human being

00:30:12.791 --> 00:30:14.125
because above 7,500

00:30:14.125 --> 00:30:15.333
[soft bells chiming in background]

00:30:15.333 --> 00:30:17.750
the lack of oxygen is overwhelming

00:30:17.750 --> 00:30:19.833
it is demanding, it is hard

00:30:19.833 --> 00:30:21.000
it demands a lot.

00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:22.000
[indistinct chatter]

00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:23.583
and that…

00:30:23.583 --> 00:30:25.500
the effort that must be done

00:30:25.500 --> 00:30:28.750
the devotion that one must have

00:30:28.750 --> 00:30:31.500
to be able to go up

00:30:31.500 --> 00:30:35.000
overcome the lack of oxygen

00:30:35.750 --> 00:30:37.833
all of that puts a great

00:30:38.500 --> 00:30:39.833
a great adornment on this.

00:30:40.416 --> 00:30:42.375
[Mic failure, limited audio]

00:30:42.375 --> 00:30:45.041
[Iván]
To be able to share, this story (...)

00:30:45.041 --> 00:30:46.750
[Sebastián grunts]

00:30:47.041 --> 00:30:50.041
far beyond sports, I do not seek (...)

00:30:50.041 --> 00:30:52.208
[Sebastián wipes the lens clean]

00:30:54.166 --> 00:30:56.416
[Iván]
but to share what happens

00:30:56.416 --> 00:31:00.250
what you feel when you climb a mountain.

00:31:00.250 --> 00:31:01.041
[Mic ok]

00:31:01.041 --> 00:31:04.791
[Sebastián]
And you guys were here together in '99?

00:31:04.791 --> 00:31:06.791
On your first climb?

00:31:06.791 --> 00:31:09.291
- [Sebastián] Or in 2001, in the second?
- [Iván] In 2001

00:31:09.541 --> 00:31:12.125
[Sebastián]
Already, let's see... what a good encounter!

00:31:13.708 --> 00:31:15.291
There, well there you are.

00:31:15.291 --> 00:31:16.541
[Iván]
One, one more.

00:31:16.708 --> 00:31:21.041
- [Man #3] And we've always loved each other very much.
- [Iván] Exactly.

00:31:21.458 --> 00:31:23.458
- [Man #3] I have turned 80...
- Tell him, how old you are...

00:31:23.458 --> 00:31:25.208
- [Sebastián] How old are you?
- [Man#1] 80 years

00:31:25.208 --> 00:31:25.958
[Sebastián]
Oh well

00:31:26.458 --> 00:31:27.458
that's wonderful!

00:31:27.541 --> 00:31:31.958
I, I wish, when I'm your age

00:31:31.958 --> 00:31:34.458
[chuckling]
that I can still

00:31:34.458 --> 00:31:36.208
be making a good journey.

00:31:36.208 --> 00:31:37.041
So beautiful.

00:31:37.958 --> 00:31:39.458
Well, what a good encounter.

00:31:39.458 --> 00:31:41.708
[Iván]
Also imagine what a reference

00:31:41.708 --> 00:31:43.291
80 years old and ready for battle

00:31:43.291 --> 00:31:44.458
we're not messing around.

00:31:44.458 --> 00:31:45.708
[Sebastián]
That's how it has to be.

00:31:45.708 --> 00:31:48.041
Such is a life well lived.

00:31:48.041 --> 00:31:49.291
[Man #3] Please another photo.

00:31:49.291 --> 00:31:50.208
[Sebastián]
Sure.

00:31:51.041 --> 00:31:52.708
What a nice encounter.

00:31:52.708 --> 00:31:56.208
- [Iván] Did you come for training?
- [Carlos] For training.

00:31:56.208 --> 00:31:58.041
[Iván]
Here we are.

00:31:58.041 --> 00:32:00.041
[snaps a photo]

00:32:00.041 --> 00:32:03.958
[Sebastián chuckling]
What a nice photo, there it is.

00:32:03.958 --> 00:32:06.041
[Iván]
And take one like this, Sebas.

00:32:06.041 --> 00:32:07.458
Shoot us like this.

00:32:09.916 --> 00:32:12.250
- [Iván] What a nice encounter, Carlitos.
- [Carlos] Marvelous.

00:32:12.250 --> 00:32:14.250
[Sebastián]
Which one are you going to climb now?

00:32:14.541 --> 00:32:15.541
[Carlos]
The Dhaula…

00:32:15.541 --> 00:32:17.208
- Kilían is there?
- With the Poles.

00:32:17.208 --> 00:32:17.708
Oh, okay.

00:32:17.708 --> 00:32:18.958
Kilían is going to climb

00:32:18.958 --> 00:32:21.958
he's going to do one of those outrageous things he does

00:32:21.958 --> 00:32:22.958
he's going to summit

00:32:22.958 --> 00:32:25.208
and then he's going to Lothse, which is crazy.

00:32:25.208 --> 00:32:27.791
[indistinct chatter on the phone]
His wife has come with a four-month-old baby-girl

00:32:27.791 --> 00:32:30.208
- [Sebastián chuckling] Phew...
- [Carlos] Crazy.

00:32:30.208 --> 00:32:31.208
[Iván]
That's crazy.

00:32:31.208 --> 00:32:33.458
And Kilían is going to Pumori, or which one?

00:32:33.458 --> 00:32:35.000
[Carlos]
No, he's going to summit Everest…

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:37.000
and then continue.

00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:38.958
[Iván] Oh yeah? Ta-ta-ta… oh...

00:32:38.958 --> 00:32:42.333
[Carlos]
He's been very nice to be around, and very nice to me

00:32:42.333 --> 00:32:43.333
same with the Poles.

00:32:43.333 --> 00:32:45.333
The one who skies down...

00:32:45.333 --> 00:32:48.041
[Sebastián]
Meeting a legendary mountaineer like Carlos Soria

00:32:48.041 --> 00:32:49.958
awakens in me the image of the mountain

00:32:49.958 --> 00:32:52.208
as a path of fulfillment.

00:32:55.291 --> 00:32:58.958
To transcend the adversities of climbing to find yourself.

00:32:58.958 --> 00:33:00.833
Is it a romantic vision?

00:33:03.500 --> 00:33:05.375
But I also see an obsession.

00:33:06.250 --> 00:33:08.750
To conquer his 14 eight-thousanders

00:33:08.750 --> 00:33:10.625
he is only missing the Dhaulagiri.

00:33:10.625 --> 00:33:12.000
And he's going to keep trying

00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:13.125
until he succeeds.

00:33:13.125 --> 00:33:14.250
[soft music playing]

00:33:14.791 --> 00:33:16.666
Is Carlos still looking for, at his age

00:33:16.666 --> 00:33:18.958
after so many achievements, and all his exploits

00:33:18.958 --> 00:33:20.958
for some recognition?

00:33:22.708 --> 00:33:23.500
What for?

00:33:27.375 --> 00:33:28.458
[indistinct chatter]

00:33:47.833 --> 00:33:49.541
[Horseback rider encouraging horse]

00:33:54.833 --> 00:33:55.666
[Horse neighs]

00:33:55.666 --> 00:33:56.500
[Birds singing]

00:33:58.750 --> 00:34:00.000
[Sebastián]
September 13

00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:04.000
I recognize that life is beautiful and hard at the same time

00:34:04.625 --> 00:34:06.375
but within its meaninglessness

00:34:06.375 --> 00:34:09.708
there are moments where everything seems worthwhile.

00:34:10.291 --> 00:34:11.791
Is that the summit?

00:34:12.791 --> 00:34:15.291
Is the mountain a path to overcome oneself?

00:34:16.375 --> 00:34:18.125
Or the goal is every step of the path?

00:34:19.833 --> 00:34:20.916
[Sheep bells clanking]

00:34:20.916 --> 00:34:22.291
[sighs]

00:34:22.291 --> 00:34:25.208
I'm worried I'm sounding like a self-help poster.

00:34:25.208 --> 00:34:26.791
[soft instrumental music playing]

00:34:26.791 --> 00:34:28.541
[Bells clanking]

00:34:28.541 --> 00:34:30.291
[Birds chirping]

00:34:35.416 --> 00:34:36.708
[distant cornets blaring]

00:34:49.125 --> 00:34:50.416
[Bell rings]

00:34:53.708 --> 00:34:56.041
[Sebastián]
Suddenly I feel further from home than ever

00:34:56.541 --> 00:34:57.541
more isolated.

00:34:58.416 --> 00:35:00.666
I remember when my brother passed away

00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:02.666
I was on the other side of the world

00:35:02.666 --> 00:35:03.541
in Corsica

00:35:03.541 --> 00:35:04.416
backpacking.

00:35:05.750 --> 00:35:08.375
I didn't find out anything until after the funeral.

00:35:08.750 --> 00:35:11.000
The impotence of being away was strong

00:35:12.250 --> 00:35:15.083
without a doubt it was one of the hardest moments of my life.

00:35:15.083 --> 00:35:17.041
[slow music playing]

00:35:17.041 --> 00:35:20.375
[Sebastián]
What happens to you when you are isolated on the mountain

00:35:20.708 --> 00:35:22.250
and suddenly

00:35:22.375 --> 00:35:25.708
on the other side of the planet, your family has a problem?

00:35:25.708 --> 00:35:27.250
There is a health problem

00:35:27.250 --> 00:35:29.875
something happens and you cannot be there...

00:35:30.583 --> 00:35:33.583
How do you face that, perhaps one of the biggest challenges?

00:35:34.208 --> 00:35:36.541
[Iván]
Lorena, may she rest in peace

00:35:36.541 --> 00:35:38.208
never told me

00:35:38.583 --> 00:35:42.708
because she knew that if I received these news

00:35:42.708 --> 00:35:45.708
and in the powerlessness of being unable to help

00:35:45.708 --> 00:35:48.041
it would be very complicated for me

00:35:48.041 --> 00:35:51.500
and would possibly mean that I would lose the focus

00:35:51.500 --> 00:35:54.250
which I needed for the mountain.

00:35:54.250 --> 00:35:56.041
When these things happen to you

00:35:56.041 --> 00:35:57.625
while you are in the mountain

00:35:58.791 --> 00:36:01.875
when you know that what should have happened

00:36:01.875 --> 00:36:03.875
I should have been there as a father…

00:36:04.500 --> 00:36:05.875
That breaks you in two.

00:36:06.291 --> 00:36:08.625
It really breaks you in two

00:36:09.583 --> 00:36:11.833
because at that moment you say

00:36:11.833 --> 00:36:14.791
“I am in the place where I shouldn't be.

00:36:14.791 --> 00:36:19.041
Right now, I should be accompanying my daughter

00:36:19.041 --> 00:36:21.916
embracing my daughter before she enters the operating room".

00:36:21.916 --> 00:36:23.083
That is very hard

00:36:23.083 --> 00:36:24.291
[flapping of prayer flags in the wind]

00:36:24.291 --> 00:36:26.791
and I think one of the most demanding things

00:36:27.208 --> 00:36:29.791
of this whole project

00:36:29.791 --> 00:36:32.041
is the price to pay for our absence.

00:36:33.125 --> 00:36:35.458
That really

00:36:35.458 --> 00:36:38.500
in retrospect, I think that's what costs us the most.

00:36:38.500 --> 00:36:42.625
And what you have to do there is really bite the bullet

00:36:44.125 --> 00:36:47.041
get past the lump that stays in your throat

00:36:48.541 --> 00:36:50.000
and focus again.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:51.500
[Wind howls]

00:36:54.458 --> 00:36:55.875
[Sebastián]
What a nice place

00:36:55.875 --> 00:36:57.875
- [Sebastián] I love the surroundings…
- [Iván] Beautiful!

00:36:58.958 --> 00:37:01.875
- [Iván] I press the red button to turn it off?
- [Sebastián] Exactly.

00:37:02.708 --> 00:37:04.750
[Recorder clicks off]

00:37:04.750 --> 00:37:06.833
[complete silence]

00:37:10.250 --> 00:37:13.166
[clanking]

00:37:16.500 --> 00:37:18.458
[Sebastián]
September 14

00:37:19.208 --> 00:37:21.541
Iván told me his obsession with mountains

00:37:21.541 --> 00:37:23.041
comes from his childhood.

00:37:24.416 --> 00:37:25.833
[Iván] Very pretty.

00:37:25.833 --> 00:37:27.375
[Child yells]
[Bell rings]

00:37:27.375 --> 00:37:28.791
HONORARY DIPLOMA

00:37:28.791 --> 00:37:29.458
[Sebastián]
One day

00:37:29.458 --> 00:37:31.333
he discovered in a book, the story of

00:37:31.333 --> 00:37:33.541
Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary

00:37:34.041 --> 00:37:36.791
and without intending it he set himself a goal

00:37:36.791 --> 00:37:39.541
a line that joined him, a child from the Andes

00:37:39.666 --> 00:37:40.666
with them

00:37:40.666 --> 00:37:43.916
two explorers who achieved the unthinkable in the Himalayas.

00:37:43.916 --> 00:37:45.791
[Kids playing soccer in background]

00:37:45.791 --> 00:37:46.958
That moment

00:37:46.958 --> 00:37:49.208
he saw himself on top of Mount Everest.

00:38:09.375 --> 00:38:10.541
[Dogs barking]

00:38:10.541 --> 00:38:11.708
[Iván]
What's up doggy?

00:38:11.708 --> 00:38:12.708
[tenderly]
What's up?

00:38:12.708 --> 00:38:13.708
[Birds chirping]

00:38:14.208 --> 00:38:15.291
What's up doggy?

00:38:15.291 --> 00:38:16.291
What's up?

00:38:16.791 --> 00:38:17.791
[Bell rings]

00:38:17.791 --> 00:38:19.208
[Sebastián]
In November 1981

00:38:19.208 --> 00:38:20.708
I was nine years old

00:38:20.708 --> 00:38:23.166
and we went to the movies with my whole family.

00:38:23.166 --> 00:38:23.958
[silence]

00:38:23.958 --> 00:38:26.958
We saw "Raiders of the Lost Ark" by Steven Spielberg.

00:38:27.958 --> 00:38:29.666
My father had died a week before.

00:38:29.666 --> 00:38:31.416
[footsteps]

00:38:31.416 --> 00:38:32.666
[Wind blowing]

00:38:32.666 --> 00:38:34.333
[Bell rings]

00:38:34.333 --> 00:38:36.208
I think my mom wanted to distract us

00:38:36.708 --> 00:38:38.708
so she took us to an adventure movie…

00:38:38.708 --> 00:38:40.208
[Crow caws]

00:38:40.208 --> 00:38:41.625
Inside that movie theater

00:38:41.625 --> 00:38:44.375
I discovered something that I didn't know existed

00:38:44.750 --> 00:38:46.333
something that made me escape

00:38:46.750 --> 00:38:48.833
while allowing me to be inside myself.

00:38:57.125 --> 00:38:58.208
[Bell rings]

00:38:59.125 --> 00:39:00.666
[Wind howling]

00:39:02.125 --> 00:39:03.583
[Water gushing]

00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:07.458
[Yak bells]

00:39:09.708 --> 00:39:10.791
[Bell rings]

00:39:15.791 --> 00:39:17.125
[sounds slowly fade]

00:39:17.125 --> 00:39:18.416
[Insects buzzing]

00:39:18.416 --> 00:39:20.166
[Birds chirping softly]

00:39:28.708 --> 00:39:29.791
[Bell rings]

00:39:32.875 --> 00:39:34.291
[Thunder rumbling]

00:39:41.375 --> 00:39:42.791
[Metal clanking]

00:39:42.791 --> 00:39:44.416
[Flags flapping in the wind]

00:40:14.166 --> 00:40:15.791
[sounds slowly fade away]

00:40:17.583 --> 00:40:19.000
[Bell rings]

00:40:21.083 --> 00:40:22.791
[Cornets blaring]

00:40:25.958 --> 00:40:27.666
[blaring increases]

00:40:33.458 --> 00:40:35.166
[blaring fades out]

00:40:41.125 --> 00:40:42.833
[Flags flapping in the wind]

00:40:42.833 --> 00:40:44.541
[Wind echoes softly]

00:40:44.833 --> 00:40:46.458
[Sebastián]
September 15

00:40:47.291 --> 00:40:48.708
The temple is empty.

00:40:50.625 --> 00:40:51.791
[Prayer wheel spinning]

00:41:03.291 --> 00:41:04.458
[Bell rings]

00:41:13.208 --> 00:41:14.375
[Bell rings]

00:41:19.708 --> 00:41:20.875
[sounds fade away]

00:41:25.833 --> 00:41:27.000
[Bell rings]

00:41:28.958 --> 00:41:29.708
[Sebastián]
From here

00:41:29.708 --> 00:41:31.791
we were hoping to see Ama Dablam

00:41:31.791 --> 00:41:34.541
one of the most beautiful mountains in the Himalayas

00:41:36.291 --> 00:41:37.708
and with a bit of luck

00:41:37.791 --> 00:41:40.041
we were also going to see Everest.

00:41:40.041 --> 00:41:40.666
[Thunder rumbling]

00:41:40.666 --> 00:41:41.500
[Birds singing]

00:41:41.500 --> 00:41:42.333
[Wind howls]

00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:44.041
[indistinct chatter]

00:41:45.333 --> 00:41:47.166
[echoed Buddhist chanting]

00:41:57.333 --> 00:41:58.500
[distant bell chimes]

00:42:00.583 --> 00:42:02.708
[Cornets and percussion playing]

00:42:13.083 --> 00:42:14.208
[Music fades]

00:42:14.208 --> 00:42:15.375
[indistinct chatter]

00:42:17.958 --> 00:42:20.833
[Sebastián]
We arrive to the preparation of a Buddhist ceremony.

00:42:25.375 --> 00:42:28.041
[Monk reciting mantras]

00:42:28.041 --> 00:42:30.875
[Cymbals striking]

00:42:31.416 --> 00:42:33.958
[Metal clanking]

00:42:33.958 --> 00:42:35.875
[Bells chiming]

00:42:42.541 --> 00:42:44.708
[Music fades away]

00:42:44.708 --> 00:42:47.458
[Buddhist Monks chanting]

00:42:58.750 --> 00:43:00.458
[Wood chopping]

00:43:00.458 --> 00:43:02.041
[Birds chirping]

00:43:13.333 --> 00:43:14.583
[Monk speaking English]
Are you from Nepal?

00:43:14.583 --> 00:43:16.583
[Iván speaking English]
No, Ecuador.

00:43:16.583 --> 00:43:17.958
[Monk speaking English]
Ecuador, oh!

00:43:17.958 --> 00:43:19.208
[Iván speaking English]
Very far...

00:43:19.333 --> 00:43:20.708
[Monk speaking English]
Who died here?

00:43:21.041 --> 00:43:21.708
Our uncle.

00:43:22.291 --> 00:43:22.791
[Sebastián] 
Oh...

00:43:22.833 --> 00:43:24.208
[Monk speaking English]
You know this ceremony?

00:43:24.208 --> 00:43:25.083
[Iván speaking English]
No.

00:43:25.083 --> 00:43:26.291
[Metal clanking]

00:43:26.291 --> 00:43:28.541
[Monk speaking English]
An old monk died.

00:43:29.041 --> 00:43:30.333
Is our uncle

00:43:30.333 --> 00:43:31.333
who died.

00:43:31.333 --> 00:43:32.333
[Iván speaking English]
Oh...

00:43:33.708 --> 00:43:35.041
[Monk speaking English]
Before seven days.

00:43:35.041 --> 00:43:36.375
[indistinct chatter]

00:43:36.583 --> 00:43:38.541
[Monk speaking English]
His dead body is in here.

00:43:38.541 --> 00:43:39.958
[Sebastián speaking English]
Yes.

00:43:42.791 --> 00:43:45.875
[Sebastián speaking English]
Do you know if we can come to the ceremony?

00:43:45.875 --> 00:43:46.541
[Monk speaking English]
Yes, you can.

00:43:47.541 --> 00:43:48.958
[Sebastián speaking English]
And he was a monk?

00:43:49.708 --> 00:43:51.125
[Monk speaking English]
The oldest monk.

00:43:51.208 --> 00:43:53.375
[Sebastián speaking English]
Oh... the oldest monk.

00:43:53.375 --> 00:43:54.791
[footsteps]

00:43:55.500 --> 00:43:56.416
[Monk speaking English]
What is your name?

00:43:56.416 --> 00:43:57.166
[Iván]
Iván.

00:43:57.291 --> 00:43:58.416
[Sebastián]
Sebastián.

00:43:59.458 --> 00:44:00.583
[soft bells chiming]

00:44:02.541 --> 00:44:04.291
[Sebastián]
We are entering here

00:44:04.708 --> 00:44:06.291
but keeping a distance

00:44:06.291 --> 00:44:07.541
not interfering

00:44:07.541 --> 00:44:09.291
respecting the space.

00:44:09.291 --> 00:44:11.666
[Buddhist prayer music]

00:44:13.208 --> 00:44:14.958
[Wind whooshing]

00:44:25.541 --> 00:44:27.291
[footsteps]

00:44:28.916 --> 00:44:30.583
[Music fades]

00:44:30.583 --> 00:44:32.333
[soft bells chiming]

00:44:33.125 --> 00:44:35.125
[Sebastián]
I think a lot about death

00:44:35.375 --> 00:44:38.000
and I have doubts about whether to film this or not.

00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:39.750
[chiming stops]

00:44:39.750 --> 00:44:41.500
[Cornets blaring]

00:44:41.958 --> 00:44:44.666
[Sebastián]
I want to make documentaries to explore personal things

00:44:44.666 --> 00:44:47.166
in a way I haven't managed in fiction.

00:44:47.166 --> 00:44:48.916
[blaring continues]

00:44:48.916 --> 00:44:51.541
[Sebastián]
That's perfect if I'm exposing myself

00:44:52.083 --> 00:44:54.583
but what happens when I portray other people?

00:44:54.583 --> 00:44:55.750
[Wood chopping]

00:44:56.083 --> 00:44:57.250
I remember reading that

00:44:57.250 --> 00:44:59.500
Kieslowski stopped making documentaries

00:44:59.500 --> 00:45:00.500
for ethical reasons.

00:45:01.791 --> 00:45:04.500
When he wanted to explore situations and emotions that were

00:45:04.500 --> 00:45:05.750
too intimate and invasive

00:45:05.750 --> 00:45:07.000
he turned to fiction.

00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:08.500
[Torch burning]

00:45:13.708 --> 00:45:14.958
[Cornets blaring in the distance]

00:45:15.958 --> 00:45:17.208
[Fire crackling]

00:45:28.208 --> 00:45:29.458
[footsteps]

00:45:29.458 --> 00:45:30.833
[blaring fades away]

00:45:30.833 --> 00:45:33.583
[Sebastián]
If a stranger came to the funeral of my relative

00:45:33.750 --> 00:45:36.875
would I allow him to film it as the monks have allowed me?

00:45:38.958 --> 00:45:40.791
[Buddhist funeral music playing]

00:45:41.583 --> 00:45:43.666
[indistinct chatter]

00:45:48.916 --> 00:45:51.000
[Music fades away]

00:45:54.750 --> 00:45:55.916
[Bells chiming]

00:45:57.250 --> 00:45:58.500
[Wind  howling]

00:46:03.166 --> 00:46:04.416
[Man coughs]

00:46:05.291 --> 00:46:06.458
[Bells chiming]

00:46:09.041 --> 00:46:11.458
[Cornets blaring in the distance]

00:46:15.041 --> 00:46:16.458
[Iván zips up jacket]

00:46:16.458 --> 00:46:18.458
[blaring fades away]

00:46:20.250 --> 00:46:21.416
[Smoke blowing in the wind]

00:46:34.375 --> 00:46:36.000
[Wood burning]

00:46:42.166 --> 00:46:44.000
[Wind howling]

00:46:46.416 --> 00:46:48.000
[soft bells chiming]

00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:50.291
[rousing Buddhist music playing]

00:47:07.583 --> 00:47:09.375
[Music fades away]

00:47:09.583 --> 00:47:11.458
[Buddhist chant echoes eerily]

00:47:13.291 --> 00:47:14.458
[soft bells chiming]

00:47:20.833 --> 00:47:22.000
[Bell rings]

00:47:23.250 --> 00:47:25.125
[Buddhist chants continues]

00:47:39.583 --> 00:47:40.750
[sounds fade away]

00:47:40.750 --> 00:47:42.166
[Bell rings]

00:47:44.916 --> 00:47:46.666
[Iván]
May the monk have a good journey...

00:47:47.208 --> 00:47:47.958
[Sebastián]
Yes.

00:47:50.500 --> 00:47:51.583
[Insects buzzing]

00:48:01.208 --> 00:48:02.625
[Bell rings]

00:48:13.416 --> 00:48:14.583
[Water dripping]

00:48:15.833 --> 00:48:17.000
[flapping of prayer flags in the wind]

00:48:25.750 --> 00:48:26.916
[Birds chirping]

00:48:26.916 --> 00:48:28.916
[Sebastián]
September 16

00:48:32.416 --> 00:48:35.750
The two fundamental and formative moments of my life

00:48:35.750 --> 00:48:37.500
revolve around death.

00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:40.500
My father's death in a car accident

00:48:40.500 --> 00:48:42.166
when I was 9 years old.

00:48:42.500 --> 00:48:43.916
He was 43.

00:48:43.916 --> 00:48:44.916
[Wind whooshing]

00:48:44.916 --> 00:48:46.666
And my older brother's death

00:48:46.750 --> 00:48:49.250
with whom I had more connection than with anyone

00:48:49.500 --> 00:48:51.750
drowned in a river when he was 26.

00:48:52.500 --> 00:48:53.750
I was 21.

00:48:55.416 --> 00:48:57.750
I wouldn't be who I am without those two deaths.

00:48:58.000 --> 00:48:59.916
I don't know if I would have made movies.

00:49:00.875 --> 00:49:02.041
[Bell rings]

00:49:02.916 --> 00:49:04.083
[Metal clanking]

00:49:04.083 --> 00:49:05.250
[footsteps]

00:49:17.958 --> 00:49:19.125
[Yaks grunting]

00:49:28.458 --> 00:49:32.208
[Sebastián]
I am seven years older than my dad was when he died.

00:49:33.041 --> 00:49:36.041
As we keep climbing, I think of him and my brother.

00:49:38.208 --> 00:49:40.708
Both were full of dreams and ambitions

00:49:41.041 --> 00:49:42.541
some were achieved

00:49:42.791 --> 00:49:43.708
others were not.

00:49:44.791 --> 00:49:46.958
At this point that no longer matters.

00:49:52.458 --> 00:49:53.333
But they never saw

00:49:53.583 --> 00:49:55.583
what I was going to become when I grew up.

00:49:57.333 --> 00:49:58.750
When I became older than them

00:49:58.750 --> 00:50:00.500
I thought I was going to have peace at last

00:50:00.500 --> 00:50:02.000
that I was going to continue

00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:04.166
without having to prove anything to anyone.

00:50:04.750 --> 00:50:05.916
But it was not like that

00:50:08.291 --> 00:50:11.416
and in recent years I have questioned myself more than ever.

00:50:19.166 --> 00:50:20.333
[sounds fade away]

00:50:20.333 --> 00:50:21.500
[Wind howling]

00:50:31.666 --> 00:50:38.666
Memorial to the mountaineers and Sherpas who have died on Everest

00:50:39.041 --> 00:50:40.208
[Flapping of prayer flags in the wind]

00:51:02.416 --> 00:51:03.916
[Iván]
Oooh, it's so cold...

00:51:07.166 --> 00:51:08.666
[Camera aperture adjusting]

00:51:16.541 --> 00:51:19.291
[Iván]
December 1988

00:51:20.041 --> 00:51:21.291
I was 28 years old

00:51:21.291 --> 00:51:23.291
and I was climbing with some dear friends

00:51:24.041 --> 00:51:25.291
It was 6 in the afternoon

00:51:25.291 --> 00:51:26.791
I was first on the rope

00:51:27.541 --> 00:51:29.791
and after having crossed what I sensed

00:51:29.791 --> 00:51:31.541
was the area of greatest danger

00:51:32.416 --> 00:51:35.958
suddenly I heard a beastly rumble

00:51:36.791 --> 00:51:38.708
I realized the floor was opening

00:51:38.708 --> 00:51:41.791
and the next thing I knew was that I was falling.

00:51:42.875 --> 00:51:44.625
Finally I fell

00:51:44.625 --> 00:51:45.875
I hit myself

00:51:46.125 --> 00:51:52.375
and I felt that many, many kilos of ice, of snow fell on me

00:51:52.875 --> 00:51:55.375
and left me completely unable to move.

00:51:56.500 --> 00:51:58.166
At that moment

00:51:58.166 --> 00:51:59.416
I was obviously desperate

00:51:59.416 --> 00:52:00.666
because I couldn't move

00:52:01.416 --> 00:52:04.666
and for rescue and safety reasons

00:52:04.666 --> 00:52:06.750
I had learned that when one is trapped

00:52:06.750 --> 00:52:09.666
be it in an avalanche or one of these events

00:52:09.666 --> 00:52:11.666
the first thing to do is

00:52:11.666 --> 00:52:16.250
to spit to realize which way you're located

00:52:16.250 --> 00:52:19.000
because your spatial sense is lost.

00:52:19.750 --> 00:52:20.916
So I spat

00:52:21.916 --> 00:52:24.000
and my saliva went down

00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:25.916
so I realized

00:52:25.916 --> 00:52:29.666
that I was nailed in the direction of the ground.

00:52:30.291 --> 00:52:31.541
My entire body was still

00:52:31.541 --> 00:52:34.041
covered with blocks of ice and snow.

00:52:34.791 --> 00:52:36.375
I could barely breathe

00:52:37.125 --> 00:52:38.875
and the times that I reached

00:52:38.875 --> 00:52:41.791
an extreme moment of despair, I cried out

00:52:41.791 --> 00:52:43.375
"Help! Help!"

00:52:43.625 --> 00:52:45.625
and immediately I felt I was drowning.

00:52:46.708 --> 00:52:48.458
So, the first thing I thought was

00:52:49.208 --> 00:52:51.875
“What an absurd way to die

00:52:52.625 --> 00:52:54.208
doing what I love so much.”

00:52:54.458 --> 00:52:56.125
That was very strong.

00:52:56.875 --> 00:52:58.458
I love mountains.

00:52:58.458 --> 00:53:00.458
I was there because I love mountains.

00:53:00.458 --> 00:53:01.875
And I was going to die.

00:53:01.875 --> 00:53:02.708
[Yak bells chiming]

00:53:02.708 --> 00:53:05.875
Then, the other thing that was exasperating to me:

00:53:06.375 --> 00:53:07.666
"How am I going to die?

00:53:07.666 --> 00:53:08.458
[Bells chiming]

00:53:08.458 --> 00:53:10.375
Am I going to die because of the cold?

00:53:10.708 --> 00:53:12.625
Am I going to drown?

00:53:13.125 --> 00:53:14.708
Or am I going to die from the blow

00:53:14.708 --> 00:53:17.375
which I have on my back and hurts a lot?"

00:53:17.375 --> 00:53:18.625
[Metal clanking]

00:53:18.625 --> 00:53:24.875
So, this was like the first shock, the first part of this event

00:53:25.625 --> 00:53:27.625
and then the next thing was

00:53:28.458 --> 00:53:29.875
"I don't want to die."

00:53:31.625 --> 00:53:32.625
[shivering]
brr

00:53:36.875 --> 00:53:39.708
And I remember so clearly that I asked God

00:53:39.708 --> 00:53:42.458
for the gift, if he wanted so

00:53:42.458 --> 00:53:45.458
to allow me to see my son grow up.

00:53:47.125 --> 00:53:50.958
[Iván]
And in that anguish, in that despair, in this ice tomb

00:53:51.125 --> 00:53:54.125
from time to time this anxiety returned

00:53:54.125 --> 00:53:55.875
this anguish, this despair

00:53:55.875 --> 00:53:58.208
I screamed again, but I choked again.

00:53:58.708 --> 00:54:01.958
And what kept me was faith

00:54:02.958 --> 00:54:05.208
without knowing anything about

00:54:05.208 --> 00:54:06.375
what was going on above me.

00:54:07.375 --> 00:54:08.625
Until at one point

00:54:08.958 --> 00:54:12.125
I heard, with great joy

00:54:12.458 --> 00:54:14.958
the voice of my friend Xavier Cabrera

00:54:15.375 --> 00:54:18.458
who yelled at the boys from Colegio San Gabriel

00:54:18.458 --> 00:54:20.458
"I found him!"

00:54:20.458 --> 00:54:22.625
At that time

00:54:22.625 --> 00:54:26.625
the only part of my body I could move were my feet, my boots.

00:54:26.625 --> 00:54:30.208
I move my boots so that he knows where I am

00:54:31.041 --> 00:54:32.708
and I hear him say:

00:54:32.708 --> 00:54:33.958
"And he's alive!"

00:54:35.750 --> 00:54:37.000
[somber music playing]

00:54:39.875 --> 00:54:40.958
[Iván]
After this event

00:54:41.458 --> 00:54:44.208
I promised that I would never climb mountains again.

00:54:44.208 --> 00:54:45.375
[Wind gushing]

00:54:45.375 --> 00:54:47.125
I said: "I don't want to expose myself

00:54:47.125 --> 00:54:50.625
I am exposing myself to a sport that has a lot of risk".

00:54:50.958 --> 00:54:52.875
I sold the mountain equipment.

00:54:53.375 --> 00:54:55.708
I sold the photographic equipment

00:54:55.708 --> 00:54:57.708
because I didn't want to have any excuse

00:54:57.875 --> 00:54:59.708
that will take me to the mountains.

00:55:00.375 --> 00:55:03.625
So, I canceled my connection with the mountain.

00:55:04.500 --> 00:55:06.166
But do you know how long

00:55:06.166 --> 00:55:07.750
that hiatus lasted?

00:55:07.750 --> 00:55:08.916
Six months.

00:55:10.041 --> 00:55:11.291
By the sixth month

00:55:11.291 --> 00:55:15.041
I couldn't live without going to the mountains.

00:55:16.791 --> 00:55:18.791
And I understood that what stopped me

00:55:18.791 --> 00:55:20.791
was the fear of dying.

00:55:21.375 --> 00:55:23.791
I don't want to die in the mountains.

00:55:23.791 --> 00:55:26.625
[Chuckling]
I want to die next to my family

00:55:26.875 --> 00:55:29.291
down in the valley, that's where I want to die.

00:55:33.916 --> 00:55:36.041
[distant rumbling]

00:55:44.041 --> 00:55:45.458
[Bell rings]

00:55:48.333 --> 00:55:49.750
[River rushing]

00:56:17.750 --> 00:56:19.166
[Prayer wheel turning]

00:56:21.458 --> 00:56:22.791
[Water gushing]

00:56:22.791 --> 00:56:25.416
[Iván]
To smell the beards of death...

00:56:25.541 --> 00:56:27.375
To feel scared…

00:56:28.875 --> 00:56:30.416
To think that at any moment

00:56:30.416 --> 00:56:32.041
that fragile thread

00:56:32.041 --> 00:56:32.875
is gone...

00:56:35.125 --> 00:56:35.958
[distant horns blaring]

00:56:36.916 --> 00:56:37.750
[Metal clanking]

00:56:44.125 --> 00:56:45.333
[Yak hooves thudding]

00:56:45.333 --> 00:56:46.166
[Yak grunting]

00:56:55.333 --> 00:56:57.833
[Sebastián]
An explorer, spiritualist

00:56:57.833 --> 00:57:01.916
who encouraged mountaineers to attempt the first ascents of Everest

00:57:01.916 --> 00:57:05.583
stated that men are not made to live at such heights

00:57:05.833 --> 00:57:08.833
and they must return to the plains and resume their lives.

00:57:10.333 --> 00:57:13.166
But the memory of the peaks never leaves them.

00:57:13.166 --> 00:57:14.916
[River flowing]

00:57:14.916 --> 00:57:16.833
And that makes them want to come back.

00:57:17.583 --> 00:57:19.833
It makes them want to climb even higher.

00:57:21.375 --> 00:57:23.125
Like Iván.

00:57:42.333 --> 00:57:43.916
[silence]

00:57:43.916 --> 00:57:45.583
[Sebastián]
September 17

00:57:45.583 --> 00:57:46.958
[Rain pouring]

00:57:46.958 --> 00:57:50.791
[Iván]
Still a day's journey to reach the Everest Base Camp.

00:57:51.291 --> 00:57:53.708
And we've done six days of hiking

00:57:53.708 --> 00:57:55.958
[chuckling]
and we've had six days of bad weather.

00:57:56.791 --> 00:57:59.541
The mountains have not been seen at all

00:57:59.541 --> 00:58:01.458
maybe the day before yesterday

00:58:01.458 --> 00:58:05.291
just a little bit of Ama Dablan, but almost insignificant

00:58:05.291 --> 00:58:07.958
and today, the icing on the cake, the pearl

00:58:07.958 --> 00:58:10.541
is that it was snowing when we woke up, it is snowing

00:58:10.541 --> 00:58:13.041
and on top of everything, it is wet snow

00:58:13.041 --> 00:58:14.291
which wets us more.

00:58:14.958 --> 00:58:16.708
And you can't see the mountains.

00:58:17.041 --> 00:58:22.041
What's happening is that the monsoon has lengthened

00:58:22.041 --> 00:58:23.291
this is not very common

00:58:23.291 --> 00:58:25.208
I have been here in September

00:58:25.208 --> 00:58:26.791
and I have had good conditions.

00:58:27.541 --> 00:58:29.208
We have had to wait

00:58:29.208 --> 00:58:31.541
instead of leaving at 8:30 it's a quarter past 10

00:58:31.541 --> 00:58:32.208
and we are

00:58:32.291 --> 00:58:33.208
[Iván]
waiting

00:58:33.208 --> 00:58:35.041
to see what happens with the weather.

00:58:35.041 --> 00:58:36.541
We've moved plans

00:58:36.958 --> 00:58:40.208
to go to the Everest Base Camp

00:58:40.208 --> 00:58:42.458
crossing our fingers that we see something.

00:58:42.458 --> 00:58:44.708
I think, getting to this point in my life

00:58:44.708 --> 00:58:45.958
with my body complete…

00:58:46.708 --> 00:58:48.541
has a lot to do with that, right?

00:58:48.541 --> 00:58:52.708
In other words, to say “you can't continue”

00:58:53.291 --> 00:58:54.791
with tears

00:58:55.291 --> 00:58:56.291
of rage…

00:58:56.291 --> 00:58:58.291
it's not that it's simple for me:

00:58:58.291 --> 00:59:01.708
"Oh, what a pity we can't continue, so let's go down"

00:59:01.958 --> 00:59:02.541
No!

00:59:02.541 --> 00:59:04.041
So… the Dhaulagiri

00:59:04.041 --> 00:59:07.708
you see the summit 300 meters away

00:59:07.708 --> 00:59:09.041
and you have to turn around

00:59:09.208 --> 00:59:11.458
what you feel is anger, you feel frustration.

00:59:11.458 --> 00:59:14.291
In this trip you and I have made to get shots of Everest

00:59:15.041 --> 00:59:16.291
we see it only like this

00:59:16.291 --> 00:59:17.291
and you say

00:59:17.291 --> 00:59:18.958
"There is no shot of Everest".

00:59:18.958 --> 00:59:20.708
"There is no shot of any mountain!"

00:59:20.708 --> 00:59:21.708
“Oh, what a trip…” right?

00:59:23.041 --> 00:59:24.291
I set up my projects

00:59:24.291 --> 00:59:25.541
with complete clarity

00:59:25.541 --> 00:59:26.708
here and here

00:59:26.708 --> 00:59:29.458
trusting I am going to achieve them

00:59:29.541 --> 00:59:32.791
but along the way eventualities can appear

00:59:33.041 --> 00:59:35.291
and I see how to face these eventualities

00:59:35.291 --> 00:59:38.791
which don't stop frustrating me, of course.

00:59:38.791 --> 00:59:41.291
That I am sad about this weather, of course

00:59:41.791 --> 00:59:43.541
but the world has not fallen on me

00:59:43.958 --> 00:59:45.208
and it means

00:59:45.208 --> 00:59:50.208
next year we have to plan another trip to make this work.

00:59:50.208 --> 00:59:53.041
I was able to reach the top of Cotopaxi

00:59:53.958 --> 00:59:56.041
after many attempts

00:59:57.041 --> 00:59:59.791
and it wasn't possible for me to reach the top of Coto

01:00:00.791 --> 01:00:03.541
because I didn't have the right boots.

01:00:03.541 --> 01:00:06.208
My mom, due to her lack of economic resources

01:00:06.208 --> 01:00:07.791
could not buy me mountain boots.

01:00:08.791 --> 01:00:10.291
El Coto was there

01:00:10.291 --> 01:00:11.041
and it told me

01:00:11.041 --> 01:00:14.041
“Well, I'm here whenever you want, when you have the boots

01:00:14.041 --> 01:00:15.041
you come and climb"

01:00:15.041 --> 01:00:17.041
and Chimborazo told me the same thing:

01:00:17.041 --> 01:00:19.708
"When you're well trained, you come back and climb".

01:00:19.708 --> 01:00:21.791
Everest is here, I swear it's here.

01:00:21.791 --> 01:00:23.291
It's hidden, but it's here.

01:00:23.291 --> 01:00:24.791
[upbeat music playing in the background]

01:00:24.791 --> 01:00:26.291
[indistinct chatter]

01:00:33.458 --> 01:00:35.791
[Iván speaking English]
Kanji, are you happy?

01:00:36.208 --> 01:00:36.958
[Kanji speaking English]
Yes sir.

01:00:36.958 --> 01:00:38.208
[Iván speaking English]
I can see it in your face.

01:00:40.041 --> 01:00:41.208
[Kanji speaking English]
You smile like me.

01:00:41.208 --> 01:00:42.458
[heavy snow]

01:00:42.458 --> 01:00:43.791
[Wind gusts]

01:00:43.791 --> 01:00:45.125
[Chuckling]

01:00:45.958 --> 01:00:47.291
[heavy breathing]

01:00:49.041 --> 01:00:51.708
[Iván]
Way back there you can see a little bit of mountain.

01:00:54.541 --> 01:00:57.208
[heavier snow falling]

01:01:06.791 --> 01:01:08.250
[distant rumbling]

01:01:08.833 --> 01:01:10.750
[Sebastián]
This already happened to me on a shoot

01:01:10.750 --> 01:01:12.083
during my movie "Pescador"

01:01:12.958 --> 01:01:14.541
there was a fundamental scene

01:01:14.541 --> 01:01:16.458
that happened at the foot of Chimborazo.

01:01:16.541 --> 01:01:18.291
And it was written to work like

01:01:18.291 --> 01:01:20.291
it was the first time in the character's life

01:01:20.291 --> 01:01:21.791
that he saw a snow-capped mountain.

01:01:21.791 --> 01:01:23.291
[Wind howling]

01:01:24.541 --> 01:01:26.458
Chimborazo cleared up for a little while

01:01:26.458 --> 01:01:27.791
before we were ready

01:01:27.791 --> 01:01:29.125
but it didn’t clear up again

01:01:29.125 --> 01:01:30.041
[funky music playing]

01:01:30.041 --> 01:01:31.625
and we were never able to film it.

01:01:31.625 --> 01:01:32.958
[Car door opens]

01:01:35.541 --> 01:01:36.291
[Man #3]
Let's go!

01:01:37.291 --> 01:01:39.291
You could get you altitude sickness.

01:01:39.458 --> 01:01:40.791
[Sebastián]
For me as a filmmaker

01:01:40.791 --> 01:01:42.291
it was an essential moment

01:01:42.291 --> 01:01:44.750
of understanding that you do not film what's in your head

01:01:44.750 --> 01:01:46.083
but what's in front of you.

01:01:48.166 --> 01:01:50.166
I learned that concept years ago

01:01:50.166 --> 01:01:52.583
and I had it in mind when we began this project.

01:01:54.875 --> 01:01:57.416
However, it would be very frustrating not to see Everest

01:01:57.416 --> 01:02:00.166
after having traveled around the world for this purpose.

01:02:00.166 --> 01:02:02.541
[footsteps approaching]

01:02:02.541 --> 01:02:04.916
[Snowfall intensifies]

01:02:18.916 --> 01:02:22.625
[Sebastián]
Did you see climbing the eight-thousanders

01:02:22.625 --> 01:02:23.625
as a possibility?

01:02:23.625 --> 01:02:27.250
[Iván]
Not at all, never, no, no, nothing, nothing.

01:02:27.250 --> 01:02:29.000
Everest was everything

01:02:30.125 --> 01:02:34.958
and I had never thought of what would come after.

01:02:36.125 --> 01:02:39.208
And when I came down from Everest

01:02:40.958 --> 01:02:43.625
I tell Oscar, I tell him

01:02:43.625 --> 01:02:49.458
“You know, next year, the project that I'm going to do

01:02:49.458 --> 01:02:52.458
is to cross Greenland on a sled”.

01:02:54.125 --> 01:02:55.625
I remember him telling me

01:02:55.625 --> 01:02:56.875
“It seems unfair

01:02:57.833 --> 01:03:02.833
that after having trained so hard for four years

01:03:03.833 --> 01:03:05.833
with everything you have learned

01:03:06.750 --> 01:03:12.083
your next project is just to pull a sled.” Hehehe…

01:03:13.000 --> 01:03:14.500
And I remember that he told me:

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:17.083
“Go and find yourself another project

01:03:17.833 --> 01:03:19.500
one that lives up

01:03:20.583 --> 01:03:23.000
to what you know and have learned today”.

01:03:23.333 --> 01:03:25.500
So, as an act of honesty, I said

01:03:25.833 --> 01:03:29.083
“What led me to plan the Greenland project?”

01:03:30.291 --> 01:03:33.541
Being honest with myself I realized the reason was

01:03:34.541 --> 01:03:41.875
when thinking that I had to train again

01:03:41.875 --> 01:03:44.791
with the same degree of rigor with which I had trained

01:03:44.791 --> 01:03:46.875
that it's hard, it's painful.

01:03:47.875 --> 01:03:49.541
So, my internal self

01:03:49.541 --> 01:03:53.125
was taking me to a place of comfort.

01:03:53.750 --> 01:03:56.500
That little inner voice told me:

01:03:56.500 --> 01:03:59.750
"Now... you've already trained hard, relax now

01:03:59.750 --> 01:04:03.000
don't train so rigorously again"

01:04:03.583 --> 01:04:05.625
so when I realized that I said

01:04:05.625 --> 01:04:06.083
"That's it!".

01:04:06.166 --> 01:04:08.916
Imagine what it's like to climb Everest again

01:04:08.916 --> 01:04:09.916
without oxygen

01:04:10.916 --> 01:04:13.916
but I said: "Since I was a child, I dreamed of this".

01:04:13.916 --> 01:04:16.000
[whistles]

01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:17.750
That is super powerful.

01:04:18.416 --> 01:04:19.166
Sure.

01:04:19.166 --> 01:04:20.583
I could have already said

01:04:20.583 --> 01:04:22.833
"I already went up the north side of Everest…"

01:04:22.833 --> 01:04:24.416
But this kept spinning inside…

01:04:25.416 --> 01:04:27.416
And there's a moment I become aware

01:04:27.416 --> 01:04:28.916
and I say: "Let's see, what a pity

01:04:28.916 --> 01:04:33.166
I never explored the Khumbu glacier

01:04:34.125 --> 01:04:35.208
the Valley of Silence

01:04:35.416 --> 01:04:36.500
[indistinct chatter]

01:04:36.500 --> 01:04:37.916
the Geneva Spur

01:04:38.958 --> 01:04:40.625
the South Col

01:04:40.916 --> 01:04:41.916
the Balcony

01:04:42.583 --> 01:04:44.083
the South Summit

01:04:44.666 --> 01:04:46.333
the Hillary Step.

01:04:46.833 --> 01:04:49.833
What a pity, I didn't get to follow the path they traveled”.

01:04:49.833 --> 01:04:51.583
And I remember clearly that

01:04:51.583 --> 01:04:55.166
I thought it “was a pity I didn't see all these places”.

01:04:56.541 --> 01:04:57.166
And of course

01:04:57.166 --> 01:04:59.666
two years later, a year and a half later I say:

01:04:59.666 --> 01:05:02.166
"No, it isn't a pity.

01:05:02.666 --> 01:05:03.333
Let's go!".

01:05:03.833 --> 01:05:06.208
[Wind  gusts]

01:05:06.708 --> 01:05:08.208
[Sebastián’s breathing]

01:05:08.208 --> 01:05:10.125
[Thunder rumbling]

01:05:13.875 --> 01:05:15.791
[Snow falling heavier]

01:05:17.666 --> 01:05:18.583
[Iván speaking English]
Bakhta

01:05:19.833 --> 01:05:21.583
Much better the weather, eh?

01:05:21.583 --> 01:05:22.333
[chuckles]

01:05:22.333 --> 01:05:23.458
[Bahkta speaking English]
A little bit more.

01:05:23.458 --> 01:05:24.166
[Iván speaking English]
Yes.

01:05:25.708 --> 01:05:27.000
[Sebastián’s heavier breathing]

01:05:28.208 --> 01:05:29.708
[distant horns blaring]

01:05:37.250 --> 01:05:39.041
[slow dramatic music playing]

01:05:48.083 --> 01:05:49.666
[Sebastián]
September 18

01:05:50.666 --> 01:05:52.166
I chat with Bakhta

01:05:52.166 --> 01:05:53.333
our Nepalese guide.

01:05:53.333 --> 01:05:56.916
He is someone who constantly goes up and down this path.

01:05:56.916 --> 01:05:57.541
[Music fades away]

01:05:57.583 --> 01:05:59.666
Our conversation leads us to Buddhism

01:05:59.666 --> 01:06:02.583
and how its practice helps him live in the present

01:06:02.583 --> 01:06:04.375
something vital on the mountain.

01:06:04.916 --> 01:06:08.083
And that makes him strong to face any storm that may come.

01:06:09.958 --> 01:06:12.333
But if he lets himself be carried away by the anguish

01:06:12.333 --> 01:06:14.666
over the weather or the desire for it to improve

01:06:14.666 --> 01:06:15.916
that will weaken him

01:06:16.416 --> 01:06:18.750
and the storm will find him unprepared.

01:06:23.416 --> 01:06:28.666
With my brother, we believed that things happen if one is connected with the environment.

01:06:29.833 --> 01:06:32.833
With the passage of time I became less superstitious

01:06:32.833 --> 01:06:36.083
and I realized that things happen when one does the necessary work

01:06:36.083 --> 01:06:38.166
and makes an effort at every step.

01:06:39.833 --> 01:06:41.583
With Iván I see both things:

01:06:41.708 --> 01:06:43.583
without a doubt he is someone who works to

01:06:43.583 --> 01:06:45.833
the necessary limit to achieve his goals

01:06:46.500 --> 01:06:48.583
but he is also someone who has a deep faith

01:06:48.583 --> 01:06:50.833
that the universe will align with his goals

01:06:51.833 --> 01:06:55.416
something that sometimes my skepticism prevents me from understanding.

01:07:05.250 --> 01:07:06.166
[Iván]
Sebas!

01:07:06.416 --> 01:07:06.750
[Sebastián]
Ah?

01:07:06.750 --> 01:07:07.916
[Iván]
Be alert!

01:07:08.375 --> 01:07:09.000
[Heartbeat pounding]

01:07:09.000 --> 01:07:09.458
[Panting]

01:07:12.791 --> 01:07:16.625
[Iván]
We came down after leaving food and tents in Camp 2

01:07:16.625 --> 01:07:18.125
on our way to the Base Camp

01:07:19.541 --> 01:07:22.291
and well, we knew the path more or less already

01:07:22.791 --> 01:07:24.125
that we had to climb down

01:07:24.375 --> 01:07:25.625
and there was a sector

01:07:25.625 --> 01:07:28.041
where there were two aluminum ladders

01:07:28.041 --> 01:07:29.625
which were tied, very well tied

01:07:29.625 --> 01:07:31.875
and we had to go through there

01:07:31.875 --> 01:07:33.125
to avoid a fissure.

01:07:33.625 --> 01:07:36.125
[Iván]
Three days after the break that we had taken

01:07:36.125 --> 01:07:37.791
we return from this area

01:07:38.125 --> 01:07:41.541
and completely scared, we see

01:07:41.541 --> 01:07:43.791
these two aluminum ladders

01:07:44.291 --> 01:07:46.625
so strong and resistant, made of metal

01:07:47.416 --> 01:07:50.833
were bent and crooked as if they were made of taffy

01:07:50.875 --> 01:07:52.875
because a large block of ice

01:07:52.875 --> 01:07:57.791
as big as a house, had fallen

01:07:58.125 --> 01:08:01.375
which had completely destroyed the ladders

01:08:02.125 --> 01:08:06.250
and obviously this was a big shock for us.

01:08:06.250 --> 01:08:08.250
And it was also the reconfirmation

01:08:08.250 --> 01:08:10.333
of the strength that the mountain has

01:08:10.333 --> 01:08:12.250
how delicate it can be

01:08:12.250 --> 01:08:13.583
and the risk that this entails.

01:08:13.583 --> 01:08:14.166
[Pages turning]

01:08:14.166 --> 01:08:16.166
[Iván]
So, this emblematic glacier

01:08:16.166 --> 01:08:20.500
also shows us that chaos is beautiful.

01:08:20.500 --> 01:08:21.958
[Cornets blaring in the distance]

01:08:30.041 --> 01:08:31.500
[blaring fades]

01:08:31.500 --> 01:08:32.666
[footsteps crunching on snow]

01:08:32.666 --> 01:08:34.125
[Wind gusts]

01:08:40.666 --> 01:08:42.125
[panted breaths]

01:08:44.458 --> 01:08:46.083
[thump]

01:08:46.083 --> 01:08:47.750
[Wind whooshing]

01:08:47.750 --> 01:08:49.500
[high-pitched beep]

01:08:50.125 --> 01:08:52.083
[Buddhist chants echoing]

01:08:54.791 --> 01:08:55.750
[beeping stops]

01:08:56.500 --> 01:08:57.791
[thump]

01:08:57.916 --> 01:08:59.291
[beeping continues]

01:09:05.375 --> 01:09:06.875
[Iván]
When going to the mountains

01:09:06.875 --> 01:09:09.208
I don't leave to chance the issues of avalanches

01:09:09.208 --> 01:09:10.875
the weather, the cracks...

01:09:10.875 --> 01:09:12.000
do I explain myself?

01:09:12.000 --> 01:09:15.125
I am aware I'm going to a place where there is a lot of risk.

01:09:15.125 --> 01:09:16.125
[Buddhist chants continue]

01:09:16.125 --> 01:09:20.000
So, I have to take the appropriate measures

01:09:20.125 --> 01:09:24.875
but there's another part that I will never control

01:09:24.958 --> 01:09:26.708
and when facing that, I say

01:09:26.958 --> 01:09:30.958
"Lord, I am in your hands, may your will be done."

01:09:30.958 --> 01:09:32.625
[Buddhist prayer music playing]

01:09:32.625 --> 01:09:34.291
[Bells chiming]

01:09:34.291 --> 01:09:35.875
[Metals clanking]

01:09:35.875 --> 01:09:37.625
[Cornets blaring]

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:01.750
[Music fades away]

01:10:01.750 --> 01:10:03.500
[footsteps crunching on snow]

01:10:06.375 --> 01:10:08.125
[Sebastián]
As we climb, I get tired

01:10:08.458 --> 01:10:09.875
I'm short of breath.

01:10:10.625 --> 01:10:13.375
The altitude goes deep inside.

01:10:13.750 --> 01:10:15.750
It messes with my head.

01:10:16.833 --> 01:10:17.958
[panting]

01:10:17.958 --> 01:10:21.708
I can't imagine what this would be like 3,000 meters higher.

01:10:26.791 --> 01:10:28.791
[Wind gusts]

01:10:31.750 --> 01:10:34.583
[footsteps crunching on snow]

01:10:39.625 --> 01:10:41.625
[crunching continues]

01:11:28.916 --> 01:11:30.916
[crunching fades away]

01:11:30.916 --> 01:11:32.916
[peaceful silence]

01:11:37.083 --> 01:11:39.083
[very little snow]

01:11:46.041 --> 01:11:48.041
[gasping for air]

01:11:49.125 --> 01:11:50.291
[short chuckle]

01:11:52.041 --> 01:11:53.125
[Iván]
[excited] A dream come true, right?

01:11:53.375 --> 01:11:53.875
[Sebastián]
[panting] Dammit…

01:11:53.875 --> 01:11:54.416
[clapping] Haha!

01:11:55.291 --> 01:11:56.791
[Sebastián]
Our goal for now… haha!

01:11:56.791 --> 01:11:57.375
[Iván]
Good!

01:11:57.416 --> 01:11:58.000
[cheerful high five clap]

01:11:58.625 --> 01:12:00.541
[Iván]
So good, I'm so glad…

01:12:00.875 --> 01:12:02.791
How nice that you've come this far...

01:12:02.791 --> 01:12:03.791
Congratulations.

01:12:04.041 --> 01:12:04.875
[Sebastián]
Dammit, thanks

01:12:04.875 --> 01:12:07.041
- [Sebastián] Thanks for bringing me here.
- [Iván] How nice...

01:12:07.041 --> 01:12:09.125
[Sebastián]
Thank you for this invitation, thank you.

01:12:09.291 --> 01:12:10.375
[Iván] Let's go to the tents.

01:12:15.750 --> 01:12:17.791
Everest Base Camp

01:12:17.791 --> 01:12:19.833
[gasping for air]

01:12:25.875 --> 01:12:28.125
[Sebastián]
I finally understand that Iván brought me here

01:12:28.125 --> 01:12:30.291
because the flame that fueled his projects

01:12:30.291 --> 01:12:32.791
and his reason for living began in this place.

01:12:34.791 --> 01:12:36.125
[Camera thuds onto the ground]

01:12:37.250 --> 01:12:39.166
Maybe this story is about that

01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:42.666
about the motive why we do things.

01:12:43.666 --> 01:12:44.916
I don't know.

01:13:00.041 --> 01:13:01.625
[Iván]
When you take the body

01:13:01.625 --> 01:13:03.375
above that altitude

01:13:03.375 --> 01:13:04.791
it doesn't know what to do

01:13:04.791 --> 01:13:06.291
it doesn't know how to react.

01:13:06.291 --> 01:13:09.375
Sitting down, doing absolutely nothing

01:13:09.375 --> 01:13:12.291
we can measure 110, 120 beats per minute.

01:13:12.625 --> 01:13:15.041
That is psychologically exhausting

01:13:15.041 --> 01:13:16.375
and it hits you a lot

01:13:16.375 --> 01:13:17.625
because you think

01:13:17.625 --> 01:13:20.416
"If I have 110 beats per minute today

01:13:20.416 --> 01:13:22.416
what is going to happen to me tomorrow

01:13:22.416 --> 01:13:23.416
when I have to climb?"

01:13:23.916 --> 01:13:27.041
So, it comes across as an extraordinary mixture

01:13:27.041 --> 01:13:29.291
between the mental and the physical

01:13:29.416 --> 01:13:32.875
and above all you cannot let your thoughts get the best of you.

01:13:38.416 --> 01:13:39.875
And the tent on the right

01:13:40.125 --> 01:13:43.375
that has to be the kitchen.

01:13:45.125 --> 01:13:48.416
Then, that has to be the dining tent

01:13:49.041 --> 01:13:51.791
and that is possibly the storage tent.

01:13:52.625 --> 01:13:56.125
And the little one on the right, has to be the shower tent

01:13:56.541 --> 01:13:59.041
and the other one is the bathroom tent.

01:14:03.208 --> 01:14:04.833
[Iván]
Yes, it was a huge gift.

01:14:08.333 --> 01:14:10.041
Thank God everything was fine.

01:14:10.875 --> 01:14:12.500
I returned complete.

01:14:13.333 --> 01:14:14.958
[flapping of prayer flags in the wind]

01:14:15.750 --> 01:14:16.833
[Iván speaking English]
Nice view, isn't it?

01:14:18.375 --> 01:14:19.000
[Bahkta speaking English]
Too nice.

01:14:23.375 --> 01:14:25.000
I came here in 1995

01:14:25.500 --> 01:14:29.250
to see the Everest Base Camp, nothing more.

01:14:29.375 --> 01:14:30.750
[Iván]
But I took a lot of photos.

01:14:30.750 --> 01:14:32.125
[Pages turning]

01:14:32.208 --> 01:14:33.958
And when I'm back in Quito

01:14:34.916 --> 01:14:37.333
while reviewing the photos I took here

01:14:37.416 --> 01:14:39.666
and  pictures of Everest from Kala Patthar

01:14:40.416 --> 01:14:42.583
That's when my great dream begins

01:14:42.708 --> 01:14:44.708
and I ask myself the first question

01:14:44.916 --> 01:14:46.083
“Why not?”

01:14:47.250 --> 01:14:47.833
[thump]

01:14:47.833 --> 01:14:48.916
[Wind howling]

01:14:52.250 --> 01:14:53.333
[Iván]
If your mood drops,

01:14:53.333 --> 01:14:55.083
if that spreads to the team

01:14:55.083 --> 01:14:57.625
sooner or later that will affect

01:14:57.625 --> 01:15:00.500
your team's response to the summit.

01:15:01.250 --> 01:15:05.375
So, I think that true optimism here

01:15:06.000 --> 01:15:10.583
is the most important argument to carry you during those moments.

01:15:11.250 --> 01:15:13.625
Being optimistic when the weather is good

01:15:13.625 --> 01:15:15.833
and the conditions are perfect, that's easy.

01:15:15.833 --> 01:15:17.875
[chuckling]
And the truth is, it doesn't count too much.

01:15:18.250 --> 01:15:19.875
[Iván]
When the situation is tough

01:15:19.875 --> 01:15:21.750
when you have a defeat

01:15:21.750 --> 01:15:24.500
a setback, and things do not turn out as you expected

01:15:24.750 --> 01:15:29.000
when you are tired, when you are cold, when you are exhausted, when you are angry...

01:15:29.000 --> 01:15:29.416
[Wings flapping]

01:15:29.416 --> 01:15:31.500
In reality humans bring out the best

01:15:31.500 --> 01:15:34.375
and the worst of themselves in extreme situations.

01:15:34.375 --> 01:15:37.458
[Inspirational music playing]

01:15:43.291 --> 01:15:45.000
[Sebastián]
September 19

01:15:45.750 --> 01:15:48.750
I realize that Everest will no longer reveal itself to us

01:15:49.125 --> 01:15:50.750
we will no longer see it...

01:15:50.750 --> 01:15:52.375
[Drums striking]

01:15:52.750 --> 01:15:55.000
We are at 5,100 meters

01:15:56.000 --> 01:15:57.000
I try to breathe

01:15:57.000 --> 01:15:58.833
and I feel that I am short of breath.

01:16:05.250 --> 01:16:06.833
As I try to sleep

01:16:07.000 --> 01:16:08.500
I realize that at this point

01:16:08.500 --> 01:16:10.333
I don't care anymore why I'm here.

01:16:11.250 --> 01:16:12.833
I just want to go down

01:16:13.750 --> 01:16:16.125
but just to think of all the effort it will take

01:16:16.833 --> 01:16:18.083
makes me feel more anxious.

01:16:19.708 --> 01:16:20.583
[shivering]
brr, brr, brr

01:16:20.583 --> 01:16:21.583
I look at Iván

01:16:22.125 --> 01:16:24.000
he sleeps peacefully next to me.

01:16:24.750 --> 01:16:25.750
[Drums intensify]

01:16:25.750 --> 01:16:26.833
Hours go by

01:16:27.000 --> 01:16:28.125
I close my eyes

01:16:29.000 --> 01:16:30.833
I hear noises I don't even recognize

01:16:31.083 --> 01:16:32.333
mountain noises

01:16:33.333 --> 01:16:35.750
I turn around and go back to my starting position.

01:16:37.000 --> 01:16:38.333
Iván wakes up

01:16:39.000 --> 01:16:40.625
he realizes my restlessness

01:16:40.625 --> 01:16:41.750
and he calms me down.

01:16:41.833 --> 01:16:42.583
[Drums stop]

01:16:42.583 --> 01:16:43.875
[dramatic energetic music playing]

01:16:53.666 --> 01:16:54.958
[distant chimes of bells]

01:17:05.916 --> 01:17:07.083
[Bell chimes continue]

01:17:13.416 --> 01:17:14.583
[sound fades away]

01:17:14.583 --> 01:17:16.500
[Sebastián speaking English]
It's very beautiful Bakhta.

01:17:25.958 --> 01:17:27.958
[Sebastián]
September 20

01:17:27.958 --> 01:17:29.708
[footsteps crunching on snow]

01:17:31.708 --> 01:17:34.583
I feel that what we are doing on this journey with Iván

01:17:34.583 --> 01:17:36.416
is to ask the mountain for permission

01:17:36.458 --> 01:17:37.958
so that he can return

01:17:37.958 --> 01:17:39.458
and reach its summit again.

01:17:39.458 --> 01:17:40.958
[silence]

01:17:43.958 --> 01:17:47.833
In 1995, my initial plan was to climb Pumori:

01:17:47.833 --> 01:17:51.333
this beautiful mountain that measures 7,125 meters.

01:17:51.833 --> 01:17:54.583
But I obviously wanted to climb clandestinely

01:17:54.583 --> 01:17:57.333
[chuckling]
because I didn't have the money to pay for the permit

01:17:57.333 --> 01:17:59.166
which cost then 3,500 dollars

01:17:59.583 --> 01:18:06.583
and 3,500 dollars was impossible for me to pay

01:18:06.583 --> 01:18:09.666
because I had barely gotten here to Nepal.

01:18:10.333 --> 01:18:14.583
So when I arrived to Pumori with the intention of climbing it

01:18:14.583 --> 01:18:15.583
clandestinely

01:18:16.166 --> 01:18:18.916
I realized it was impossible, because the Base Camp

01:18:18.916 --> 01:18:21.458
was full of Sherpas and western people

01:18:22.083 --> 01:18:24.666
who were immediately going to discover me

01:18:25.083 --> 01:18:28.458
and what would happen is that I would go to jail.

01:18:28.458 --> 01:18:31.916
So, as much as it hurt, I realized I couldn't climb in frustration

01:18:32.083 --> 01:18:35.958
because "I have the desire, I have the knowledge

01:18:35.958 --> 01:18:37.458
I have the will

01:18:37.458 --> 01:18:39.708
but I can't climb because I don't I have money”.

01:18:39.708 --> 01:18:41.916
So yes, yes, it was frustrating

01:18:42.166 --> 01:18:44.583
so I said well, this time I can't

01:18:44.666 --> 01:18:47.083
and what I decided to do is to climb

01:18:47.083 --> 01:18:49.833
all the mountains I could during that short stay

01:18:50.166 --> 01:18:54.083
[chuckling]
obviously clandestinely and without paying the permits

01:18:54.583 --> 01:18:57.666
so I climbed this pair of mountains that are here

01:18:57.666 --> 01:18:59.833
that one there, the Khumbila...

01:19:00.375 --> 01:19:05.083
[Iván] and then I climbed this mountain in the shape of a horn, here on the left.

01:19:06.833 --> 01:19:08.166
[weeping]
huhh

01:19:08.958 --> 01:19:09.958
[snorting]

01:19:13.041 --> 01:19:15.625
[overcome with emotions]
Life is amazing

01:19:16.416 --> 01:19:17.791
it's so beautiful.

01:19:20.125 --> 01:19:21.375
What a thrill

01:19:21.625 --> 01:19:22.875
to remember

01:19:24.875 --> 01:19:29.000
how in 1995, I climbed these mountains

01:19:29.000 --> 01:19:30.625
secretly

01:19:31.000 --> 01:19:32.458
but happy

01:19:32.875 --> 01:19:35.208
then I went to Island Peak and climbed it

01:19:36.000 --> 01:19:37.708
and I came down, happy

01:19:37.958 --> 01:19:40.750
filled with joy and enthusiasm

01:19:41.708 --> 01:19:43.625
and today I'm here again.

01:19:48.083 --> 01:19:51.750
[Iván]
"Son, I found a cardboard box

01:19:52.500 --> 01:19:55.750
with some notebooks, I think they're yours from school."

01:19:55.875 --> 01:19:57.250
I pick up a notebook

01:19:57.250 --> 01:19:58.375
I open the cover

01:20:00.125 --> 01:20:03.500
and I find the drawing I made when I was 12 years old.

01:20:04.000 --> 01:20:05.875
That moment was for me

01:20:05.875 --> 01:20:09.500
like a 220-volt shock

01:20:10.000 --> 01:20:14.250
because it immediately took me back in time

01:20:14.250 --> 01:20:18.000
to the moment when I was 12, and I remembered exactly

01:20:18.000 --> 01:20:20.250
the classroom where I drew it

01:20:20.250 --> 01:20:23.250
how I did it at the request of my teacher Cecilita

01:20:23.750 --> 01:20:25.875
and how I did the drawing.

01:20:25.875 --> 01:20:28.625
And at that moment my eyes are watering.

01:20:29.125 --> 01:20:30.875
How is it possible

01:20:30.875 --> 01:20:33.750
that 24 years later

01:20:34.500 --> 01:20:39.250
after returning from my first year of preparation in the Himalayas, on the way to Everest

01:20:39.250 --> 01:20:40.875
that I find the drawing?

01:20:41.125 --> 01:20:45.625
It had survived the moves from house to house we had gone through.  That, to me, is a miracle.

01:20:45.625 --> 01:20:50.500
This drawing for me is the proof that my dream is going to come true.

01:20:50.500 --> 01:20:52.375
This drawing appears for a reason.

01:20:52.375 --> 01:20:57.125
I remember that I went back to Quito in an old Land Rover from 1972

01:20:57.125 --> 01:21:02.250
and while I was driving, I would open the cover of the notebook from time to time

01:21:02.250 --> 01:21:03.625
glancing at the drawing

01:21:04.000 --> 01:21:06.375
and tears of emotion would come out again.

01:21:06.375 --> 01:21:09.875
So, I finally have the sponsors to go to Everest

01:21:11.000 --> 01:21:13.125
and 6 weeks before coming to the Himalayas

01:21:13.125 --> 01:21:15.750
the economic crisis hits and all bank accounts freeze.

01:21:15.750 --> 01:21:17.500
The whole project falls through!

01:21:17.500 --> 01:21:18.875
That drawing was, for me

01:21:20.500 --> 01:21:23.500
the main support not to give up

01:21:23.500 --> 01:21:26.625
when things got complicated with the funding

01:21:27.625 --> 01:21:30.375
not knowing if things were going to work out or not...

01:21:30.375 --> 01:21:32.500
When I was about to lower my arms

01:21:33.250 --> 01:21:35.375
I would open the notebook, see the drawing

01:21:35.375 --> 01:21:38.375
and tell myself: this has already been written

01:21:38.625 --> 01:21:41.000
and it's a part of the project

01:21:41.000 --> 01:21:43.125
this obstacle which I have to overcome

01:21:43.125 --> 01:21:44.875
but this must be accomplished.

01:21:47.916 --> 01:21:49.750
[heavy breathing]

01:21:49.750 --> 01:21:53.000
- [Sebastián] Here we go, right?
- [Iván] What?

01:21:53.000 --> 01:21:54.833
- [Sebastián] Here we go.
- [Iván] Super.

01:21:56.083 --> 01:21:57.750
[Sebastián]
What a day!

01:21:58.375 --> 01:21:59.458
[gasps for air]

01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:01.708
[Iván]
We've been rewarded.

01:22:01.708 --> 01:22:02.958
[crunching footsteps]

01:22:04.375 --> 01:22:06.083
[Iván]
Beautiful Chomolungma!

01:22:06.083 --> 01:22:09.750
Gorgeous Sagarmatha! Thank you!

01:22:09.750 --> 01:22:11.000
[joyous scream]
woo-hoo!

01:22:11.583 --> 01:22:15.250
Chomolugma in Tibetan, Sagarmatha in Nepali

01:22:15.250 --> 01:22:18.333
[Iván]
the tallest mountain on the planet, how beautiful…

01:22:18.333 --> 01:22:19.041
[gasps for air]

01:22:19.041 --> 01:22:21.666
Big hug!

01:22:21.666 --> 01:22:23.916
Chomolungmita, Sagarmatha.

01:22:26.416 --> 01:22:27.416
How beautiful…

01:22:28.000 --> 01:22:30.791
[Iván]
You can see a little of the edge

01:22:30.791 --> 01:22:35.166
which goes from the South Summit to the main Summit.

01:22:35.750 --> 01:22:39.666
- [Sebastián] Oh finally...
- [Iván chanting] There it is, there it is, there it is!...

01:22:53.125 --> 01:22:57.041
[Monk chant echoing]

01:23:10.125 --> 01:23:14.041
[silence]

01:23:27.333 --> 01:23:29.583
Eight days of bad weather

01:23:29.583 --> 01:23:33.250
nothing could be seen, fog, rain, snow...

01:23:33.250 --> 01:23:36.333
And today, on the ninth day, it clears up.

01:23:37.083 --> 01:23:39.083
These are not coincidences

01:23:39.750 --> 01:23:41.833
these are beautiful miracles

01:23:41.833 --> 01:23:44.583
coming from the energy, the love

01:23:44.583 --> 01:23:46.750
and the commitment that one puts into it.

01:23:48.083 --> 01:23:50.125
Here we are, here I am.

01:23:50.125 --> 01:23:52.166
[energetic Buddhist prayer music]

01:24:08.041 --> 01:24:14.791
WHEN I GROW UP.
ON THE SUMMIT OF EVEREST.

01:24:15.666 --> 01:24:17.708
[Music intensifies]

01:24:35.500 --> 01:24:37.541
[Music fades away]

01:24:37.666 --> 01:24:41.750
Life is truly beautiful, life is truly beautiful...

01:24:42.666 --> 01:24:45.166
[Sebastián]
It's so beautiful, and I, I really…

01:24:45.166 --> 01:24:50.916
After having seen a fragment of this process

01:24:50.916 --> 01:24:54.916
something that I have to say is that...

01:24:54.916 --> 01:24:57.166
I believe the weather cleared up today

01:24:57.166 --> 01:24:59.500
because we accepted the mountain as it was

01:24:59.500 --> 01:25:02.166
and were willing to leave without seeing it.

01:25:02.166 --> 01:25:05.916
- [Iván] Oh yeah…
- [Sebastián] And I think that the moment…

01:25:08.500 --> 01:25:10.166
[emotional]
you accept things…

01:25:10.166 --> 01:25:11.916
that's when everything changes…

01:25:11.916 --> 01:25:14.000
[Iván]
Exactly…

01:25:14.000 --> 01:25:15.416
This is a gift.

01:25:15.416 --> 01:25:17.666
Imagine, we were about to leave…

01:25:17.666 --> 01:25:19.666
“Having seen nothing”.

01:25:21.166 --> 01:25:23.166
And look at the place where we are…

01:25:23.666 --> 01:25:27.416
[chuckling]
And it clears up, look! It clears up for us!

01:25:28.166 --> 01:25:31.166
How beautiful, how beautiful…

01:25:34.416 --> 01:25:36.666
[Sebastián]
“Each atom of this stone

01:25:37.000 --> 01:25:40.000
each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain

01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:42.416
in itself forms a world.

01:25:42.416 --> 01:25:44.416
[distant ominous music]

01:25:44.416 --> 01:25:46.291
The struggle itself toward the heights

01:25:46.291 --> 01:25:48.916
is enough to fill a man's heart.

01:25:49.541 --> 01:25:51.541
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

01:25:53.291 --> 01:25:54.500
(Albert Camus)

01:25:56.416 --> 01:25:58.500
[Helicopter rotor sounds]
chop-chop

01:26:08.583 --> 01:26:10.416
[distant monk chanting]

01:26:13.083 --> 01:26:14.291
[Rotor stops]

01:26:14.291 --> 01:26:16.416
[eery chanting continues]

01:26:27.500 --> 01:26:28.708
[Bells chiming]

01:26:44.041 --> 01:26:45.250
[sounds fade away]

01:26:46.083 --> 01:26:49.041
[Buddhist prayer music playing]

01:26:57.541 --> 01:27:00.708
[Iván]
At the culmination of reaching the summit,

01:27:00.708 --> 01:27:03.958
this adrenaline rush of happiness makes me

01:27:03.958 --> 01:27:05.541
makes me strong.

01:27:05.541 --> 01:27:06.708
[Birds singing]

01:27:06.708 --> 01:27:10.458
But after an hour, then, when I begin to go down

01:27:10.458 --> 01:27:11.083
[Flags flapping]

01:27:11.083 --> 01:27:15.041
it is clear to me how exhausted I am.

01:27:15.041 --> 01:27:16.541
[Wind blowing]

01:27:16.791 --> 01:27:21.791
And it is also clear to me that I absolutely must go down

01:27:22.958 --> 01:27:28.208
because in Camp 4, in Camp 3, and in the Base Camp, that's where I have more oxygen.

01:27:28.708 --> 01:27:33.458
The human being who wants to stay and live forever

01:27:33.458 --> 01:27:36.791
on the summit of glory, of success, of achievement

01:27:37.541 --> 01:27:40.041
sooner or later is going to die, quote unquote

01:27:40.041 --> 01:27:42.375
from lack of oxygen.

01:27:43.166 --> 01:27:47.416
And that lack of oxygen, in this analogy, is our excess of vanity.

01:27:49.166 --> 01:27:51.916
In the case of a mountain, you can't even question this

01:27:51.916 --> 01:27:55.166
you know that what you must do is to go down

01:27:55.166 --> 01:27:57.750
because life is there, because oxygen is there.

01:28:00.041 --> 01:28:02.625
[Bells ringing]

01:28:03.333 --> 01:28:05.916
[Buddhist music building up]

01:28:05.916 --> 01:28:08.500
[Drums striking]

01:28:08.708 --> 01:28:11.291
[upbeat Buddhist music playing]

01:28:12.541 --> 01:28:15.583
Closed Captioning provided by Valentina Eguiguren
VEA PRODUCTIONS

01:28:35.375 --> 01:28:37.291
[Music intensifies]

01:28:49.083 --> 01:28:51.000
[soft bells chiming]

01:30:20.208 --> 01:30:22.125
[Music fades away]

01:31:05.458 --> 01:31:05.541
POP

01:31:05.750 --> 01:31:06.833
FIN