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BEIJING, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's first documentary to feature a full climb up Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mt. Everest, was released nationwide on Friday.
The movie focuses on a group of Tibetan Mountaineering School graduates who had recently finished the six-year course.
Set apart from the usual style of documentaries that often focus on the extreme sport element of climbing, "Himalaya: Ladder to Paradise" turns its lens on the people that guide these thrill seekers -- the mountain guides.
They repair and maintain the ropes along the slope, set up camp, they ensure climbers can ascend the "ladder."
"Our students are from nearby villages, instead of becoming herdsmen like their forefathers,they have chosen to be mountain guides," said Phurbu Dondrup, the vice principal of the school.
Phurbu Dondrup boats 16 years of climbing experience and has reached the summit eight times. He hopes that people can not only understand the difficulties of a climb like this through the film, but also the inner peace that it can help achieve.
The "Ladder to Paradise" is the name given to the patterns on the palisades across the Tibetan plateau. The Tibetan people believe that the ladders lead to the Holy Land.
"It's important to have tranquility in this impetuous society," said Yang Liu after watching the movie, "the 'Ladder' brought me that inner peace."
Production took four years, with the crew often working at an altitude of over 5,000 meters. The crew were the first in the industry to capture aerial footage above an altitude of 6,500 meters.
Just like many other adventurers, the crew took risks when traversing the northern slope of Mt. Qomolangma. In preparation, they spent three months training two Tibetan guides to be cameramen.
"They said, 'it's too exhausting. We cannot climb to the summit'," director Xiao said many of the crew had lamented, "but I didn't believe them," he said with smile.
Even though this is Xiao's first movie to be released in the theater, and documentaries are not often blockbusters, he remains upbeat, "I'll try my best to make a space for it, providing the audience with multiple choices."
The movie is scheduled to be released across more than 2,800 cinemas in 76 cities around China. It was also purchased by BBC and NHK for screening overseas.
