Out of Compettion

TOUCHING THE VOID
Kevin Macdonald, GREAT BRITAIN, 2003, 106’, col. 35mm
Director Kevin Macdonald
Script dal romanzo omonimo di Joe Simpson
Cinematography Mike Eley
Climbing Cinematography Keith Partridge, Simon Wagen
Editing Justine Wright
Stunt Dave ‘Cubby’ Cuthbertson (Joe Simpson), Rory Gregory (Simon Yates)
Cast Brendan Mackey (Joe Simpson), Nicholas Aaron (Simon Yates)
Music Alex Heffes
Head Mountain Guide Brian Hall
Production Darlow Smithson Production per Filmfour, Channel 4 Television, Pbs, con il supporto di The Film Council New Cinema Fund
Distribution Fandango

In 1985, Simon Yates and Joe Simpson, two young English mountaineers, set out to climb Siula Grande, in the Peruvian Andes. They leave base camp to confront the particularly difficult western face, and after three days of harsh climbing they reach the peak. During the descent Simpson seriously wounds his leg but the two continue bound together with an 8mm rope. However, Simpson falls in a crevasse and Yates is dramatically forced to cut the rope; he returns to base camp with difficulty. Three days later Simpson incredibly appears in front of his tent.
The film was shoot on location in Peru, in the same place as the accident, and also on the Alps.

DIRECTOR
Kevin Macdonald was born in 1967 in Glasgow and has been producing documentaries for around ten years, with a predilection for biographies of famous people and artists. In fact, he produced in 2001 " Being Mick", a portrait of Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones . While in 2001, he filmed "Humphrey Jennings", a biography on the namesake poet, and perhaps his most famous documentary "One Day in September", the story of the kidnapping of Israeli athletes by a group of terrorists during the 1972 Olympics games, receiving an Oscar. As a journalist, he has published a variety of books including "The Faber Book of Documentary" and "Emeric Pressburger: the Life and Death of a Screenwriter".

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