REEL ROCK 13 Announces Line-Up for This Year’s Outdoor Adventure Film Tour and Festivals

Sender Films and Big UP Productions revealed the four new film titles to be featured at this year’s highly anticipated REEL ROCK 13 Film Tour. For 13 seasons, the grassroots film festival has showcased astounding stories of perseverance, hardship and accomplishment stemming from the world of outdoor adventure. It has become the “must-attend” festival and networking event among thrill-seeking enthusiasts throughout the global climbing community.

This year’s REEL ROCK Film Tour, which is presented by The North Face, includes four action-packed short documentaries. Each introduces the stories and personalities behind some of climbing’s most gifted and extraordinary talents. This year’s line-up includes fascinating portraits that take us from the coldest peaks of Antarctica to the hot deserts of Jordan, with a few exciting detours in between.

Here are the four titles announced for REEL ROCK 13:

QUEEN MAUD LAND

A dream team of six elite climbers mount an expedition to one of the world’s last great climbing frontiers: the remote frozen towers of Antarctica. Jimmy Chin and Conrad Anker tackle a new route on the 3,600-foot Ulvetanna; Savannah Cummins and Anna Pfaff summit the towering Holtanna; and Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright make a harrowing and hilarious blitz of 13 different spires spread across the ice field, including one pitch that Honnold calls “the scariest I have ever led.” Queen Maud Land — the name of this icy region — showcases a stunning, rarely visited wilderness, and the suffering and vision needed to climb at the bottom of the world.

Directed by: Taylor Keating and Cedar Wright

Featuring: Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, Savannah Cummins, Alex Honnold, Anna Pfaff, Cedar Wright

UP TO SPEED

When climbing was announced as part of the 2020 Olympics, it was a monumental occasion for the sport. But many climbers were shocked to learn that one of three combined events required to compete for a medal is… speed climbing. REEL ROCK correspondent Zachary Barr looks into this little-known and seldom practiced sub-discipline of the sport and the role it will play in shaping climbing’s future. Barr’s journey from the U.S. to France (the birthplace of modern speed climbing) to South Asia (it’s actually huge there) culminates at an international competition in Moscow, where speed demons race up a 15-meter wall in less than six seconds.

Directed by: Sender Films

Featuring: Claire Buhrfeind, Reza Alipour, John Brosler, Margo Hayes, Max Hammer, Stanislav Kokorin

AGE OF ONDRA

Every so often an athlete comes along who redefines their sport. Adam Ondra, the 25-year-old Czech crusher, is exploring a new realm of human potential in climbing. Late last year, he established a benchmark for the sport; a 5.15d in Norway he dubbed Silence (as in, drop the mic). On the heels of this ascent, we follow Adam from his home in the Czech Republic, across Europe to North America, as he innovates new training methods, establishes upper echelon first ascents, and attempts to be the first person to send 5.15 on the first try. Age of Ondra is a rare, intimate journey with one of the greatest athletes at the peak of his powers.

Directed by: Big UP Productions

Featuring: Adam Ondra

THE VALLEY OF THE MOON

Wadi Rum, known as the Valley of the Moon, is a vast landscape of sandstone walls in the desert of Jordan. Hoping to lure international climbers, two Israelis team up with a local Bedouin guide to establish an 1,800-foot route, eventually recruiting American climber Madaleine Sorkin to help achieve their dream. The Valley of the Moon explores the importance of climbing as a way to cross cultural barriers, build friendship and chase adventure in one of the most breathtaking regions on earth.

Directed by: Henna Taylor

Featuring: Madaleine Sorkin, Eliav Nissan, Mohammad Hussein, Elad Omer

“This year’s festival features our most diverse documentary subjects, both geographically and culturally,” says REEL ROCK co-founder Peter Mortimer. “And yet each passing year only proves to us that the climbing community is essentially one giant global community with very few differences. Best of all, REEL ROCK festivals give that community the chance to get together, to meet one another, and laugh and enjoy life together.”

REEL ROCK 13 kicks off with premiere events in Boulder, New York, and DC in early November and will be followed up with local screening events in over 450 locations worldwide.

To find a screening event near you, visit: https://reelrocktour.com/events/

Film screenings in Boulder, New York City and San Francisco will be just one part of REEL ROCK Fest, a multi-day event that features the premiere of the Team Speed Comp, a fun relay-style race up the official speed wall; pro-led teaching clinics hosted by local climbing gyms; Speaker Series evening gatherings presented by The North Face; stewardship days at local crags organized by local conservation groups; plus more food, drink, networking opportunities and prize giveaways than you can shake a carabiner at.

To learn more about Fest events, visit: https://reelrocktour.com/fest/

REEL ROCK 13 Tour Sponsors: The North Face, Yeti and Black Diamond.

About REEL ROCK

For more information, please contact us at press@reelrocktour.com or visit www.reelrocktour.com.