Climb to ‘the roof’ of Africa

A British team of non-disabled and disabled climbers has become what is believed to be the first multi-ability group to reach the summit of Africa’s highest peak: Mount Kilimanjaro.

Altitude sickness and exhaustion prevented only a few of them from reaching the summit, which is 19340ft (5895m) above sea level.

The trek organisers – the charity Enham – hope the trip will encourage other people with disabilities to realise their full potential.

Bryan Magee, who is non-disabled, and his brother Jamie, who has left paralysis, both took part.

Bryan recorded an audio diary of his experiences. Here is his story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7558288.stm

First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself – where are you from and what was your role in TMW?

I’m Michael Price, and was the composer of the score for The Mountain Within. I’ve been involved in film music for more years than I care to remember now, as a composer, arranger, music editor, you name it, and have been lucky enough to work on some amazing films. And now I’ve worked on another one!

When and how did you get involved in TMW?

Kyle Portbury, the Director, called me up in Spring 2008 with what I first thought was a spoof job. “So, how do you feel about climbing up Kilimanjaro, writing music as you go, while we all make a film?” I presumed he’d gone a little mad.

Had you worked with any of the crew before?

I’d worked with Kyle, Gregory the producer and Kate the editor before on a short film, shot in Cornwall, where I’d spent the week with them on set. It seemed like such a different way to work, and I felt much more involved in the project than I often do, being with the whole crew for the shoot, so I was very keen to try again.

What did your role involve?

As the composer you’re responsible for writing, conducting and recording all the music that’s heard in the film. I’m very lucky to work with an amazing group of people, from the superb orchestral players, through the engineers at Abbey Road, especially Andrew Dudman, then the people that work closely with me on the writing of the score; Anthony Weeden who orchestrated it, and Rael Jones who produces everything with me, and plays all instruments known to man. I guess my job is to make sure that all those amazingly talented people have some reasonable tunes to work on!

For this project, some crew members took on different and/or extra roles to those they would normally take on – what were some of the strangest things you had to do on TMW?

In theory I was supposed to be helping record production sound on the mountain, but I turned out to be the most useless sound guy ever. I was also enormously inept with a camera, so mostly I ended up sorting out the video diaries we were sending back to people who were following our progress. There are pictures somewhere of me sitting freezing on a rock at 13,000 feet with a laptop on my knees trying to connect to the internet with a solar-powered satellite dish. I’ll never be rude about BT Broadband again.

What were your thoughts about Kilimanjaro and the climb before you arrived in Tanzania?

I found it very hard to imagine how difficult it was going to be, as going up and down a few climbs in the Lake District was the most I’d ever done. I imagined it would be bigger than the Lake District. And it was.

How did you feel when you arrived at the base of the mountain?

I think we were all so stressed and focused on trying to make the best film we could that I often forgot to look up at the mountain. It didn’t really dawn on me for a few days what a crazy thing we were doing.

Had you been on Kilimanjaro or to altitude before?

No. I usually avoid going to places where there isn’t enough oxygen . . .

Had you met any of the climbers before the climb?

I’d been on a couple of training walks, including one on Snowdon where I’d met many of the team. There was already an amazing bond of humour between the climbers and their buddies, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted how much everyone’s characters would have been tested.

Was there a particular event on the mountain that sticks out in your memory?

I’d love to say being on the summit, but I can barely remember staggering there. I think there were hundreds of tiny moments of humanity, humour and courage, and whenever I see the film now, I remember new ones.

How did you find working at altitude?

Like trying to work after ten pints of Yorkshire bitter. People aren’t meant to be that high up – it’s unnatural.

How do you feel that the crew as a group handled the extremes of Kilimanjaro?

I think we were often inexperienced, under-prepared, out of our depth, and yet everybody in the crew found something very special inside them and we were able to support each other through it. I think we’re all better people for having been made so vulnerable by the climb, but still helping each other to make a beautiful film that I’m very proud of.

Tell us about reaching the summit?

I was effectively carried there by one of the absolutely amazing porters, who even held my hand on the way down. I wouldn’t have got there without him. It seemed to be one of the reasons why the porters were so supportive and encouraging of Jamie Magee – they have such courage and strength themselves, and they recognise that courage in other people.

If you had to summarise the summit attempt in one word, which word would you use?

Extra-terrestrial.

Do you feel more of a connection to the film (because you took part in the climb), compared to other films you have worked on?

Hugely so. I’m now a slightly scarily passionate advocate of the film, and the whole experience, and being able to express some of that in the score with all my favourite players and colleagues is too good to be true.

What is the most important lesson you have learned from making TMW?

That we constantly limit ourselves, and we limit other people when we pre-judge what they can do. Sometimes it takes a special group of people with unselfconscious courage to show us what everyone is capable of.

Photo courtesy of Kate Coggins

Welcome to a new feature we will be running on the site.  It took a huge amount of hard work and determination to make The Mountain Within (TMW for short) so we decided to interview some of the crew members to give you an insight into the different types of obstacles that the crew on the mountain and the post production team had to overcome.

To kick off we’re starting with our Director – Kyle Portbury.

First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself – where are you from and what was your role in TMW?

My name is Kyle Portbury, and I am the director of The Mountain Within.  I am from a little town in Victoria, Australia called Warburton where I grew up with my parents and older sister.  I was fortunate to have a British mother who wanted to visit her family often so Dad and Mum would regularly expose us to life in a bigger world.

When and how did you get involved in TMW?

In about February 2008 I premiered a short film at the Curzon cinema in Soho.  The Enham Kilimanjaro Challenge climb initiators happened to be in attendance, liked what they saw and approached me to discuss filming the climb.  I pitched them the idea of filming it as a feature documentary where we could really do some things that haven’t been done in the genre in a long time.  They liked the direction and we set off on the adventure of making a climb into a dramatic story.

Photo courtesy of Kate Coggins

Had you worked with any of the crew before?

Yes I have worked with a number of the crew before.  The composer, Michael Price, and I had worked on a couple of projects before and were keen to push our director/composer creativity to another level.  My longtime producer Greg Rinaldi has basically produced everything I have done and Kate Coggins had edited one of my short films.  Having a core of people you know and understand was a real blessing because when you get out into extreme locations everthing that can go wrong does and you need to know that essentially your key people get you and can work together to problem solve out of any situation.

What did your role involve?

I am only a young director who is still working out how to tell stories.  I guess having said that directing for me involves finding the story to tell in the first place and then working out how to best tell that story.  How do you do that… get the best people you can in each of the key roles and listen to them.

For this project, some crew members took on different and/or extra roles to those they would normally take on – what were some of the strangest things you had to do on TMW?

I am a pretty hands on director but even for me, scrabbling along with our cinematographer, Gordon, on the side of a cliff with the wireless shotgun mic while he ran with a steadicam rig was pretty crazy, especially when you looked sideways and saw the drop off. I also ended up shooting the entire summit sequence as our main unit camera went down due to the cold on the summit.  Filming at 20,000ft was definitely a new one for me.

Kyle and Gordon following the action

What were your thoughts about Kilimanjaro and the climb before you arrived in Tanzania?

I was really excited to get to climb it.  It is such an inspiring mountain, you see photos of this thing poking out of the clouds with giraffes and elephants in the foreground, who wouldn’t want to climb it.

How did you feel when you arrived at the base of the mountain?

What have I got myself into… ahahaha.

Had you been on Kilimanjaro or to altitude before?

This was my first time in Africa and I think the highest I had been was about 12,000ft.

Had you met any of the climbers before the climb?

Yes we spent about 6 months getting to know them and getting them used to us and the cameras.  They are such an amazing group of people and to get to the point where we got to see that meant a lot of time with them, so by the time we got to the mountain, cameras around was just a normal part of life.

How did you find working at altitude?

Both exhilarating and exhausting.  Making a film anywhere requires a certain level of physical and mental agility, when you throw altitude into that mix you have to work twice as hard to get the same result.

How do you feel that the crew as a group handled the extremes of Kilimanjaro?

Whatever the mountain threw at them, they handled it as a team and brought back a story, you can’t ask for much more.  Everyone had a day where they were not running at their peak but everyone stepped up to cover this, it was an incredible team effort and sheer determination that got this film in the can.

Did you reach the summit?

Yes.

Tell us about reaching the summit?

I was filming when we reached the top, it was a funny feeling you know, you expect that it will be this big moment but actually you just hurt, you can’t breathe and you look around and everyone else is thinking the same thing you are.  You sit and reflect for a few moments, you think about the ones who didn’t make it and then you muster the strength to get back down… awesome.

Was there a particular event on the mountain that sticks out in your memory?

There were so many but the one that sticks out would have been the final climb to the summit.  It was pitch black and I can still remember looking up and seeing an endless trail of lights that seemed to ascend forever.  When you can’t breathe and your legs feel like they weigh a tonne that sight is terrifying…

Photo courtesy of Kate Coggins

If you had to summarize the summit attempt in one word, which word would you use?

Surreal.

Do you feel more of a connection to the film (because you took part in the climb), compared to other films you have worked on?

Every film is a unique and special experience, what I think is different with this one is you have the added bonus of having not only succeeded in shooting a film which is a huge undertaking in and of itself but you have also climbed one of the world’s highest mountains.  You get the personal sense of achievement in getting to the summit and the collaborative achievement of making a film so it is a pretty special film.

What is the most important lesson you have learned from making TMW?

Patience.

If you have any questions for Kyle please post them in the comment window below.

]]> http://www.themountainwithin.com/kyle_portbury/feed/ 2 http://www.themountainwithin.com/terrace_screening/ http://www.themountainwithin.com/terrace_screening/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:23:13 +0000 Gregory http://www.themountainwithin.com/?p=815

The screenings in Terrace on 4th September turned out to be a great success. Both screenings were close to sold out and the audience reaction to the film was again fantastic. Cynthia Northridge said “I thought it was a really powerful film, heartwarming and absolutely amazing”. The city of Terrace really embraced the event and made it into something special by helping to raise over $850 for Special Olympics Terrace.

One of TMW producers Gregory Rinaldi with the help of his sister Joan Wiebe were able to arrange everything needed for the screenings in under a week.  The banquet hall was donated by Best Western Terrace Inn, all of the audio/video equipment was provided by Sight & Sound and the posters, tickets and flyers were printed by Totem Press.  With the building blocks in place, it wasn’t long before everyone started talking about the film, bolstered by the help of the local media – two articles in the Terrace Standard, a ticket giveaway all week on CFTK’s Ryan Boult followed by promotions in the lead up to the screenings, a TV interview on the local news station and a radio interview on CBC radio.

Our faith in the message of the film was amplified when, in the hour between the first and second screenings, the audience from the first screening proceeded to call friends and family to get down to the second one.  The second screening ended up being even better attended than the first with extra chairs being brought in to accommodate the numbers. David Miller commented “It was an incredible tale of compassion and beautiful cinematography but most importantly for me was to show how something good can come from the obstacles in life”.

We will be starting our North America release next year and Terrace BC have shown us that we will be able to achieve our goals of raising both awareness and money for the charities involved.

Map <http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=best+western+terrace+bc&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=30.241767,61.523438&ie=UTF8&ll=54.516573,-128.58495&spn=0.006315,0.01502&z=16>

Tickets can be purchased in advance at Mr. Mikes or at Misty River Books in Terrace.

The response to these screenings has been amazing.  Within one day of arriving in Terrace we were able to secure a banquet hall from Best Western Terrace Inn, an audio visual system from Sight and Sound and all of our printing – including posters, flyers and tickets – from Totem Press.

The local press have welcomed the film with open arms – the Terrace Standard have run a piece about the screenings http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/terracestandard/community/56682642.html and the local radio stations have been promoting the film all week.  Local TV stations have already interviewed one of the film’s producers and there are several more interviews in the pipeline.

Terrace has really pulled out the stops to support the film and thereby raise money for such a great charity.  We will be posting updates on these screenings throughout the week as well as post screening interviews.

]]> http://www.themountainwithin.com/terrace/feed/ 0 http://www.themountainwithin.com/10-long-days/ http://www.themountainwithin.com/10-long-days/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:07:29 +0000 Gregory http://www.themountainwithin.com/?p=492

The story so far: The Mountain Within was finally completed less than two weeks before its premiere. At that time we didn’t even know that there would be a premiere but pressed on regardless, knowing that the Special Olympics GB National Games were too good an opportunity to miss to promote the film and its message with or without a cinema onboard.

Ten days before the start of the Special Olympics GB National Games, the cinema chain we had been in discussions with for several weeks made their final decision and it was not what we hoped for. Twenty four hours later, everything changed again when Showcase Cinema de Lux stepped in, offered us two prime screening slots and moved like lightning to get everything in place in time.

With less than ten days to promote the Leicester screenings from scratch, we had to move like lightning too. As always, everyone was fantastic. Nick Romney built our website in less than a day, our PR team – Jane Atkinson and Mary Collins – launched into action and almost immediately secured two radio slots and a piece in the Leicester Mercury, posters and flyers were produced at breakneck speed and Gregory Rinaldi – one of the producers and distributors of The Mountain Within – and his partner Samantha Hammond – who had kindly volunteered to help us promote the film – drove up to Leicester to start raising awareness straight away.

Even so, we knew that when the whole team arrived in Leicester three days before the premiere, we would still have a huge mountain to climb. As indeed we did – hitting the ground running doesn’t come close! By the time we left Leicester on Monday night, we certainly felt able to relate to the endurance challenges faced by the Special Olympics GB athletes.

Our three day marathon kicked off the Friday before the premiere when Gregory arrived in Leicester just in time for a talk with Chris Baxter on BBC Radio Leicester. Once Gregory’s adrenalin levels had returned to normal, the next stop was the Special Olympics GB Games Village (at the Walkers Stadium) to set up shop in the athletes’ Cybercafe – where our expanded trailer was screened on loop until Monday night – and meet up with some of the Special Olympics GB organisers.

After adding an extension lead to our shopping list (repeated note to selves: always carry extension leads) and collecting Alison Baxter – the other producer and distributor of The Mountain Within – and Samantha from Coventry station, the day was already over.

With 10,000 flyers at the ready, Saturday morning heralded the start of our ambush on the people and businesses of Leicester. From the outset, the response was warm and welcoming, which was a huge boost, unaccustomed as we all were to accosting complete strangers (we are now planning to audition for The Apprentice!).

Towards the end of Saturday morning, we headed for the Town Hall where the Special Olympics torch was about to arrive. Buoyed by our earlier experience, we tried out our sales pitch on the audience, the performers, the police and other official bodies alike. Intrigued, a community arts journalist approached Gregory who gave an interview to camera there and then. Gregory is now an old pro at this interview lark! It was also our first encounter with Solly the lion who then stalked us (well vice versa actually) everywhere.

After distributing more flyers to every library, museum and shop within a reasonable radius and co-opting two Leicester firemen who are climbing Kilimanjaro next week, we headed on to the Walkers Stadium to continue our ambush as everyone arrived for the Special Olympics GB National Games opening ceremony. Such was our determination to get The Mountain Within in front of as many people as possible that we missed our trailer being played to the crowd of almost 25,000 in the stadium!

The opening ceremony was an extraordinary display of talent, emotion and colour and it was a privilege to be there. The parade by the 2,700 athletes was a sight to behold and it was fitting that the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, made an appearance to lend his support.

Our first stop on Sunday morning was the Special Olympics GB Games Village to set up our expanded trailer before the athletes and their families, along with the many VIPs, arrived. This time we came equipped with an extension lead, but not unfortunately a kettle lead. Yes indeed, all it takes to bring to life an enormous plasma screen is a kettle lead! Who would have thought it.

With the expanded trailer finally running, we decided to divide and hopefully conquer with Gregory and Sam hosting the trailer at the Games Village and Alison once again taking to the streets of Leicester. Gregory quickly charmed his way into the VIP tent to bend VIP ears, while Alison (once she’d navigated her way around Leicester in the rain with most of the streets and pavements closed for the cycling event!) chatted to those attending an inspirational talk at the New Walk Museum followed by an equally inspirational service of thanksgiving at Leicester Cathedral.

And finally, after a couple of hours of extreme nerves, it was time for the premiere. And what an amazing experience it was. The audience reaction was fantastic, and both the audience and the press were especially delighted to see two of the climbers, James Smith and Pauline, in attendance. After photo calls, and a quick “debrief” in the bar, we all collapsed into bed.

After the success of Sunday night’s premiere and two days in almost constant sales mode, it was hard to motivate ourselves to get out there again on Monday morning but we knew that we could not rest on our laurels. Having saturated Leicester’s shops and restaurants and knowing that most of the athletes and their families would have conflicting demands on their time that evening, we decided to target the spectators at the various sporting events taking place around Leicester that day. And we were amazed to discover that The Mountain Within already had a public profile – numerous people had heard Gregory on the radio, seen the trailer at the opening ceremony or just picked up a flyer.

Alison (herself a lawyer) decided that she couldn’t leave Leicester without targeting the legal community so transferred her efforts to telesales, ringing round all of the major law firms to tell them about the film and encourage them to come and watch it that evening. Once again, the response was extremely positive with several law firms immediately offering to promote it internally. Particular thanks go to Harvey Ingram and Freeth Cartwright in that respect.

Suddenly it was time for the second and final Leicester screening. After a successful premiere and another very positive day in the field, our emotions were completely different this time round. This time round, we were in the mood to relax and enjoy the film. Alongside another very positive audience – including various representatives from both our new friends Special Olympics GB and Leicester City Council, and our old friends Enham and their climbers – we enjoyed The Mountain Within even more than the last time we watched it.

As Alex Adams – one of the climbers – said afterwards “It’s like a Hollywood movie now”.

The Leicester screenings of The Mountain Within were made possible by the geneorisity and support of numerous organisations and individuals, notably Special Olympics GB, Showcase Cinema de Lux and Leicester City Council.

All of the staff at Showcase Cinema de Lux were incredibly supportive. Their professionalism, responsiveness and warmth – together with the amazing Showcase Cinema de Lux facilities – really enhanced both of the screenings. We are indebted to them.

Both Leicester City Council and Special Olympics GB gave up their time and resources to help us promote The Mountain Within despite the fact that they were also working day and night to make the Special Olympics GB National Games a success. Their support is very much appreciated.

Last but by no means least, a huge thank you to the Special Olympics GB athletes and their families and the people and businesses of Leicester all of whom were bombarded with flyers, our trailer and moreover ourselves more or less continuously over a period of three days.

The film was extremely well received and judging by feedback the public are embracing the film and its message as passionately as we are. One of the stars of the film, James Smith, was in attendance and received an amazing reception from the audience. The press were also delighted to see both James and Pauline, another of the climbers, and took full advantage of the photo call opportunities.

Clips from our audience exit interviews will be posted shortly.

Our final Leicester screening is tonight at Showcase Cinema de Lux in the Highcross shopping centre in the heart of Leicester (4 Highcross Lane, Leicester LE1 4SD). Tickets are still available from the box office, online at www.cinemadelux.co.uk or by telephone on 0871 220 1000.

The Mountain Within is based in the games village cybercafe.  We have the trailer and clips from the film playing all day and so far the response has been great.  The games village is the base for the athletes, their coaches and their families throughout the week.  It’s a great place to relax and socialize with plenty of activities and different areas to chill out.  There is also a climbing wall – we haven’t tried that yet!

And of course there is a great film to watch this evening. We hear that two of the stars of the film will be attending the premiere.  Check back later for interviews after the screening.