Our director, Kyle Portbury, will be there to answer questions, and tickets include a copy of the book.

The Mountain Within – every mountain is a level playing field

Inspiring film has London premiere

The Mountain Within, a powerful drama documentary film in which seven climbers with disabilities and their buddies face the challenge of climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, will have its London premiere on Monday 9^th November.

Distributed by BRAG Productions, the 85 minute film follows the climbers’ individual and collective journeys as they head for the summit.  Wonderful personal stories – told with sensitivity and humour – emerge as they discover their inner strengths as the demands of the climb take their toll.

The Mt Kilimanjaro climb was commissioned by Enham, a UK charity that gives those with disabilities the opportunity to make real choices for a fulfilling and successful life.  The UK distribution of the film will raise funds for both Enham and Special Olympics GB, who are supporting and promoting the distribution. The London premiere will be hosted by Norton Rose LLP, one of the film’s sponsors.

Director of BRAG Productions and producer of the film, Gregory Rinaldi, said: “The film is a tribute to how the combined forces of individual spirit and determination and group support and collaboration can turn dreams into reality.   It focuses on ability, not disability.  We are working with Enham and Special Olympics GB to bring the film to a wider audience to raise money for these two great causes.  We are indebted to Norton Rose for their support for the film and for making the London premiere possible.”

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For further information, preview dvd and photographic material please contact Mary Collins on +44 (0) 7769 670 516 or at mary@marycollins-pr.com.

Notes for editors:

The production team and some of the climbers – Alex, James and Pauline – will be available for interview at the screening.

For more information on the film please visit: http://www.themountainwithin.com/

BRAG Productions was formed in 2008 by Gregory Rinaldi and Alison Baxter, the producers of the Mountain Within.  They currently have several film projects in development.  www.bragproductions.com

Enham is a leading regional UK charity dedicated to service provision for disabled people. Established in 1918, Enham was founded as a rehabilitation centre for ex-servicemen returning from the First World War. The organisation now works across the South of England empowering disabled people to reach their potential, providing an innovative and personalised range of learning programmes, employment opportunities, housing and care options. www.enham.org.uk

Special Olympics Great Britain is part of an international non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering individuals with learning disabilities to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition. Special Olympics Great Britain was established in 1978 and currently serves over 8,000 athletes who take part in year-round sports training and competition programmes. SOGB is a registered charity, which currently receives no government funding. www.sogb.org.uk

Norton Rose Group is a leading international legal practice. It offers a full business law service from its offices across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Knowing how its clients’ businesses work and understanding what drives their industries is fundamental to the Norton Rose Group. Its lawyers share industry knowledge and sector expertise across borders, enabling it to support its clients anywhere in the world.  It is strong in corporate finance; financial institutions; energy and infrastructure; transport; and technology. The Group comprises Norton Rose LLP and its affiliates. It has more than 1300 lawyers operating from offices in Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Athens, Bahrain, Bangkok, Beijing, Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jakarta (associate office), London, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Piraeus, Prague, Riyadh (associate office), Rome, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Warsaw. With effect from 1 January 2010, Deacons Australia, a leading Australian law firm with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra and teams in Singapore, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City, will join Norton Rose Group.  The enlarged Group will have over 1800 lawyers in 30 offices worldwide, 700 of whom will be based in Asia Pacific, and will form one of the best-resourced legal practices in the Asia Pacific region. www.nortonrose.com

9^th November 2009

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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”.