Apple Original Films has announced it will expand its documentary feature slate with “The Last First: Winter K2,” the acclaimed Sundance Film Festival selection from director Amir Bar-Lev (“My Kid Could Paint That,” “The Tillman Story,” “Happy Valley”); Propagate Content, the award-winning production and talent powerhouse founded by Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens; West Buttermilk; and producers Sean Richard of Object Studios, and Sarah Thomson and John Battsek of Ventureland. Following its premiere at Sundance, the film has been hailed as a “gripping,” “engrossing,” “absolutely stunning” and “perfect, surprisingly complicated documentary.”
In “The Last First: Winter K2,” Bar-Lev tells a complex, harrowing and moving story that unpacks the industry of extreme mountain climbing and its changing culture. Focusing on a 2021 expedition, mountaineers John Snorri Sigurjónsson, an Icelander, and Pakistani father-son team Ali and Sajid Sadpara set out to be the first to summit K2 in the winter, when the mountain’s conditions are the cruelest. The men soon find themselves sharing the treacherous ascent with influencer climbers and their film crews, commercial expedition clients, and Nims, a Nepalese celebrity mountaineer, and his team of Sherpas.
“The Last First: Winter K2” takes us to the icy heights and unpredictable weather of K2 and reveals a surprising and layered story — one of strategy and determination, class and caste, money and power — all under life-or-death circumstances.
“At its core, this is a profoundly human story about the cost of ambition and the people left searching for answers,” said Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens of Propagate Content. “Amir approaches the film with empathy and precision, and we’re honored to see it reach a worldwide audience through Apple TV after such a powerful Sundance debut.”
“The Last First: Winter K2” is directed by Bar-Lev and produced by Owens, Silverman, Richard, Thomson and Battsek. Executive producers include Drew Buckley, James Packer, Will Kane, Bar-Lev, Taylor Levin, Kerstin Emhoff and Ali Brown. The film is edited by Joe Carey; Will Pugh is the director of photography, and Tom Hodge composed the music.
The film will join Apple’s award-winning slate of documentary features, including last year’s Sundance Film Festival Favorite Award “Come See Me in the Good Light,” which just landed an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film; “STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” the Emmy and Critics Choice Award-winning feature that premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival; and Emmy Award-winning “Boys State,” which won the 2020 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize.
Apple TV offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 692 wins and 3,256 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning and history-making comedies “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” and Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”
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